Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Super Motherload is an action adventure puzzle platform game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4 and PS3. XGen Studios was established in 2001 in Edmonton, Canada and have since developed and released numerous games for console, mobile and Flash including Defend Your Castle on WiiWare and the Flash game Motherload which is the prequel to Super Motherload.

The story is written by comic book writer Kurtis Wiebe and includes multiple storylines which branch out based upon the choices of the player and even result in multiple game endings with the story revolving around an alternate Cold War era set on Mars.

There are four outposts referred to in the game in which players can refuel, sell their cargo of mined minerals, repair the hull and visit the store with the first outpost being at the surface, while the remaining three are Alpha, Beta and Delta which will be located as players continue to dig. As players dig through the rock they will find that there are different types of minerals to mine including ironium, bronzium, silverium, goldium and others which are each worth their own unique value.

The hull of the mining pod can easily be destroyed if players are not careful when managing the speed as it is susceptible to damage if it takes a heavy knock into the rocks during the ascent back to the surface to sell the mined minerals, upgrade or refuel, further descent to mine new depths or a sudden turn of direction with a few heavy knocks resulting in the mining pod exploding.

Smelting is an important procedure consisting of combining compatible minerals consecutively to create a more valuable mineral, although players must first purchase smelter from the in-game shop in order to make such combinations as goldium and silverium to create white gold; however there are six levels of smelter available in which players can refer to a smelter combinations list from the pause menu with certain combinations not quite being possible until a higher level of smelter has been purchased such as the level three smelter to combine electrium ore, amazonium ore and unobtainium to create an aether stone.

The in-game shop provides customisation across four categories for varying prices including upgrades such as a drill bit, fuel tank, cargo size, hull strength, smelter and radar; improvements to the drill speed, rotor speed and tread speed; bombs to blast out rock which includes TNT, C4, t-bomb, shaft bomb and electron bomb; items such as reserve fuel, a repair kit and a teleporter with all of the upgrades and speed other than the drill bit upgrade having multiple levels of improvements gradually increasing in price. The in-game shop is incredibly well designed with certain items initially being out of stock to provide an additional reason for players to keep on returning to the store, while the main reason to return is to reinvest the money earned from mining minerals to purchase improvements which make the mining pod more efficient in order to progress further into mining the rock for minerals that are more rare.

The character design has a real charm to it as there are mining pods in a variety of colours, while the ten unlockable playable characters each have their own voices and personalities too, alongside environment design which is just as charming as it features procedurally generated rock formations.

Super Motherload supports cross-buy between the PS4 and PS3, although it unfortunately does not support cross-save, so players will not be able to continue from their previous progression on the PS3 version when playing the PS4 version and vice versa, however as Super Motherload is also remote play; players can technically continue on playing the PS4 version anywhere they want to with the same save file during remote play. Cross-buy presents a superb amount of value as it means that layers will be purchasing both the PS4 and PS3 versions of the game with just a single purchase.

The performance during remote play is excellent as the graphics, audio and general performance is entirely of the same quality as the PS4 version, while the control scheme has been remapped appropriately with the face and shoulder buttons as well as the d-pad and analogue sticks on the Vita remaining exactly as they are on the DualShock 4 controller with the touch pad perfectly mapped to the Vita’s touch screen which provides a gameplay experience every bit as good as the PS4 version.

The controls are well mapped to the DualShock 4 controller with the control scheme consisting of pressing L1 or R1 to cycle through to the previous or next item respectively; pressing square to use a selected item; pressing X to accept or fly upwards; pressing O to cancel; changing the direction of the left analogue stick to move the mining pod by holding the left analogue stick upwards to fly upwards or to left, right or downwards to drill into the rock in the appropriate direction; pressing the share button takes players to the share feature menu and pressing the options button to display the pause menu. The touch pad implementation incorporates swiping in various directions in order to utilise a range of bombs such as TNT, C4, t-bomb, shaft bomb and the electron bomb to blast out rock impeding the progression from mining further into the rock, while the light bar produces the colour of each player’s mining pod, alongside the DualShock 4 controller vibrating when the hull of the mining pod has taken a hard bump against the rock or exploded through taking too much damage.

Graphically, Super Motherload has a charming aesthetic with the mining pods, rock formations and outposts all looking excellent, alongside superb animations for the mining pods and amazing stylised artwork telling the story of what is unfolding in the surrounding world.

