Mail Mole + 'Xpress Deliveries

The main issue with this game is that the most basic and fundamental mechanic of any platformer (the jump) directly conflicts with the mechanic that makes this game unique (the dash). There are two jump heights: a very short jump that is really only helpful for traversing nearby platforms of equal (or [i]very[/i] slightly higher) height and chaining dashes, and a high jump. Because jump height can't be fine tuned, some platforms are too high for a short jump but much shorter than a high jump, resulting in lots of time spent waiting to land on them. The main issue, however, is that unlike many platformers where the jump occurs as soon as you input it and its height is determined by how long the jump button is held, in Mail Mole, jump height is completely determined before the jump occurs. That is, you must charge up the high jump [b]while grounded[/b] (you cannot prep it midair) by holding the jump button for about a quarter of a second. The flaws in this mechanic really show when paired with the game's admittedly fun dash mechanic. After landing, pressing the dash button will give the player a boost of speed [b]that cannot be canceled[/b]. This means that for basically any platforming requiring precision, there is not enough time to both dash and charge a jump before moving to the next platform. Because of this, I ended up just taking those jumps very slowly, which completely ruined the fun and pacing of the game. One [i]could[/i] make a tight circle during the dash in order to buy time to prep the jump, however this is difficult to control and is likely to throw off the alignment of the jump, which is particularly problematic given how little air control there is. Furthermore, colliding with small objects on the ground can initiate a short jump, which on at least one occasion sent me careening to my death. All of this made the game feel clunky and frustrating. Although the jump is the main offender, the game is not without other flaws: -Dash window is too large (there were many times where I accidentally initiated a dash when I was just trying to move faster (the "run" button is the same as the dash button)) -No screen summarizing progress across all stages -No option to turn off voices or even sound effects in general (I found the player character’s sounds to be repetitive and extremely annoying) -Unskippable cutscenes make gold medal attempts more onerous than they have to be. -The [spoiler]mechamole races, especially the “hard” tier,[/spoiler] feel unnecessary since there is no interaction with the opponents and take place on levels that are part of the main game and that already have medal times and leaderboards. The only difference I saw is that paths forward are already unlocked. The autoscroller levels of the game were actually somewhat fun, albeit easy, but a platformer’s high point being autoscrollers is telling.

Just a very muddled experience. Some of the models are cartoony and rounded, some are flat shaded and look to be attempting a low-poly look (poorly). The levels have collectables scattered around them, but the game has a strict time limit for golden medals, encouraging you to skip exploration. The game features unlockable cosmetic items, but because you spend the majority of the time underground, you'll never really get to see them. It's like the game is just made up of all these different elements, but they just don't tie well together into a cohesive whole. The soundtrack sucks and the timing of the landing boost sometimes feels off. As a platformer, it's alright but you can find better. Certainly not worth full price.

This didn't really work for me. It's a good idea and the level design is decent enough but the controls are the main problem. I found them to be sluggish as hell and judging exactly where you are is difficult because the character is underground! There's definitely something to build on if they ever chose to do a sequel but I became frustrated quite quickly with this.

Mail Mole is a confusing game. It's a 3d platformer where you can't see your character. Despite being underground, you can be hit by projectiles flying overhead. The game's visual aesthetic is mostly cohesive, Save for many recurring objects that have an untextured low poly aesthetic. The music is bland. The writing is boring. I can't really recommend this game to anyone.

If you enjoyed the burrowing sections of New Super Lucky's Tale you'll probably love this. I did! It's a linear 3d platformer that has some really fun level design, NPCs that don't ramble on and instead get straight to the point, chill music, fun boss levels, excellent platforming with an also excellent camera to go with it. No crashes, no bugs, ran smooth as butter the whole time. Got 80% achievements just playing. Dev is definitely on my radar for these types of games and looking forward to more! To make things a bit quicker pause the game and check level cinematic skip 😎. Only gripe is there's no permanent upgrades like getting more than 3 hearts of life but being able to buy up to 6 hearts from the friendly bat is a great touch and I definitely did that quite a bit towards the end.

