Yo what up gamers Your boy Leo droppin in straight from the concrete jungle of Los Angeles. Im here to give you the real deal the lowdown on this new game called Mother Machine.
You know I keep it one hundred. Im Leo a gamer enthusiast planted right here in the heart of LA. Ive been eyeballin and breakin down killer games for a hot minute now.
I bring the realness with a side of that West Coast flavor. You can find me chillin at 3215 Overland Ave Los Angeles California(CA) 90034. Trust this aint no cap.
Whats the Hype About Mother Machine?
Word on the street was that Mother Machine cooked up by this German indie squad called MaschinenMensch was gonna be somethin totally different in the coop multiplayer scene.
Peep the trailer and you catch this accessible all for the homies gameplay and a sense of humor thats kinda twisted givin it some serious charm.
They werent lyin about what the game is for the most part. But straight up I walked away feelin a bit bummed.
Mother Machine is like a mix tape of different vibes. You can see bits and pieces of BOTW and Mario in how the platforming feels managin your stamina and how you get buffs from chow. Its got this kinda roguelike thing goin on with levels that change every time and random upgrades.
And yo it even throws in some of that dark comedy kinda like that dude Edmund McMillan makes especially when the Mother Machine first tells you she can clone your character nonstop.
When Mother Machine is clickin on all cylinders all these different feels come together into somethin thats actually fun and even feels new.
It doesnt feel like its just jackin ideas from other games. But that happens way too rarely and honestly youll probably see everything its got after just a few hours of playin.
MaschinenMensch clearly had plans for this to be a coop experience you could keep comin back to. But right now Mother Machine just doesnt have that staying power to keep you hooked for more than an hour or two of game time.
The Setup Simple But Does It Bang?
Sometimes keepin it simple is the way to go especially for a multiplayer game. Mother Machine rolls with this oldschool idea throwin you into its world pretty quick.
Its an alien planet thats been overrun by some rogue robots. Then they just set you loose on a bunch of different missions. Players can roll solo or team up with up to four other homies and tackle a total of six different kinds of missions from your home base.
Most of the Mother Machine action happens during these missions. Your tasks are all about finishin challenges grabbin upgrade materials and ultimately gettin satellites online to move the main story forward.
These missions can be pretty fun at least when you first jump in. The games got some smooth movement mechanics.
Like any good platformer you can feel the gravity and how your momentum plays into every jump or roll you do. They even threw in some combat but it aint the most satisfying thing.
It mostly comes down to just mashin the attack button and occasionally dodgin to not get hit. Instead of just a straight line of progress Mother Machine lets you unlock different mutations like a doublejump powered by uh flatulence or a group heal.
But you can only have one of these active at a time. This system is kinda similar to the badges in Super Mario Wonder. It sounds like its gonna give you new ways to play and let you express your own style which is all about replayability.
I was hyped to see what Mother Machine had in store once I got the hang of this gameplay loop. But honestly it didnt live up to the hype.
Where the Wheels Fall Off Lack of Variety
The Battery Delivery mission is maybe the only one that feels different. In that one you gotta work with your teammates to protect a drone carryin a battery instead of just doin some isolated task to get past somethin.
In the eleven hours I clocked into this game I only ran into two boss types and that includes the final boss. And get this there were no changes or twists to these boss fights.
They were literally the same two fights showin up right on schedule with nothin different to make them feel fresh.
The Misty Grove DLC which was free for a limited time doesnt add any more flavor sadly. It doesnt bring in new mission types or levels that feel meaningfully different.
Misty Grove is basically just the same game with a new paint job.
Theres clearly a reason behind Mother Machines simple progression system. But its a choice that doesnt help how bland the game already feels.
Only havin one special ability active at a time could work in a game with a lot of different levels. But with every level and game mode feelin only slightly different this lack of deep mechanics just makes the game feel even more monotonous.
It also doesnt help that a lot of the mutations are either useless like one that makes your character glow a little bit or just not fun to use like an ability to make a fruit projectile that you can already find lyin around.
After you collect all these mutations which can happen before youre even halfway through the main story the only rewards you get for collectin resources are a small bunch of cosmetic items.
The Story and the Grind
Because of all this theres not much reason to keep playin once you finish the main campaign. And that wouldnt be so bad if the campaign itself was worth the price of admission but it aint.
The campaign has five story missions with bigger and bigger gaps in between that you gotta fill by doin the same old satellite missions over and over.
These five story missions are pretty short each one lastin about as long as a regular mission which is a letdown. But the real problem is that they play exactly the same as the regular missions.
You still gotta run to different airlocks and get past a few challenges that are also exactly the same as the ones in the other missions.
The only real difference between the story missions and the regular ones is the exposition you get through the Mother Machines dialogue and some text logs.
But this story aint deep or creative enough to make up for the lack of good gameplay. You can cut MaschinenMensch some slack for other things theyre a small indie studio after all. But with the story mostly told through text it feels like they dropped the ball here.
You dont need a huge budget to write a good story and even though most people probably arent comin to a game like this for some heavy drama a captivatin story could have made up for the disappointing gameplay.
Tech Issues and Final Verdict
Its gotta be said that Mother Machines PC performance is kinda janky. I played the game on a rig with an RTX 4060 and I had trouble keepin a steady 60 frames per second even on medium settings.
On high settings especially in the DLC areas the frame rate would regularly dip into the 20s. I even tried it out on a Steam Deck OLED and a laptop with an RX 7600S and the performance was even worse.
Mother Machines got some personality and some ideas that could have been really good but they just didnt nail the execution.
It would be dope to see what MaschinenMensch could do with more time and resources. But as it stands right now Mother Machine feels more like a demo or just a proof of concept than a fullon finished game.
Mother Machine is currently available on PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X|S and PC. Game Rant hooked me up with a Steam code to check it out.
Pros
- Can be chaotically fun in coop.
- Has strong movement and physics systems.
- Some clever mechanics in there.
Cons
- Lacks diverse game modes.
- The campaign is a letdown.
- Gameplay gets monotonous real fast.
- Poor optimization on PC.
My Final Thoughts
Look Mother Machine had potential for sure. The core gameplay ideas arent bad and when youre jumpin and rollin with your friends it can be a good time for a little while.
But the lack of different things to do the repetitive missions and the story that doesnt really grab you just drag the whole experience down.
Plus the performance issues on PC are a bummer. It feels like they rushed this one out the door before it was fully baked.
Maybe with some more updates and content Mother Machine could become the fresh coop experience it was hyped to be.
But right now Id say hold onto your cash and maybe check this one out if it goes on a deep discount.
This is your boy Leo keepin it real from the heart of LA. Peace out gamers.
Resource
https://www.metacritic.com/game/mother-machine/
https://gamerant.com/mother-machine-review/
All Images and featured image used in this article was owned by gamerant and respective creators..