When you look around and see the reviews and scores at 5 or worse for Scars Above you have to ask, do smaller games and smaller developers have any chance? Scars Above is a lower budget game and it does have things we’ve seen a bunch of times before but it’s fun, well made, does enough to differentiate itself and is at a lower price point.
One of the first things that stand out to me about Scars Above is the atmosphere and world. I would honestly describe it as Metroid Prime-ish. The environments look great, feel alien and are populated with some good looking creatures. Unfortunately not everything about the way Scars Above looks is that great. Animations could be better and characters don’t look particularly good. It gets worse when watching them talk. They lack expression and it looks like what they are saying doesn’t match up with their face. It’s not the end of the world though and mostly it’s a very good looking game, maybe it just falls short in some areas because of the smaller budget and team.
Scars Above is about a group of scientists getting mysteriously transported to a hostile alien world. It’s a pretty enjoyable story that had no problem holding my interest throughout and I think sci-fi fans will enjoy it. It has a great main character, Kate, who is brought to life very well by Erin Yvette. Kate is a capable, likable scientist who has no problem stepping up into the hero role. She is constantly curious and analytical but still has plenty of compassion which ties into what the story is about. I think it was just refreshing to play as a scientist and the approach it brings to many areas of the game is too. Unfortunately outside Kate and Naya the rest of the cast is very forgettable.
The gameplay is very likable too. It’s a third person shooter but actually feels more like a mostly ranged action game. There’s no cover so you’ll find yourself sprinting around shooting enemies, using gadgets, dodging and maybe sneaking in some melee hits. There is a stamina bar to consider while doing this and your resources are on the more limited side. The really cool thing about combat is using elements and the right combinations of them to fight efficiently. Your guns are fire, electric, ice and toxic and these can be combined together on their own and with things like water, rain and ice in the environment. Enemies have weak spots as well which are vulnerable to a particular element. There is a small variety of gadgets like a shield and gravity trap too. It’s really fun and keeps you on your toes as you frantically move about dodge rolling incoming attacks, prioritising targets, using the right combination of gadgets and elements and healing when needed. It’s just a shame they didn’t push things even further. I’d love to see a follow up to this game that builds upon what’s here. The biggest flaw for me was the difficulty. The game starts off with this promise of a good challenge but once you get comfortable and Kate gets more gear and skills it falls off a bit and death becomes a lot rarer. It’s not too bad and there is enjoyment it getting powerful but it’s enough to consider putting the difficulty up.
Outside combat you’ll be exploring, investigating and solving some puzzles. The world is linear but often loops back on itself, creating a short cut and it has some small side paths to check out. The checkpoint/recover points also respawn enemies in the area, so it is slightly souls-ish but there’s no recovering anything from where you died. The experience in Scars Above is called knowledge and is earned by scanning things and picking up little knowledge cubes. This builds up to earn ability points which are used to unlock new skills. There are weapon upgrades to look out for as well. Investigating is similar to what you have probably seen in other games and has you clicking and scanning stuff to figure what happened or get answers. I am not usually the biggest fan of this but I didn’t mind it here. The puzzles are a bit basic but at least they don’t feel hand-holdy. As you can see Kate being a scientist is carried across most aspects of the game and it is done well. As a whole the game does a great job of being consistent through its story, main character and gameplay.
Something that Scars Above also does well is pacing and progression. It is on the shorter side and has you pushing through at a good pace, except for a section right before the end when it does slow for a bit while you complete three tasks. I kept feeling like I was constantly getting something whether it was an ability point or more story or a weapon upgrade or a new enemy. The other fantastic thing is it doesn’t waste your time. Scars Above is not open world, it’s not full of padding, and it doesn’t run too long, there are no lackluster side quests, no pointless collectables and no microtransactions. God damn, this is a beautiful thing which more games should learn from.
Scars Above is like a PS3 era game and I mean that as both a wonderful compliment and a bit of a criticism. It does look lower budget or a bit dated and even feels like it a bit too. But it doesn’t mess around and isn’t full of bloat. It’s just fun, plays well, works well, has great atmosphere and tells a decent story. It is interesting because it can come off as unoriginal but it feels so refreshing at the same time. The developer Mad Head Games is another one to keep an eye on. Scars Above is at a lower price point and would be fairly reduced by now too, so I would recommend not hesitating to pick it up if it has you interested at all.