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The characters are cute and it is a charming game, but the fact that you are always underground makes it hard to tell where your hitbox is, and you can get hit with flying projectiles that really look like they should've missed you. On top of that, the jump feels pretty awkward. It's not unplayable, it works just fine, but it just feels awkward. The regular jump is pretty ineffective and the higher jump requires you to charge it up before popping out of the ground in a way that just... doesn't flow very well. The timing on the dive move is also pretty finicky. None of it is awful to control, but it doesn't feel GOOD either, and controls are really important in platformers. Also, the primary function of the collectibles is to unlock costumes, but again, you are always underground in this game, and you will rarely see the costumes. So the collectibles aren't very fun to collect due to the perfectly functional but awkward controls, and they don't do anything meaningful. They don't even have a particularly satisfying sound effect for being picked up. The hitbox and costume issues could be fixed by just having Molty's little head sticking out of the ground as he digs. The game has potential, and the level design is pretty nice, but it's overall just kind of eh, and there are so many better 3D platformers out there. Super Lucky's Tale/New Super Lucky's Tale in particular comes to mind given the digging and the dive and even a lot of the aesthetics. I could see the idea for this game working really well with some more tinkering, but it feels like it needed more time in the oven or something.

I have very mixed feelings on this game. I like the premise of a mole mailman. You don't actually deliver any mail in this game, just turn power plants back on, but that's kind of like complaining mario doesn't do enough plumbing. But overall, I do like and recommend this game. I'm going to start with everything I don't like. So why the mixed feelings? Well, I hate the aesthetics of this game. So many of the levels are far too orange or too green. The first time I played this I actually checked to see if my color balance and saturation on my screen was okay. The character design isn't great either imo. It doesn't hit that spot of good anthropomorphized animal design you find in like, banjo kazooie or yooka laylee. Most of the characters are stiff and don't have any personality. And, mailmole is always underground so while you have costumes you rarely get to appreciate them. My remaining gripe is some of the levels are incredibly boring. Just really uninteresting design. But there are some great levels, interesting mechanics, racing levels, boss fights and well hidden secrets in this. So while some of this game is boring, the good bits are engaging. I played this on a long plane ride and enjoyed it enough. I probably wouldn't have pushed past the boring bits if I wasn't sitting on a plane. I think this game is ideal for a child in the 5-10 range? A solid 6.5/10 game. A good time killer, it's got no bugs and runs well, I just don't see myself wanting to replay it.

It's a perfectly fine, little platformer in the vein of Mario 3d World. However it is no 3D World. It's got a few issues, but it's not bad. Its a middle of the road PS2 game that you'd find in the bargain bin and give a chance as a child and enjoy way more than you were expecting. Wait for a sale too pick it up if you're really interested.

セールで安いことくらいしか取り柄がない…まさにB級と呼ぶに相応しいゲームです。 プラットフォーマーアクションの操作キャラクターが透明人間だったらどうなるか？という問いに対する答えがこのゲームに用意されています。 ボサノバの軽快な音楽と明るい景観ステージ、そしてポップな登場キャラクターたち。その外観に騙されてはいけません。 なぜあれだけ動物キャラがいっぱいいて操作する主人公がモグラなのか理解に苦しみますが、とにかくモグラであるため地中潜行移動が基本です。モグラなので地上に姿を見せることは稀であるにも関わらず、普通の3Dプラットフォーマーと同じ形式のステージを進むことになります。一応モグラがどこにいるか盛り上がった土によっておおよその位置は推測できますが細かい判定は非常に分かりにくいゲームです。 結果的にとんでもなくストレスの溜まる3Dアクションゲームが出来上がっています。 これ、たぶん、「とにかく誰ともアイデアが被らないアクションゲーム作り」が作者の目的だったんじゃないかとすら思います。 確かにそういう意味では過去現在未来いつどこで作られたゲームとも被らないオンリーワンのオリジナリティがありますよ。 でもね、これは明らかに失敗作だから誰も作らなかったパターンですよ。オンリーワンじゃなくてワーストワンなんですよ。作ってておかしいって思わなかったのかな！？ 良いところは1ステージが約1～5分程度で終わることです。 ステージ攻略以外に中ボス戦が3回、ファイナルボスで三連戦があります。ボリュームとしてはそう長くはないのが救いでしょうか。各ステージの中間チェックポイントもしっかり用意されているので、かなり操作性の悪いゲームではありますがどうにかクリアまでやり切ることは可能です。 自分自身あまりのB級っぷりに思わず全ステージりんご集めとタイムアタックまでやってしまいました。 なかなかの迷作ですよ、コイツぁ