Ultima: Worlds of Adventure 2 - Martian Dreams
Description official descriptions
Following the events depicted in The Savage Empire, the Avatar and his friend Dr. Spector receive a book that contains the knowledge of time traveling. They are taken to the year 1893, witnessing Percival Lowell prepare a space cannon not unlike the one described in Jules Verne's works, with the intention of sending humans to Mars. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, the cannon is fired during the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, with several famous people of the time on board. The Avatar and his companions follow, only to be transferred into the mysterious and dangerous world of the Martian civilization.
The second entry in the Worlds of Ultima series is very similar to its predecessor visually and gameplay-wise. Like the first game, it utilizes the Ultima VI engine, and is a top-down role-playing game set in a seamless graphical environment and featuring turn-based party combat. Conversations with characters, interaction with the game world, and acquiring crucial items occupy a significant portion of the gameplay. Many supporting characters are famous real-world figures from the depicted time period, such as Marie Curie, Sigmund Freud, Nikola Tesla, and others.
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 78% (based on 9 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 34 ratings with 6 reviews)
An imaginitive, fun, and highly underrated game.
The Good
The plot is terrific! You are stranded with the most famous people of the 19th century...on mars! You must solve the mysteries of the red planet to escape. The plot also involves aliens, dream worlds, robots, the canal system of mars, and more.
Although it has rpg elements, it feels more like an adventure game. The funnest part of the game involves advancing the plot, not simply beefing up your characters' statistics like many rpgs.
The Bad
The only thing I could complain about would be the text interface used to communicate with the characters in the game. The player types in words or phrases and the character responds. I would have better liked a multiple choice communication system.
The Bottom Line
This game has all the good role-playing-game elements of the ultima series combined with the best elements of great adventure games.
DOS · by Ben Sokal (15) · 2000
Some game-ideas are even above the unusual ones like Populous and (inspired ?) Alpha Centauri !
The Good
It has every strange twist one can ask for . THIS is high-adventure and the thrill of
RealTimeStrategy made onto the planet-board ; it is rare to experience this journey of mind in other TurnBasedStrategy-games or RolePlayingGames , Bravo Lord British !
The Bad
That it's annoying to install 5 diskettes ?
The Bottom Line
A sophisticated chess-game mixed with travelling upon unsolid grounds ...
DOS · by Thomas Dahl (1) · 2004
One of the best (and most overlooked) games in the ultima series
The Good
One of the most important parts of an RPG is the plot and this game has one of the most original and well constructed of any game I've ever played. It develops well as you get further into the game and you even get the re-appearance of some your old adversaries from Ultima V.
The dialog is well written and all of the characters in the game have lots to say. You type in conversation topics rather than just selecting from a list and this gives you more of a feeling of control than later ultimas.
Although there are plenty of creatures to fight, the emphasis of the game is on exploring and adventuring rather than hacking and slashing.
The Bad
There isn't much to dislike about this game. The biggest criticism I'd have was that some of the distances you had to walk early on in the game were a bit too much. Various shortcuts open up after a while but until then you may find yourself doing a LOT of walking from one end of the planet to the other.
The Bottom Line
This is definitely one of my favorite games in the Ultima series and a welcome change from wizards, orcs etc... Unfortunately, at the time it was released the Ultima 6 engine it used was too old to attract new fans and the plot too far off the mainstream ultmas to attract many of the old ones. It has never been rereleased and its not exactly easy to get a copy of. If you do find one though I would recommend you pick it up immediately as this is one of the finest examples of adventure/role playing ever made.
DOS · by Pix (1172) · 2000
Trivia
The Worlds of Ultima (or Worlds of Adventure) series was originally intended have more games than just two. Some planned settings for the games were King Arthur's Britain and ancient Greece complete with the local gods.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Old man gamer.
Windows added by Picard. Macintosh added by Sciere.
Additional contributors: Timo Takalo, Apogee IV, Patrick Bregger.
Game added June 16, 2000. Last modified April 4, 2024.