A Boring Company

Mars Power Industries Deluxe doesn't really scale up from mobile to desktop very well.

For one thing, in a literal sense, the graphics are distractingly zoomed-in and imprecise. The game's "cute" aesthetic looks like it was designed for small screens where edges would look sharper. It doesn't help that a minimalist UI gives you little to look at except the weirdly-blurry artifacts of scaling and rotating sprites.

But that's a pretty minor problem. What's more damning is that the puzzle gameplay just isn't very engaging. I don't think that's necessarily because of its intentionally chilled-out rules; being able to easily undo your moves, and the lack of a failure/game-over indication, actually feel pretty good.

It's more that the setting and ambience of the game don't do anything to pull me in. Start with the title: we're on Mars, and we route power. Right? Well, I would have looked forward to new puzzle rules about electricity, or terraforming, or something building on that basic premise.

Instead... new puzzle rules are totally arbitrary and disconnected from reality. Spikes that raise and lower based on the turn order? Shifting rows and columns of the map around? It only takes a few puzzles before the "Mars" and "Power" illusions fade, and it becomes obvious that this is a generic tile-based puzzle game with some thin branding.

Also, the music is overly mellow. Not just relaxing, but ... boring.

This is the kind of game that could occupy a few minutes of your time while you're waiting for something else to happen. But as a desktop experience that would take full focus? Nah.

Progress: Finished the demo.