Responding to an unusual emergency call from a remote mining base, Jack arrives at the dark and desolate Fort Solis. With storm warnings imminent, he heads inside to make desperate contact. As the night grows longer, events escalate, spiral out of control, and the mystery of what happened to the crew begins to reveal itself. The storm is approaching, limiting Jack’s escape as he looks to hold out until morning arrives...

Can you discover why the Mars base has gone into lock down?

Fort Solis is a third-person sci-fi psychological thriller set on Mars. You play the part of Jack, a worker who sets off to investigate why the Mars base has suddenly gone into lock down. With no contact from those within, and most of the base locked down, your quest is to get inside, investigate and find out what has happened.

The start of the game builds well to ramp up the atmosphere and tension, but fairly early on there are issues that start to push the game to the point of immersion breaking. While the graphics and vocal acting is incredibly well handled, as is the general set up and slow ramping of the tension, the fact that your character slowly ambles everywhere can be a bit of a bind. And, when you're wandering around from room to room, I couldn't help wishing for the option to speed the pace up a little.

There is the argument to be made that this is a lazy device, implemented by the developers, to stretch the game out for as long as possible. But, I don't really feel that, as the suspense plays out well, and in fact it reached a point were it actually started to drag and I was itching for something more than endless, empty corridors and research rooms.

This is a game full of atmosphere and tension

You could argue that the game unfolds a little like an interactive movie and this is a fair comment to make. In the early stages the pacing and slow build to each reveal is well handled. As you wander around the base you'll discover files that help you piece together what happened, as well as key codes to allow you to gain access into previously locked areas and rooms.

The game will appeal to those that like tense, atmospheric games that build slowly. If you're looking for action then you'll probably get bored before you even start to scratch the surface of what's going on.

6

Nick Smithson