Mission: Mars is an online game played through a chatbot created by Enibot, based in Israel.
Format
Style of Play:
- Online native experience (can NOT be played IRL)
- Play on demand
- Point-and-click
Required Equipment: computer with internet connection
Note that you need a strong internet connection to load this game. Also, be sure to follow the guidelines for an incognito Chrome browser.
If your game is unable to load at any stage, it will automatically save and reload where you left off, which we greatly appreciated.
Recommended Team Size: 1-3
Play Time: 45-80 minutes, less for experienced puzzlers
Price: $30 per team
Booking: purchase and play at your leisure
Description
Using a text “chat” interface on the side of a webpage, the game sent us through a series of puzzles revolving around becoming an astronaut and going to Mars. We entered answers into the interface and received images of puzzles to solve next. Some of the puzzles were very point-and-click; others were purely visual.
Andrew Reynolds’ Reaction
Enibot’s Mission: Mars is a cute game about being on the first manned mission to Mars. I say ‘cute’ because Enibot is definitely not going for realism here in any way. Whereas a real mission to Mars would involve a Rocky-style training montage, this version is more ‘help me find my mailbox because it has my acceptance letter in it.’
Most seasoned enthusiasts won’t find Mission: Mars to be very challenging, but most of the puzzles were still enjoyable and fun to solve. This game seems tailor-made for a family with a child or two interested in space. The puzzles are approachable, colorful, and in some cases manipulative. The game runs from a single screen, and though screen sharing is an option, Mission: Mars seems like a good one to sit around the laptop and play as a family.
The Lone Puzzler’s Reaction
This was a fun online series of puzzles – it was not an escape room. The puzzles were engaging, but they were very linear and lacked the complexity of a typical escape room, which requires some level of puzzle identification in addition to solving. The theme was well done, the graphics were very good – although I struggled a bit with some of the zooming and rotating of images. The scoring system is interesting with the inclusion of “incorrect” answers in their scoring method. If you want to play a game where you can measure your results against other teams, this game does a good job of that. The interactions with the text-like interface were quick and did not distract from solving the puzzles. There is no avatar or online gamemaster for this game, so many of the puzzles relied on viewing and working with images. The system worked well and all of the answers made sense, but it is a game for high resolution and good eyesight. Overall, an enjoyable 45 minutes of online puzzling.
Tammy McLeod’s Reaction
This Mars-themed game is polished, with good attention paid to fleshing out the story and some nice accompanying images. The player is guided through a series of fairly straightforward, process puzzles. The maker says that the game is multiplayer, but since it must be played at one computer, the amount of scrolling and searching involved would not make this a good game for a large group. However, this would be a fun game for parents to play with kids, perhaps 8-12, especially those with an interest in space. After the game was done, I also got a chance to make a fun digital selfie, which brought in a little of that real-life post-game experience.
REA reader can use the coupon code “MarsArtist“ to receive a 10% off discount, valid until the end of September 2022.
Disclosure: Enibot provided the Hivemind reviewers with a complimentary play.