Game Box Art
Title Screen
Introduction
On Mars
Deep insights...
Worlds of Ultima 2: Martian Dreams (truncated as Martian Dreams) is the eighth game set in the Ultima universe and a part of the Age of Enlightenment saga; it is the second of the two entries in the Worlds of Ultima subseries. It was published and released April 4, 1991 by Origin Systems (Origin) for the IBM-PC. In 2012, Martian Dreams was put on GOG.com as a free download.
Development[]
Origin had spent so much money developing the Ultima VI engine therefore they decided to reuse it for additional games. The Ultima VI engine is used for the game, with only small enhancements and longer cutscenes, made possible by the Origin FX-Engine (this time with an intro specially made for the game).
Story[]
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
The basis for both Worlds of Ultima games is that the Avatar's Orb of the Moons allows him to travel to other worlds and times, having fantastical adventures. In this game the Avatar is visited by a strange, red-haired woman that gives a book to him and his friend Dr. Spector. The book will eventually be written by Spector himself and explains how to use the Orb of the Moons to travel through time. Following instructions, the duo ends up in the Victorian Era, where Percival Lowell has set up a space cannon that will launch some volunteers to Mars. Through an act of sabotage, the cannon is fired during the World's Columbian Exposition with several dozen famous people and leaders of the time on board. A second cannon is prepared to find and recover the people in the first, who are now stranded on Mars.
It turns out that Mars had an extensive civilization based on plants. Mars has cities and canals, although civilization is in ruins. What in fact happened was that after massive soil poisoning, the original Martians had gone into dreamspace to preserve themselves. The humans using the Dream Machine found themselves trapped in dreamspace, while the Martians took over their bodies. A large part of the game is spent visiting various people's nightmares and clearing them up. Eventually, robotic bodies can be created for the Martians, since their plantamal bodies won't grow. After a showdown with the evil Raxachk, who caused the soil pollution in the first place, the survivors return to Earth.
Spoilers end here.
Continuity[]
In relation to the main Ultima series, the game takes place between Ultima VI and Ultima VII; this game is the sequel to Savage Empire and is chronologically followed by Ultima Underworld I.
Release[]
"Feelies":[]
- The book Time Travel.
- The book Mysteries of the Red Planet.
- A paper map of MarTrivia
Trivia[]
- In Ultima II, there is a solitary town located on Mars.
- In the Avatar's own nightmares, he is visited by the Shadowlords from Ultima V.
See also[]
Martian Dreams advertisement
- For bugs in this game, see Martian Dreams Bugs.
- For real-life references and easter eggs in this game, see Martian Dreams Real-life references and easter eggs.
- For nitpicks for this game, see Martian Dreams Nitpicks.
- For a map viewer, see Ultimatrix.
- For equipment information in this game, see Armour in Martian Dreams.
- For copy protection, see Copy Protection.
External links[]
- Ultima Aiera Martian Dreams resources
- The Notable Ultima-Martian Dreams
- Wikipedia article on Martian Dreams
