Set in the not too distant future, you are recruited by the Solaris Corporation. You goal is to mine the planet mars for precious resources that the earth is in desperate need for. The already scarce amounts on earth have created uneasy agreements between the governments. However, on Mars something else seems to be just as unsettling.
From the moment I booted up Super Motherload I couldn’t help but feel like I was playing an arcade game loosely based on Total Recall. This is a huge credit to the game’s presentation. The sound track is upbeat and full of synthesizing that feels so natural and welcoming on such a remote foreign location, yet strangely reminiscent of the film. Perhaps the biggest association that connects that movie to this game is the dry heat that Mars entails. In the game there is no mention of heat but the way the game portrays mars will certainly have you heating up and cranking your fan or air conditioner.
There is a very loose story in the game with some considerably strong voice work accompanying the scenes. However, most of the time communications are just read off the screen.
As the player you can select one of four individual miners to begin your job. Characters don’t have differing abilities, just the aesthetics of your character inside are different. Upon arriving on the Mars you are simply tasked to dig, collecting gold, silvers and other precious jewels. Only ever surfacing to unload a full load of cargo, to refuel, repair your rig or upgrade your rig. There is a great array of upgrades available ranging from the obvious such as fuel and cargo capacity, to the well thought out drill bit strength and rotor speed.
Super Motherload’s fun wears out extremely quickly. The fun and adventurous exploration transforms into a tedious repetitious system. You get stuck in a pattern which involves digging until your fuel is empty or cargo is full, returning to the surface to unload, refuelling, repairing then maybe buying an upgrade then go again. Unfortunately even participating in the games local multiplayer doesn’t make it any more fun.
As you progress deeper and deeper into the core of Mars, service centres or outposts are found which serve the same purpose of the surface base. As you get deeper, a few puzzles are thrown at you which entice the player with a reward of high paying gems and are generally completed with an array of bombs that explode in their corresponding name.
Although a PS4 launch title, it offers little in terms of PS4 specific features, you can use the touch pad to select your bombs but you can do that on the L1 or R1 buttons. Running out of fuel offered no serious consequence to the player, no loss of cargo; no respawn at the top minus x amount for towing or anything along those lines. You simply just move slower as you climb up and up to your closest outpost.
