Almost as soon as you fire up Mothergunship it will become very apparent to you that this game is going to waste no time in throwing you into a fast paced bullet riddled hellaciously fun ride.

Mothergunship puts players into the role of a space soldier who, along with his team is tasked with fighting back against an alien invasion. The dialogue and voice acting is as cheeseball as what you’ll find in Sharknado. They know it and they revel in it. It could come off as annoying or tiresome after a little while but it really doesn’t. It just works perfectly when you consider just how insane and absurd the gameplay is.

Each mission begins precisely the same way. Grab a few gun parts to take with you to the next ship, craft your weapon into something absurd and hilarious and shoot the hell out of anything and everything leading you to a boss battle. I actually really enjoyed the boss battles. It felt to me like I was playing an old school game like Gradius only instead of it being on a 2d side scrolling playing field it was set in a 3D world. I actually loved the nostalgia I felt playing these boss battles. The controls are fluid, fast and accurate and I never really felt like the gameplay as a whole was unbalanced or unfair.  You will likely die and when you do, know this – You will lose all the parts you’ve collected. It’s just part and parcel with a game like this so fair warning. As you progress a few levels in you’ll be introduced to some extra challenge rooms. These levels will put the player at a great disadvantage but, complete the task at hand, and the rewards are plentiful.

Mothergunship keeps its gameplay focused on fast run and gun reaction. Starting with only your fists and a triple jump, you can buy new items in the shops located in the dungeons which brings me to the real beauty of this game. The gun-crafting system. As you build up your collection of new weapons, connectors, and modifiers, you’ll put together some of the craziest contraptions at the various crafting stations found within the levels or in your base. When I say “craziest contraptions” I mean literally that. Bouncing bullets with multiple barrels and bullet types. If you play your cards right, you can literally build a weapon that pretty well fills your entire screen. No joke. One tip to keep in mind when crafting the most crazy weapon ever, your energy levels. This game does not feature ammo pickups so be aware of what you’re putting together. No sense in building something only to run out of energy after 5 shots. That’s a sure fire way to get yourself killed and back to square 1.

Mothergunship is a well made game. The controls are fantastic, the levels varied, the gun play is bloody insane and as I said above it’s a hellaciously fun ride. In the coming months they are supposed to be adding a co-op mode to the game which I think is going to be outstanding and I’m really looking forward to that. If a fast paced out of this work sort of game is in your wheelhouse, I think you’d be doing yourself a great disservice by missing out on Mothergunship. Mothergunship is available now on Steam, Xbox One(Reviewed) and PS4 for $24.99.

Kaneda