Monuments of Mars is a third-person puzzle platform video game developed by Scenario Software and published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four 20-level episodes, the first episode being shareware, the rest being commercial software. It is based on the FAST (Fluid Animation Software Technology) CGA game engine from Arctic Adventure and Pharaoh's Tomb, developed by Todd Replogle, and later published by Apogee.
The game was discontinued, and was released as freeware on March 20, 2009.
This Video Game contains examples of:
- Checkpoint: Each screen serves as a checkpoint of sorts. If you die, the screen resets.
- Checkpoint Starvation: Some screens contain very lengthy puzzles. Die at any time during the puzzle and you have to start it over from scratch. It doesn't help that the spaceman is a One-Hit-Point Wonder.
- Episodic Game: There are four episodes for this game.
- Excuse Plot: You are searching the Monuments of Mars for missing astronaut explorers, and trying to find out what happened to them, who is responsible for this, and why.
- Freeware Games: This game became freeware on March 20, 2009.
- Guide Dang It!: There is absolutely no indication what a given switch will activate. On top of that, some things are activated just by moving to certain parts of the map. One vicious example requires walking into a pit filled with spikes only for a platform to magically appear below you.
- Malevolent Architecture: With all the electrical currents, spikes, tesla coils, laser turrets, robots, and aliens roaming around the Monuments of Mars, how could you consider the bases anything but Malevolent Architecture?
- Neglectful Precursors: Whoever left the robots behind was apparently studying Earth in the past before losing interest and leaving. The robots detained the astronauts based on their programming.
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Nintendo Hard: The game has limited ammunition, and there are points where you will need to use your gun to solve a puzzle. A puzzle that may be invisible, and covered in spikes. - One-Hit-Point Wonder: Absolutely all the hazards kill you in one hit. Getting blocks dropped on your head doesn't hurt, though.
- Permanently Missable Content: There is no backtracking between stages, and many times the stage will close off access to sections as you play. Any ammo pickups or points that you leave behind there is no going back for.
- Spelling Bonus: In some levels, you can collect the letters M, A, R, and S in order to get extra points.
