Mommy's Best Action Pack (PC) Review

All four of Mommy's "children" have a few similarities. #1: they are all shooters, with two being vertical/horizontal ones, one having a Swiss-knife-like mech, and another being an ode to Konami's Contra; #2: their soundtracks are full of fast-paced, but forgettable, hard rock and electronic music; #3: besides having a bizarre look, they are a bit ugly, with some having an amount of pixilation that is inexcusable, even for independent productions, and, #4: their gameplay is fast-paced and adrenaline-pumping, something that, luckily, is coupled with pitch perfect controls. The only true difference between them lies on their level of originality, and, most importantly, the level of fun that they provide.

The simplest of the bunch is Game Type; a traditional horizontal shoot 'em up, where the title screen parodies the Xbox Live interface, and whose enemies include flying cars, cats, crabs, donuts, and rugby players, amongst others. The charm of this wackiness soon fades out, though, because it will only take 30 seconds to see everything that there is to see, since the world repeats itself over and over again - with a slight increase in difficulty, of course. Hoodie girl, the heroine in this circus, can shoot gloves in three directions, create a powerful barrage of… sneakers that can slow down projectiles, or enter a bullet time mode for a few seconds - and all this while constantly shouting "Parkour!" In conclusion: fast, challenging, and extremely repetitive.

The chubby hero of Explosionade has found a very powerful mech, which will aid him in destroying all kinds of alien baddies. This metal beast can shoot bullets in all directions, jump around, and sustain heavy damage, but that's not all. Besides being able to shoot grenades that can both bounce and stick on all surfaces, or the fact that it can hover in the air using a jetpack, it can also activate an impregnable energy shield, which can, first, deflect anything lethal, and, second, be used to effectively turn it into a 500-ton bouncing ball, which makes escaping from tough situations, or reaching higher places a lot easier.

The problem here is none other than the extremely simplistic level design, which has two very serious flaws. The first is that it's possible to bypass all enemies and reach the end of each "room" in a matter of seconds, and the second one is that there's rarely any incentive to use the mech's various bells and whistles, especially in the first 30 or so stages, which are extremely easy, and, therefore, pretty boring - and yes, even when cooperating with a friend.

The next title in line asks the question, "Why should the player be in control of just one ship?" Shoot 1UP is a semi-bullet hell-ish, vertical shooter, where the only available power-up adds one more spacecraft, enabling the creation of a very large armada. Wait, though. Doesn't this make evasion manoeuvres almost impossible with such a high number of enemy fire? Yes, yes it does, and that's why it's possible to contract - or expand - their formation with the push of a button.

While far better than the previous two - and, without a single doubt, the whole "one controller, 30 ships" thing manages to make battles quite thrilling - it doesn't keep the whole experience from becoming boring after a while, since there's really nothing to spice things up. There is another mode, where the progress is saved each time a level is completed, yet it actually drops the phalanx concept; the only concept that matters in here.

The sun that the three previously-mentioned shmups orbit around is the fourth one. It's not a very big or bright sun, but it's undoubtedly the star of the show here. Weapon of Choice is a fast run-and-gun shooter, which takes the in-your-face action of the popular Contra series, and adds a couple of unique touches, like a secondary assault rifle that can be moved around in order to shoot baddies without them being able to shoot back, non-linear stages that have multiple exits that lead to different areas, and the fact that when a projectile or enemy gets very close to the character, time slows down for a bit, which is a nice alternative to the annoying "one touch equals death" mechanic that is commonly found in the genre.

The best thing, however, is the way that the available characters are handled, since, apart from every single one having a unique type of weapon at his/her disposal, downed operatives can be picked up from the next one that will be chosen, and get saved if they manage to both reach the end. The levels are all great, the action is tough, and the controls are awesome. The only flaw is its small size, and the fact that it can get a tad repetitive after a while - although it's still the best in this small family of below averageness.