7.7/10
One of the first things that stand out to me about Scars Above is the atmosphere and world. I would honestly describe it as Metroid Prime-ish. The environments look great, feel alien and are populated with some good looking creatures. Unfortunately not everything about the way Scars Above looks is that great. Animations could be better and characters don’t look particularly good. It gets worse when watching them talk. They lack expression and it looks like what they are saying doesn’t match up with their face. It’s not the end of the world though and mostly it’s a very good looking game, maybe it just falls short in some areas because of the smaller budget and team.
Scars Above is about a group of scientists getting mysteriously transported to a hostile alien world. It’s a pretty enjoyable story that had no problem holding my interest throughout and I think sci-fi fans will enjoy it. It has a great main character, Kate, who is brought to life very well by Erin Yvette. Kate is a capable, likable scientist who has no problem stepping up into the hero role. She is constantly curious and analytical but still has plenty of compassion which ties into what the story is about. I think it was just refreshing to play as a scientist and the approach it brings to many areas of the game is too. Unfortunately outside Kate and Naya the rest of the cast is very forgettable.
The gameplay is very likable too. It’s a third person shooter but actually feels more like a mostly ranged action game. There’s no cover so you’ll find yourself sprinting around shooting enemies, using gadgets, dodging and maybe sneaking in some melee hits. There is a stamina bar to consider while doing this and your resources are on the more limited side. The really cool thing about combat is using elements and the right combinations of them to fight efficiently. Your guns are fire, electric, ice and toxic and these can be combined together on their own and with things like water, rain and ice in the environment. Enemies have weak spots as well which are vulnerable to a particular element. There is a small variety of gadgets like a shield and gravity trap too. It’s really fun and keeps you on your toes as you frantically move about dodge rolling incoming attacks, prioritising targets, using the right combination of gadgets and elements and healing when needed. It’s just a shame they didn’t push things even further. I’d love to see a follow up to this game that builds upon what’s here. The biggest flaw for me was the difficulty. The game starts off with this promise of a good challenge but once you get comfortable and Kate gets more gear and skills it falls off a bit and death becomes a lot rarer. It’s not too bad and there is enjoyment it getting powerful but it’s enough to consider putting the difficulty up.
Outside combat you’ll be exploring, investigating and solving some puzzles. The world is linear but often loops back on itself, creating a short cut and it has some small side paths to check out. The checkpoint/recover points also respawn enemies in the area, so it is slightly souls-ish but there’s no recovering anything from where you died. The experience in Scars Above is called knowledge and is earned by scanning things and picking up little knowledge cubes. This builds up to earn ability points which are used to unlock new skills. There are weapon upgrades to look out for as well. Investigating is similar to what you have probably seen in other games and has you clicking and scanning stuff to figure what happened or get answers. I am not usually the biggest fan of this but I didn’t mind it here. The puzzles are a bit basic but at least they don’t feel hand-holdy. As you can see Kate being a scientist is carried across most aspects of the game and it is done well. As a whole the game does a great job of being consistent through its story, main character and gameplay.
Something that Scars Above also does well is pacing and progression. It is on the shorter side and has you pushing through at a good pace, except for a section right before the end when it does slow for a bit while you complete three tasks. I kept feeling like I was constantly getting something whether it was an ability point or more story or a weapon upgrade or a new enemy. The other fantastic thing is it doesn’t waste your time. Scars Above is not open world, it’s not full of padding, and it doesn’t run too long, there are no lackluster side quests, no pointless collectables and no microtransactions. God damn, this is a beautiful thing which more games should learn from.
Scars Above is like a PS3 era game and I mean that as both a wonderful compliment and a bit of a criticism. It does look lower budget or a bit dated and even feels like it a bit too. But it doesn’t mess around and isn’t full of bloat. It’s just fun, plays well, works well, has great atmosphere and tells a decent story. It is interesting because it can come off as unoriginal but it feels so refreshing at the same time. The developer Mad Head Games is another one to keep an eye on. Scars Above is at a lower price point and would be fairly reduced by now too, so I would recommend not hesitating to pick it up if it has you interested at all.
7.7/10
2 Comments
Cheers
GoldSource
5 months ago