It’s a strange premise, with a strange name. Moo Lander sees you piloting a crashed ship on Mars. However, it’s not the Mars that we know. Instead, this vision of Mars is overrun with flora and fauna. Specifically, plants that aim to hurt you and cows that… are large. Turns out ‘Moo Lander‘ is actually quite an apt name for such a bizarre setting.
The game presents itself as a 2D platformer. However, you don’t actually do any platforming. Instead, the player can move freely in all directions. The challenge comes from navigating a pathway through the levels. It’s not as simple as you may think, as near every corner has something lying in wait to attack your ship. Be it spiked plants, vines that try and grab you – literally, with hands – or exploding flower buds. Make no mistake, this is no easy ride.
Thankfully, Moo Lander promises to be fit for the job of slowly easy you into the proceedings. You begin with a small amount of health and no weapons, yet upgrades come thick-and-fast in the first few minutes of gameplay. Very soon you’re able to produce a milk shield and camouflage your ship, avoid certain attacks. These abilities come by way of gaining XP and killing a specific enemy repeatedly, respectively. It’s certainly not a complicated system, but does hint at greater depth to be experienced in the full game.
The game’s presentation is almost like a cardboard cut-out. Not in the same fashion as Paper Mario, but in that everything looks almost hand drawn, and is animated with a certain stutter to it. Certain effects break this aesthetic, and it’ll be interesting to see more of what The Sixth Hammer do with it in the final release version.
Moo Lander promises to be something different, if nothing else. It’s certainly not going to break any records, but if it lives up to it’s potential as a snackable game then we’re all for it. Moo Lander is set to launch on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and PC later this month. So you’ll be able to milk those puns for all they’re worth yourself.
You must be logged in to post a comment.