Caverns of Mars: Recharged Switch Review
Summary: Overall Caverns of Mars: Recharged is a solid entry in the Recharged series, not as strong as Yars Revenge but better than the Asteroids or the Breakout game. Whilst the controls can be twitchy once you get a hang of that you can enjoy it. The gameplay loop aids itself to short bursts of play but it has enough in there with the score leaderboards and missions to keep you interested and coming back again and again.
3.7
Nostalgia recharged
Caverns of Mars was first released in the early 1980’s for the Atari 8-bit computer line. The player was charged with delving into the deep depths of Mars whilst avoiding many traps and enemies. Caverns of Mars: Recharged of course copies that loop but with expanded bells and whistles that any remake needs to appeal to a new demographic.
The gameplay is very simple and in its way this works to the game’s advantage, the player must guide his ship through the many Caverns of Mars (go figure), whilst using the ships weapons and upgrades that are collected along the way to defeat not only the enemy ships and missiles but also at times to carve a path in the environment. Once enough levels have been passed through you enter a main cavern that holds the core, once destroyed the game loops again.
Whilst not revolutionary in 2023 the gameplay loop is fun and there is enough challenge namely the speed of the craft which at times is lightning to keep you engaged and coming back for more. Included in this “Recharged Edition” is the addition of more power ups namely to your ships arsenal this includes a Contra style spread shot, rapid and a shield.
The Player must balance shooting with movement as every time you shoot you lose fuel, this helps add to the challenge.
Of course Caverns of Mars: Recharged is not perfect, the speed of the ships movement at times can be too fast which can cause issues with not allowing the player enough to time move efficiently, added to that are the shooting mechanics which at times can become more of a detriment, especially when one upgrade cause the ship to shoot in angles which do not help at all.
However in 2023 it is not hard to make a game that looks better than a game made in the early 1980’s, this is one of the things that this remake improves on massively it has a simple yet slick design with enough detail to keep things interesting but not too much that it becomes a distraction.
The music on the other hand is hit or miss. If you are interested and or enjoy EDM music then you will like this game’s soundtrack. I personally am not a massive fan and I found it to be very repetitive and it did not really add much to the overall presentation.
Final Thoughts?
Overall Caverns of Mars: Recharged is a solid entry in the Recharged series, not as strong as Yars Revenge but better than the Asteroids or the Breakout game. Whilst the controls can be twitchy once you get a hang of that you can enjoy it. The gameplay loop aids itself to short bursts of play but it has enough in there with the score leaderboards and missions to keep you interested and coming back again and again.
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