Standard shooter that feels indifferent
IN FAR CRY 5: Lost On Mars, Ubisoft have tried to recapture the jarring but ultimately riotous and fun nature of Blood Dragon, the wildly-popular DLC for Far Cry 3. Lost on Mars’ sidekick is the perenially-hilarious Hurk – the trigger-happy hillbilly who stole both human lives and our hearts in Far Cry 5. While Hurk’s humour certainly translates over to Lost on Mars, the comedy is smeared rather thin over the drab backdrop of the Red Planet and a smattering of forgettable alien foes.
While Far Cry 5’s story is ostensibly serious, the context for it is beyond the realms of silly. Lazy exposition in the form of a cutscene at the beginning of the game establishes that our protagonist, Nick Rye and his sidekick with the newly-severed head, Hurk have arrived on Mars to prevent an alien invasion.
From here on out its pretty much a 10-hour cycle of fighting a variety of alien enemies, most of whom are able to stun-lock you by spitting acid, which is a real shame because it effectively removes the game’s most interesting mechanic from the majority of combat situations – the gravity belt.
Lost on Mars’ gravity belt allows you to essentially jetpack around the place, which allows for some clever manoeuvering, as well as aerial gunfights.
At its most basic level, Lost on Mars is about the most standard first-person shooter you can think of. Every facet of stealth gameplay has been stripped from Lost on Mars, meaning that even core gameplay mechanics in the main game have been removed in favour of arcade-style run ’n’ gun tropes.
To be more concise, virtually everything about Lost on Mars seems to be a downgrade on the actual main title. It is a risky change of scene that really doesn’t pay off in the same way that Blood Dragon paid off for Far Cry 3.
While it does feature non-stop and often hilarious commentary from Hurk, this alone cannot provide sufficient mileage from a DLC that feels very indifferent on nearly every front.