Livestream of the ZZT world "Escape From Mars 2" by Stephen Wooster (1996)
(Originally streamed August 26th, 2022)
A rather strange sequel to an already strange game. Escape From Mars 2 is less about escaping (and Mars) and more about getting revenge on some awful alien from the previous game.
Things open with a lengthy shootout across multiple boards with several switches to press. In a rather miserable decision they have to be pressed in a specific order requiring a ton of backtracking as you figure things out, putting the game off to a very slow start.
Soon afterwards some of the charm of the original shows up with great minimalist art that has a lot of fun with perspective and diagonal walkways plus the usual unlikely locations. You can eat an an Italian restaurant with a bunch of aliens, waste time at an arcade, or hunt down your target in a casino.
A bizarre prison escape becomes the show stopper thanks to a harmonica.
Overall, a still fun journey, though the weak start quickly sours the iniital mood. I feel like the first game is the better of the two, though not so much that fans of the original wouldn't get anything out of this sequel.
Also I'm not sure if any of the planets you go to are actually Mars? Nor is the joke everybody was making about "Mars 2" ever brought up in the game itself. It's just yellow deserts and domed settlements.
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