In the month of August, we were gifted another round of free games for all who own a PlayStation Plus subscription. Out of all the games we received, two games caught and kept my attention longer than the others. Those two games were Super Motherload & Downwell (Yo, Downwell is awesome. But I haven’t finished it yet, so more on that one later). Before I continue, I want to give a quick shout-out to the people who pay for PS Plus but don’t download the free games every month (Cuzo, I’m talking about you smh). However, guys and girls, don’t fret! I’m here to let you know which one of the freebies are worth your time.
Today we’re talking about Super Motherload, which is a digging adventure game with RPG and puzzle elements. It was developed by XGen Studios who have also made other games such as The Low Road & Defend Your Castle. In Super Motherload, you are employee 1001, and you have been hired by the Solaris Corporation. Solaris has found a reserve of precious minerals deep in the crust of Mars, and they need to extract them in order to end the energy crisis on Earth. Solaris sent a previous crew to Mars for the same mission, but they have somehow lost communication with them.
As the game begins, it seems to be pretty straightforward. You dig below the surface, find and collect the minerals, and then drop them off to the Solaris outpost where you will be compensated for your findings. Rinse and repeat. After about 30 minutes of this, I contemplated turning the game off and never playing it again. In fact, three hours later I asked myself, why am I still playing this game? I knew after ten minutes of playing that this wasn’t my type of game. However, I just couldn’t stop playing it
I believe there are two reasons why:
- Gameplay – I will admit the gameplay is very monotonous and will not be for everyone. In fact, my girlfriend quit playing maybe 3/4 into the game because she grew tired of the gameplay and simply wanted to skip to the ending (I completely understood where she was coming from…BUT we were at the end of the game though. She played 75% of the game with me and abandoned me at the end. As you can see, I still haven’t got over it. But it’s ok). The continuous act of digging then dropping off, digging then dropping off, digging then dropping off, digging then drop…it does wear on you. However, it can be fun to discover new rare minerals. The rarer the find the more money you receive. For me, the discovery of new & plentiful minerals was enough to curve how monotonous the game was. I would get excited after seeing how rich I had become after one drop off. You can use the acquired cash to purchase upgrades for your ship (Stronger hull, more fuel, bigger drill, all kinds of bombs, etc.).The upgrades make you feel stronger and more prepared to make your next dive a smoother experience. I was excited for ever dig because I was determined to make more money than I did on the previous dig.
- The story is the other part of the game that kept me playing. It is not told in a traditional way. There aren’t any amazing cutscenes to watch. Instead, we get random transmissions that are triggered once you dig to a certain depth beneath the surface. It kind of caught me off guard because I thought I had experienced everything the game had to offer. The transmissions are frequent too. You don’t feel like you are waiting forever for the next one. You get transmissions from the missing crew and they start to tell you what is REALLY happening on Mars. The transmissions added a different mysterious and sort of sinister vibe to the game. As you play, you feel as if something bad is going on. Has Solaris been telling you the whole truth? How many crews have gone missing on Mars really? Are you safe? and what is this mysterious transmission you keep receiving? The story wasn’t a lot. But it generated enough questions to make me keep playing.
- I’ve come up with a few more points I would like to make about this game. Yea, I originally said two, but whatevs. Co-op is next up. I played the majority of this game with Some Gal named Elaine and we had a ton of fun. We created little mini games while we were playing like racing back to the outpost after we had maxed out our cargo size. These races were challenging because you had to move as quickly as possible while causing minimum damage to your ship. If you take to much damage, your ship will explode and you will lose any inventory you collected. Another benefit of playing this game Co-op is inventory management. You can use your bombs and items strategically between the both of you. When you play solo, it is hard-work saving up as much money as possible to continuously blow it on bombs.
- The puzzles were a small yet pleasant suprise, as well. A number of different bomb types are available for purchase. They all cover different blast radiuses. A typical puzzle may contain a rare mineral surrounded by different types of obstacles. Depending on the situation, you have to choose the correct bomb type and blow a path to the mineral without damaging it. I have lost many great items due to these puzzles. My failure rate is startling.
I enjoyed my time with Super Motherload. It would have been really dope if it had online co-op. Hopefully, they’ll add it in later. The last boss was pretty frustrating, but if you prepare for the battle with the correct upgrades, you’ll be straight. If you downloaded this, definitely check it out.
About the Author: Phil Purkett Jr.
Founder and Creator of Some Guy in Space. Second of his name. Real cool dude.
Some Guy In Space 