Although a little awkward at first, Martian Gothic is one of the best survival horror games out there. simple as that.
The story takes us to the distant future, in a research base on Mars surface, named Vita 1. Three brave men (well, two men and a woman) have just arrived to investigate the long radio silence between earth and Vita 1. A freak sand storm almost crashes their spaceship, and all three have to split up and enter the base through different airlocks. Immediately upon entering Vita 1, the investigators (Karne, Kanzo and Matlock) suspect foul play. It's not long before their suspicions come true. An ancient bacteria, carrying the DNA of a dormant alien race, has spread all across the base, killing all the scientists and turning them to zombies (known in the game as the NonDead) or TriMorphs: giant monsters made of three humans fused together.
After this short introduction, "Martian Gothic" unveils its coolest feature: multiple characters all played in real-time. This means that at any given moment, all three characters are available, and moreover, active. If you leave one of the characters out in the open, and switch to another character, it wouldn't be long before the neglected character will get itself in a twist (most likely an encounter with a NonDead) and you will have to switch back to it and save her. This takes a bit getting used to, but after a short period, it becomes one of the key elements in solving puzzles. The tricky part is that at no point throughout the game can two of the characters meet, hence the game's tagline: "Stay alone. Stay alive".
As mentioned before, the NonDead and TriMorphs are the main enemies in the game, TriMorphs being rarer and harder to dispose of. Taking care of the NonDead can be kind of painful at first, since they won't stay down for very long, and can take quite a lot of punishment. However, about halfway through the game, the NonDead become no more than a nuisance, thanks to more powerful weapons, and more available ammo. The TriMorphs, on the other hand, serve as a much tougher enemy. They cannot be killed with most of the weapons the game offers, so whenever you run into one of them, you can choose between trying to outsmart it and lead it into a trap of some sort, or just run the hell away.
Combat is pretty straight forward: just point your weapon of choice towards any enemy (there is no auto-targeting) and press a button to shoot. There are no melee weapons in the game, so a hand gun and lots of ammo are your best friends. Carrying around huge amounts of ammo can be crippling, due to the fact that every character has a limited inventory space, and there is no "drop" option. If you want to get rid of an unimportant item, let's say a piece of paper, you will have to find a cabinet to store it in. Another option is to transfer the unwanted item to a different character, via the vacuum tubes littered around the base. These tubes are basically the only way items can be transferred between characters (you can also leave items in cabinets for others to pick up, but there are so many cabinets, it's hard to remember what you left in which).
Combat, however, isn't the main feature in "Martian Gothic: Unification". Puzzle solving takes the lead fairly early in the game, leaving the combat in second, and maybe third, place. Some puzzles are of the classic "find the right key" type, but others require much more imagination and initiative thinking. For example: in order to press two buttons, located in the same room, simultaneously (taking into consideration that two characters cannot be near one another), one character has to use a toy gun, shooting a plastic arrow from the other side of the room, leaving enough space between her and the other character. This is just a small example for the kind of logical, yet innovative thinking "Martian Gothic" demands of the player.
Since the game is light on visual scares (mainly because of the poor graphics), atmosphere plays a big part in the horror department. The Martian base feels completely deserted, and although you play as three different characters, all in the same building, you can't help but feel isolated and alone; even the radio communication between them seems to come from miles away. The audio logs scattered around the base are but a glimpse into the routine of the crews, merely minutes before all hell breaks loose, briefing you on the events leading up to the long radio silence with earth. Every aspect of the game is contributing to this sense of isolation, and the tagline "Stay alone. Stay alive." seems to echo in your head as you explore the empty corridors of Vita 1.
The PS version suffers from ugly, sometimes even busted, graphics. This, of course, can hinder the enjoyment and even the game's progress, as, for example, I encountered a bug that forced me to start the game over from the very beginning. The PC version is blessed with crisper and smoother graphics, which makes the game look a lot (and I do mean a lot) better than the PS one. Compared to other Playstation games released around the same time, the graphics are a bit behind with unimpressive background scenery and clunky character models. There are only a few models for the NonDead and just one modal for the TriMorphs, so there is not a lot of variation in enemy design.
Sound is pretty good for this kind of game, and all of the main characters, as well as minor ones are well voiced. Some characters sound a bit lifeless at times, but as the game plays along, none of them seem out of place, or denied any human emotion. The woman voicing the main computer does an especially good job, capturing the arrogant, cynical tone perfectly. Music isn't particularly memorable, and sounds pretty standard to a horror game. High pitch strings in times of danger or suspense, together with an almost absolute silence through most of the game, makes for a very chilling combination. Sound effects are generic and unremarkable: gun shots sound like gun shots, footsteps change depending on which surface the characters walks on and the NonDead groan in a very zombie-like fashion; all in all, nothing to praise or complain about.
Fans of the Survival Horror genre should definitely give "Martian Gothic: Unification" a go, because underneath the poor graphics lies an incredible game with an amazing atmosphere and unique gameplay mechanics. If you are a fan of the adventure genre, there is something for you inside the game, but only if you can put up with the pain that is the action sequences and focus on the puzzle solving. So if you own a playstation or a PC, get "Martian Gothic"; just as long as you remember to stay alone and to stay alive.