Build-a-Gun Workshop.
It had been a while since I had last played an arena based shooter, so when I was asked to review Mothergunship I was up for it. It is not that often that you see a release of a good bullet-hell shooter, but unfortunately Mothergunship misses the mark.
The game is set in a future where alien ships orbiting the planet are holding life as we know it hostage. Thousands of them swarm the skies and at the heart of this swarm is the Mothergunship; a massive control ship that spews out smaller ships which keeps the alien army stocked with firepower. All other options have failed, so you have been recruited to individually work your way through the interiors of the ship to gain intel and move ever closer to the Mothergunship.
Price: $29.99
Platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One (reviewed)
Multiplayer: Not yet!
Price I’d pay: $14.99
The story is presented to you in-between missions via your helpful crewmates; a General and mechanic and an AI ship computer. They relay all of the relevant story information via narrated talking heads. The voice acting is pretty good, but the dialogue is cheesy. It is intentional, but comes off as cheap and many of the jokes fall flat. There are also a few spelling mistakes in the text bubbles, something that really shouldn’t have slipped through testing.
However, the story is just there to tie together the action based missions you will be going on.
Jump into your mech suit, grab a few gun parts and be on your way to clear out a ship. The gun parts are needed, as the game gives players the ability to create their own gun. Each gun is made up of up to three parts, which can be found during missions. They can then be slotted together to make some super powerful weapons that are attached to your arms. Different types of gun, different sizes, attribute buffs; these can all be swapped out to make a gun suited to the player or the mission. And having two arms meant I could use two types of guns. It’s a cool concept, if a little limited at the start. But the further in I got, the better guns I could craft. Players will also be given the ability to upgrade their suit. Destroying aliens earns XP, and this can then be used on a variety of stats. Things like increasing maximum health and power, as well as allowing players to jump further and run faster. All of these things are designed to improve the chances of survival as players venture deeper in; as it gets real difficult, real quick.
Each level is procedurally generated, some are small with very little room to move, while others may be long and sprawling, but have wall-to-wall enemies to deal with. Each room is a challenge, and I found it very frustrating early on; this game is definitely going for that bullet-hell feel. And if players die on a mission then it is back to base to start all over again. This wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the incredibly long load times. In fact it takes almost a minute to load from starting up the game to get to the main menu to press A, and then when you do it is about another 30 seconds to get to the main menu. Everything takes way too long. The levels themselves I found to be a little boring after a while. Although there is definitely some color in the game, the environments didn’t really stand out from one another and just blended in after a while. But at the least the music was ace, hard thumping rock riffs that are very reminiscent of that mid-nineties shooter feeling.
The game is also currently missing its co-op mode, with a banner on the main menu stating that it coming in August with a free update. Seeing as there aren’t that many modes in the game, having a main one missing at launch seems odd. At least people won’t have to wait too long to get it.
Mothergunship is for those who don’t mind punishing themselves and who like to break through walls to make progress. Challenging and with a unique gun crafting mechanic, the game manages to break the mold slightly. But with some performance issues and the uninspired settings I feel that the game may be better served with a price drop.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
