Building upon some rather formulas which were well-explored with olden titles such as Metroid, Dig Dug, as well as many others, “Super Motherload” is both a forward-thinking and somewhat traditional 2D title. Don’t get the wrong idea though, this game is its own beast, as they say, and pretty much stands out as one of the more interesting lower tier PlayStation 4 titles. In essence, you are a miner on Mars, who was sent to the red planet to find valuable treasures and ores. Of course what makes the game work is its mechanics, which provide a uniquely deep level of gameplay that’s both satisfying as well as highly addictive.

All in all however, this isn’t the type of title that you play for the action and excitement. Instead, it’s the stillness, desire to explore and personal endurance that you’ll find to be most intriguing. Descending down ever further, your goal isn’t just to appease your corporate overlords; it’s also to see what you might discover as well. Even in instances where something goes wrong and you have to act quickly to survive, the game continues to remain pleasurable and amusing.

Visuals

As previously mentioned, this is a 2D title, albeit it does feature some above ground settings which imply a 3D terrain. On the whole however, you’ll only need to worry about vertical and horizontal movement. In terms of its graphics, one could accurately say that it’s rather sparse, but don’t get the wrong idea – it works. Super Motherload plays out and looks like an evolved web game of sorts, not particularly flashy, but also easy on the eyes. Accompanying the visuals (or rather, complimenting them, one might say) is a sci-fi-ish soundtrack that’s also very atmosphere, perfect for hours of burrowing around all by your lonesome.

Gameplay

You might say that Super Motherload is something that’s very easy to understand and get into, yet hard to truly master. While it’s fairly easy to control your little digging machine, it’s also very prone to sustaining damage as well. Your goal of course is to mine out interesting deposits; this might mean come type of rock, ore, or perhaps even silver, gold or precious stones. The problem of course is that you can’t simply tunnel straight down and easily extract everything. There will be obstacles as well as surging magma which will thwart your attempts to mine. However, the biggest threat to your safety and operation is still your own navigation. This is to say that bumping around into your surroundings will cause damage to your driller. Moreover, you can also hover / fly (which makes deep burrowing much easier), but don’t expect to be able to drill while you do so. This title rewards the miner who thinks ahead with treasures galore. Conversely, the person who jumps in head first without considering the geometry / layout of the dig site will quickly discover why strategizing is always preferable over wishful thinking.

Verdict

The truth is, Super Motherload is a really great, fun game that most PS4 owners will really enjoy. Naturally, those who lean more towards retro titles will probably get more mileage out of it, but pretty much anyone can get into it. Definitely check this one out.