Mommy’s Best Games, creators of Shoot 1UP and Weapon of Choice, both of which are some of the best games on the platform, is back again with an all new indie entry called Explosionade. Now, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I really wanted to reference the “Explosionade/Lemonade” joke, but unfortunately my tardiness has allowed all the early birds to get the proverbial worms.

Gameplay

If you like mechanics you’re in luck, because Explosionade has a lot of them. So many so that you’ll likely need a few playthroughs to really get rocking with them. There is a certain degree of depth to each of them that has a superficial and simple use that will let you breeze through chilled. But they also posses a secondary or third…dary…use that will need to be called upon to make your way effectively through the game’s harder difficulties.

Without a doubt my favorite mechanic of the game was the shields. Big deal, shields, even USS Voyager has shields, and it was just Intrepid Class. Hush, naysayer, these shields do more than let the Borg teleport right through them! They preserve momentum to allow for floating and will bounce off of solid surfaces allowing for some tricky jumping. On top of that the shields can also damage enemies, making you more or less a robot recking ball.

Oddly enough, for a game called Explosionade, the bombs seemed less nuanced than the shields. Yes they play a pivotal role but they are a rather simplistic arcing projectile with a sticky shot that clings to walls and a bouncy shot that bounces about, but that is really about all there is to them. The mech automagically produces bombs infinitely, albeit at a set pace, but will only build up to a complement of three. This does add a bit of sense that you need to manage your ammo, but accomplishes it in a way that it doesn’t become a distracting or nagging attention whore.

So while all this bombing, floating, bouncing, ball wrecking, and jumping/jetpacking is going on, Explosionade is also a fully functional side scrolling platformer with a familiar twin stick firing system similar to that of Weapon of Choice. It’s at this point that you begin to realize, you’re using a lot of buttons, which if you’re like me and suffer from stupid fingers, can be a bit problematic.

Fortunately, this issue is rather expeditiously resolved simply by putting a little time into the game. The functions of the character become second nature and you can really start enjoying the game while working on climbing that scoreboard. In addition to scoreboards the game also has multiplayer, which in typical Two Fedoras friendless style wasn’t played, so I am unable to comment on it in any meaningful way.

How does the gameplay stack up? It functions very well and has a good amount of polish to it. It feels solid and responsive and since it’s built around mechanical depth it has a lot of potential enjoyment baked into it.

Audio/Visual

I wish I could sum this section up with just “The game looks great!” but Brooks would say something like “yeah you need to write more in that A/V section.” He is often a Buzz Killington that way. In reality the game does look great. It has that wonderful destinctive style that MBG’s is quickly becoming known for even outside of the Xbox Indiesphere.

The mech’s sprite is well designed and pretty well animated. As far as the enemies and boss sprites go, forget about it. They’re great. The bosses are just as outlandish as you’d expect with exception of the obvious omission of another boobie boss. Alas, I suppose it would be fairly difficult to explain why a giant boobie monster would be in the sewers. So I suppose it can be forgiven, this time. All I’m saying is I may not be quite as forgivving if there’s not boobie gripping in Grapple Buggy.

Speaking of the sewers, their isnt a whole lot of diversity in the environments. So in this regard id deffinately doesn’t stack up to the environments of Shoot 1UP or Weapon of Choice. However, it manages to not detract much from the game.

On the sound front, it felt okay. I can say the explosion sound on the menu screen, was kind of annoying. You really only have to hear it a few times when you start the game, but it is so distinctive that it stands out a bit. The sound effects and music through the rest of the game are suitable, but sort of dissolve into the experience. There isn’t anything particularly memorable here on these fronts.

Summary

Guys, 80 points, seriously? This is probably one of the best entertainment units per dollar propositions you’ve been offered in quite some time. Enough of your excuses! You can pick the game up now, and if it’s your first Mommy’s Best Games title and you enjoy it, be sure to check out their other two games: Weapon of Choice and Shoot 1UP.