The presentation of the game is solid with a great user interface across various menus such as the title menu, main, options and gameplay menus with support for navigation via the left analogue stick, directional pad and face buttons, although it does not include support for navigation via the right analogue stick and touch pad. The background of the title menu focuses upon clouds of mist in the foreground with stars in outer space in the distance and the Super Motherload logo in the very centre, while the main menu focuses upon the looping clock of a launch countdown.

The voice-over cast provide excellent performances which supply a proper story to the game with Jim Cuming voicing Tiberius, Abbadon, Outpost Alpha and Mr. Fix It, while Emily Bachynski voices Daisy Cutter, Ana Banketik, Quinn Grisham and Outpost Beta; Leif Oleson-Cormack voicing Tom “Core” Keeling and Karl Redden; Graham Nichol voices Demitri Ubekov and Digging Pod #4001; Mary Hulbert voicing Ivana Korlov; Doug Hoyer voices Outpost Delta, Digging Pod #1145 and Digging Pod #3100; and Henry Campbell voicing Outpost Gamma.

The sound effects include the tracks and rotor blades of the mining pod, drilling through rocks, collecting minerals, warning alarm when filling the allotted amount of cargo, warning alarm when fuel is running low, the hull hitting surrounding rock formation and the hull exploding after sustaining too much damage from hitting too many rocks, while the music consists of a full original score by indie electronic artist Eric Cheng. There is surprisingly no DualShock 4 speaker implementation which could have produced the radio crackle and voice-overs from the transmissions which tell the story as projecting that through the DualShock 4 speaker would have added further atmosphere to the game.

The trophy list includes 9 trophies with 5 bronze, 2 silver and 2 gold trophies. There are some trophies that will be earned naturally as players progress through the story such as the Something Amiss Amidst the Abyss bronze trophy for reaching Outpost Beta, while there are harder trophies such as the Cheat Death gold trophy for completing the entire game on the hardcore difficulty level. It is estimated that depending upon skill and a good trophy guide to provide some helpful tips that it would take between 8 to 12 hours to 100% the trophy list.

There are two difficulty levels including normal and hardcore with the major difference between the two being that if the mining pod runs out of fuel, then the character will die and rather than being teleported back to the previous outpost with all of the progression intact; players will be taken to the main menu and lose all of the progression gained since last visiting the outpost.

Drop-in/drop-out local multiplayer supports two to four players with the drop-in/drop-out aspect being particularly user friendly as it means that up to three players can join what was previously a single player game without exiting to any menus, therefore providing an effective, fun and entertaining local co-operative multiplayer experience, while there are no direct competitive elements to the gameplay; it could easily be adapted by players for competitive multiplayer by basing the winner upon who has earned the most cash from selling their mined minerals, although all four players must remain on the same screen which is a negative as split-screen multiplayer would have made for a better multiplayer experience due to providing an increased amount of freedom.

There are no online leaderboards which is surprising as it could have included the fastest times for reaching the following outpost, completing the entire game on both the normal and hardcore difficulty levels, the largest square footage of rock dug out from each of the outposts and throughout the entire game, the highest amount of minerals mined from each of the outposts and throughout the entire game totalling for a potential of 18 online leaderboards that could have provided a competitive edge to the gameplay.

The replayability stems from multiple areas as there is drop-in/drop-out local multiplayer for two to four players, normal and hardcore difficulty levels, ten unlockable playable characters, upgradeable mining pods from the in-game shop and branching storylines with alternative endings which will collectively have players coming back to the game for a substantial period of time over multiple playthroughs of the entire game.

Overall, Super Motherload is an excellent game which contains a large amount of replay value with drop-in/drop-out co-operative multiplayer for four players designed to keep them coming back for more and is perfect for fans of a range of genres such as action, adventure, puzzle and platforming; resulting in Super Motherload being a worthy and recommend purchase.

Jason Bonnar

Analysis

• Title: Super Motherload
• Developer: XGen Studios
• Publisher: XGen Studios
• System: PS4
• Format: PSN Download
• Cross-Buy: Yes (PS4 and PS3)
• Cross-Play: No
• Players: 1-4 (Local Co-Operative Multiplayer)
• Hard Drive Space Required: 403MB