Review: The Martian VR Experience – PS4/PSVR

There aren’t many games that I’d call a total waste of money, but The Martian VR Experience is definitely one of them and I’d recommend you leave some good distance between yourself and it until the price reflects the content.
The Martian VR is based on the hit movie that starred Matt Damon as a stranded astronaut on Mars. He had to overcome all the odds and survive where no man has ever survived before. It was a great movie, I loved it. I even read the book, I loved it. Now I’ve played the game, and I hated it. To be fair, that was a somewhat common theme back in the days of licensed games for every damn movie, but The Martian takes the cake.

As this one relies on using your hands to pick up and move things, you’ll need the PS Move wands, though if you were thinking about going out and buying a pair just for The Martian, stay at home and do a crossword puzzle instead. It’ll last longer. That’s not even me making a snarky joke; the game is literally 20 minutes long and a good chunk of it is spent on clips from the movie and some offensively long loading times. In reality, you’re looking at having around 10 minutes of interaction with the game.
Now, maybe if those 10 minutes were the most immersive minutes of my life I’d consider the game passable. As it stands, they weren’t even enjoyable. I sorted potatoes into buckets. I picked up a rock, threw it away, then lifted the radioactive thingy out of the ground and placed it in a box. I pressed a few buttons here and there. The only highlight was driving the Mars car around, but that lasted less than two minutes.

Graphically the game is actually not bad. It’s definitely not the worst looking title on the PSVR, but that’s hardly something to be pleased about when you don’t even get to look at the damn game for any decent length of time. Honestly, I’m struggling to put my thoughts into readable words when it come to The Martian VR. I loved the idea of being able to put on Mark Watney’s spacesuit and have a lark on Mars, but for the price that FOX is asking, it’s an insult.
Don’t buy this game. It’s not a game and it’s barely even an “experience”. If you want to throw £15.99/$19.99 away, fry it, bake it, smoke it. Whatever, just don’t support this exploitation of PSVR adopters who are desperate for new releases.

Review Disclaimer: This review was carried out on a regular PS4 using a digital copy of the game bought at the expense of the reviewer. This has no affect on the content of the review or the final score awarded. For more information, please read our Review Policy.