izigame.me

Moolander advertises itself having metroidvania elements, which while true is a bit misleading as the game is nearly 100% linear. It's also rather long for a linear game and i found myself a bit bored after a while. Reason being is that platforming gameplay functionally does not exist given the fact that you control a UFO. I'm not too big on twin stick shooters for this reason and moolander did not bring enough creative ideas to the table to make it interesting. You could argue that the quirky setting/humor make up for this but for me it was quite the opposite. I bought this game fully knowing the ridiculous setting but as i gazed upon the beautiful landscapes i wished they would have gone for a more serious setting. These lush environments would've been perfect for a fantasy platformer the likes of Ori, they have incredible depth and feel ripe for on foot exploration.
But that's not what moolander is so i shouldn't review it wishing as such. Moolander did have a few fun mechanics for a twin stick shooter 'floating' MV. Especially the sword slash you can do around you was fun as it was less shooter and more hack & slash. The boss fights were appropriately themed vs cows but they all felt random instead of deliberate. They were kinda clunky and as a result not that fun to me personally. The music was decent but nothing too memorable while the sound effects felt milky? Didn't know i'd ever describe SFX that way but here we are i guess. Voice acting is over the top as one would expect from a setting such as this and story is equally crazy. In the end i'm gonna thumbs down this game for the misleading metroidvania elements, and because the 95% rating is too high for this one but it's worth playing if you like twin sticks.