Mars Explorer is an online game for multiple players that combines racing, dogfights and exploration all set on the deserted landscape of the planet Mars. Choosing between a buggy and a hovercraft, the game offers rocky landscapes to explore, with volcanoes, elevated plateaus and lava flows.

There is free exploration, but also game modes such as laser tag or foxholes (reach the highest speed). Different camera perspectives are combined with the option to fly. When riding up a hill at a high speed, the buggy can extend its flaps to fly. This can be combined with shooting from a first person perspective, either using the mouse of the keyboard to combine these actions.

The game mechanics are introduced on a tutorial map and players can then join servers set up by others, or create a new server and optionally add AI-controlled bots. Players can chat while playing using text and the graphics scale back and forth automatically based on the available bandwidth, though it also possible to lock them at a certain setting.