After Cyberpunk 2077, which everyone loved, we now have a new release in the science fiction genre. The Sci-fi genre has been around for a long time, and it has been one of the most profitable categories of the gaming world. The fans love it, the critics love it, and the developers love it as well.
What makes science fiction so great is the room it provides to add more elements. Developers can get creative and add a lot of new stuff, whether it is a new kind of weapon or a badass armored suit, or maybe some other stuff. It gives the developers much more room to explore and implement their imagination, and that is why the end product comes out to be exciting.
“Scars Above” was released on February 28, 2023. The game is available for Windows, Xbox, PlayStation4, and PlayStation5. It is developed by none other than Mad Head Games and published by Prime Matter, and it takes place in an alternative reality where you have to explore this new world you woke up in.
You are part of a Sentient Contact Assessment and Response team, aka S.C.A.R., and your goal is to look for other members of your team and get back to your own home safely. During your journey, you will encounter various monsters and obstacles. The game provides a challenging environment, and you have to be prepared for what it has in store for you.
Some have fallen in love with the game, saying it has everything they were looking for. Others have faced some problems with it. There have been complaints about the quality of the graphics and animations.
A lot of people and critics have already got their hands on the game, and they all have mixed reviews, so this is our take on Scars Above. If you are confused about the game and can’t decide whether to get it or not, then we are here to answer all your questions.
How good is “Scars Above”? Is it a good game that everyone should try? Should it be on your list? Is it worth your money? and most importantly, Is it worth your time? Let us find out.
Plot:
In the game, you play as Kate, a young engineer. Kate is a part of the SCAR team, whose aim is to find and explore distant planets and worlds unknown to mankind. Kate’s job is to repair and make new weapons for her team, and she does a great job at it. She is smart and talented and has that fire inside her that makes her a good fit.
The other members of the team are also curious in nature, and all these brilliant minds coming together make the SCAR team strong and powerful. One day, while on a mission to explore a planet that may have alien life on it, Kate’s spacecraft malfunctions and crashes on this planet.
Kate wakes up totally confused and scared. She gets up, and her first goal is to find and regroup with her team. At first, she goes forward with this aim set in her mind, but soon the story takes a different turn. Kate starts to see visions of a giant alien.
The story takes us deeper into these visions and unravels the mystery behind them as the game proceeds. Kate soon realizes that this planet contains some aggressive creatures who will not think twice before hurting her and putting an end to her life.
She has to move forward, fighting all these enemies using her brain and muscles to get through obstacles while trying to find her teammates and figure out the meaning behind these visions of hers. All of this proves to be a big challenge for Kate, and the players have to help her reach her goals.
Gameplay:
Scars Above lets us choose from three levels of difficulty, namely Rookie, Specialist, and Commander. Players are advised to opt for specialists if they often play third-person shooter games for fun. Those who have never tried such games can go for Rookie so that they can easily get used to the shooting mechanics.
Of course, experienced players who want a real challenge and a real fight should opt for Commander to see the full potential of their enemies. The game opens up, and we are introduced to our character Kate. Kate is a part of this team, and she works here as an engineer. We are introduced to her life, like how she graduated and never thought that she would be a part of a space program that deals with aliens and other life forms.
At the beginning of the game, we are introduced to other members of our team. After the introduction, the team is ready and prepared when suddenly the power supplies of their spacecraft malfunction. They try all they can, but it does not matter. As the spacecraft begins to move towards the ground at immense speed, Kate gets a vision where she sees a giant alien standing at a distance staring at her.
The game looks amazing. At first look, the graphics look well-designed, and the gameplay is smooth. After waking up, Kate finds herself stranded on a different planet. We move forward and see a holographic woman that tells Kate to follow her.
This leads us to some kind of alien structure. Upon approaching this structure, Kate starts to get some visions where she sees that giant Alien one more time and that holographic woman saying, “He killed us.”
The gameplay feels good and smooth, with no major flaws. The combat and shooting mechanisms work well and feel good. Players can use melee attacks to slash through enemies if they get too close or use guns to fight enemies at a range.
The game can be saved using Alien Pillars. Alien Pillars are these structures put at different locations inside the game. Activating an Alien Pillars saves the game while replenishing some of your health and ammo. We see Kate making her way through different kinds of creatures, and even during this time, we can see her making log entries at every point, showing us how seriously she takes her job.
Finding and fighting different enemies at different points of the game makes it fun and does not let you get bored of playing it. Different enemies combined with different weapons that you find and unlock during the game have a good feel. You will experience something different each time you play it, and that is what makes Scars Above a great game.
Graphics and Animation:
The most important thing that a sci-fi game needs are graphics. Building a world that consists of aliens and high-tech gadgets requires some clean and beautiful graphics; otherwise, the player will not feel the beauty of the game. Fortunately, Scars Above does a great job when it comes to the graphics part.
The graphics of the game look well-designed and beautiful. It captures the beauty of the world around you and makes you stop in your tracks to look at the sky or the view. Everything looks stunning, and the enemy models are well-built.
The game has an amazing look to it, and all the great details added make it better altogether. The blood splattering out of the enemies when you get the kill or the explosions that are created makes the gameplay better and overall makes it more fun to play and thus making the experience more enjoyable.
Although the game has amazing graphics and has created a great world, it still falls short at some points. One of the places where the game feels a bit dull and could have been improved is the character’s facial expressions. The character animation during some of the cut scenes does not look good.
There are some places where the expressions given by Kate are completely blank, which makes it feel like she is being sarcastic. Due to this, the message the game is trying to give or the dialogues that the characters are conveying does not connect with the players, and the seriousness of the scene is lost.
Apart from this, every other animation and every other graphical detail looks awesome.
System Requirements:
Before downloading the game, make sure your system meets the minimum requirements to run the game. To get the full Scars Above experience, your system must meet the recommended system requirements.
Final views:
Scars Above is a great game, and you should add it to your list if you are a sci-fi fan. It is not good enough to be your first choice if you are new to the genre. We have seen better and worse games belonging to this category. Overall the game looks and feels good. The gameplay is amazing and will not bore you. You are certain to enjoy the game and will not regret the time you invest in playing it.
The story is very well written and does a great job of keeping the players stuck to their screens. It creates a mystery that makes the player eager to find out more and end the game as soon as he/she can. Just like all other games, it has its flaws and some minor problems, but it is not a bad game at all, and you can certainly give it a try without a doubt.
Our Rating: ⭐ (4.2/5).
Also read: Outriders Review: Is It Worth Playing?
