Scars Above – Review

Six months have passed since the appearance of the Metahedron, a large alien structure and the first known contact with an alien lifeform.
You play as Kate, a member of the Scar team on board the Hermes ship, tasked with exploring the gigantic alien construct.

You’re quickly Introduced to movement, Chatting with some of your fellow crew members and crafting a tool to blast a few electric bolts. But before your able to reach out to the alien structure, something within the Metahedron activates, and you suddenly awaken on a strange planet, with nothing more than an apparition to follow.

You’ll soon find a cutting tool to slice away conveniently placed branches and your first alien pillar, which serves as a checkpoint, then you’ll pick up VERA, the electric tool you crafted earlier, which through the game will be upgraded with various alterations and upgrades to fire incendiary shots, an ice blast that can be used to freeze hazardous waters and slow down enemies, and a corrosive shotgun. As you progress, you’ll find some enemies have coloured weak spots which receive more damage from a particular type of blast, but generally you’re free to use whichever weapons you prefer, and it’s fair to say all of them got plenty of use.

There’s also gadgets that you’ll unlock as you progress, ranging from a quick overshield, decoys, and a Molotov style grenade that spreads an area of flammable liquid which can be shot to set a large area on fire. Combined with the weapons and consumables to aid to health, ammo, or the energy used for gadgets, you’ll find plenty at your disposal.

Back to the story and your search to find out what on this alien planet is going off.
You’ll work through chapters, with a little linear path following, lots of enemies, a few puzzles and a couple of boss bottles to round things off you’ll find it’s pretty straightforward, It’s worth exploring each area and scanning any fallen foes for small purple cubes which reward XP to level up a skill-tree as even keeping my eyes out for the XP gain, it was still during the closing section of the game when I eventually unlocked my fianal upgrade.
The skill tree is fairly rudimentary, extra health, extra ammo, more energy for gadgets, and a few features such as a quick-reload system similar to titles like Gears of War, but every little helps and as long as you hit the right stick to scan occasionally, you should be able to complete all, if not most of the skill-tree in a single playthrough.
Graphically the overall presentation of Scars Above is impressive, the world feels every bit as alien as intended with strange obelisks and structures, and landscapes that look great. The sky is filled with distant vistas and planets providing enough to please any sci-fi lover and it’s mostly a very good-looking game with a nice variety of locations.

My only complaint resides with our protagonist Kate, usually a game concentrating on a single main character puts a lot of emphasis on them, and while she looks great on cut-scenes, overall in both looks and personality, she feels a little basic. she’s not as well made as the landscapes and surroundings, at times it feels like she’s floating a few centimetres above the ground, and lighting sometimes gives her that superimposed effect, but once you get a little further into the game, it’s not as noticeable in action.

With the search for her crew mates, even though Kate’s happy to talk out-loud to herself, we know very little about her background, and I worked through the game feeling like I know more about everyone else in the game, than the person standing right in front of me.

Audio is consistently good, whether it’s the atmospherics or the groan of monsters it all helps bring the alien world to life, guns sound as powerful as they feel (which for the record, is more powerful than you expect), and there’s plenty of voice acting and audio logs, while the Voice acting is unlikely to win any awards, it improves when Kate is talking to someone other than herself and never feels out of place.

Gameplay has a consistent flow which will keep you entertained for the duration of the game and with plenty of plants and fibre that can be crafted to make ammo or gadgets, I never found myself without firepower and very rarely don’t unfairly, sure I revisited those pillars a few times here and there, but Scars Above IS NOT souls like. I found myself utilising most of the gadgets, and weapon types and as you progress, there’s a few upgrades and variations to look forward to, such as turning those flame blasts into a death ray of pure fire. So apart from Kate feeling a little flat, the overall game, gameplay, presentation, graphics and sound are all good, So what exactly is bad?

Well, not much at all… It’s not bad, but it’s also not excellent in any area either. So don’t expect AAA quality. But if you head in with an open mind, and ignore any idiots that refer to Scars Above as Soulslike or Survival-Horror, you’ll find a good old-fashioned third-person shooter with plenty of adventure, without having to fall in-line with *insert AAA Title here*.

You’ll find a few negligible framerate drops if you pixel-peep long enough, But I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last 8-9 hours and while I missed a single achievement for scanning every hostile creature, I’m unlikely to play through the game a second time, it’s been an engaging and enjoyable playthrough with enough twists and intrigue to keep it interesting.

At £34.99 it represents good value, and I can’t see many fans of sci-fi third person titles being disappointed, it’s not AAA quality, and it’s not introducing anything new to the genre, but it is well worth considering if you’re looking to scratch that sci-fi itch.

Scars Above is a pleasant surprise that punches above its weight, a well-paced game, that doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, and delivers an engrossing sci-fi story which is well paced, and well placed.

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