It's not often that a rage game is also one that can properly be called a good game. Usually, games that make players rage go no farther than that one set goal. This goal is usually achieved through cheap gimmicks, and all too often outright broken games are thrown out into the world under the guise of "rage game". After all, dying a lot makes the player rage, so throwing cheap tricks and BS into the game to ensure that they die a lot is obviously the way to go, right? It is this unfortunate over-abundance of terrible rage games that makes the world glad for games that make players rage but are still structurally sound, designed to provide both heart-shattering rage and moments of great elation once the challenges that brought on those feelings are finally overcome. Games such as the Dark Souls games; the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy, at points; and now, Maximum Momentum.
Full disclosure, I received this game for free because when a dev posts in a YouTube subreddit offering people the chance to take a look at their game, the upstart YouTuber - like yours truly - should be smart enough to take them up on the offer! I only hope that other YouTubers who take that chance, and myself trying the trick again in the future, are as lucky as I was now to be given a copy of MM! I'll tell you guys what I told the dev when I first messaged them after finishing up recording for my first video on the game: it's a blast (no pun intended)!
The game handles like a dream! It's smooth and responsive, does everything just as how it's supposed to. It's appealing enough to look at as well - nothing ground-breaking, for sure, but far from an eyesore to look at! It's standard space imagery that serves its purpose of making you realize that you are, indeed, piloting a ship around some interstellar space wreckage! The story is quite compelling, although not something unseen before: One of solving some mystery and identifying a mysterious figure (to remain as spoiler-free as possible) and revealed to you largely through the exposition of your communicator! Everything here may have been standard and well-made, but where the game really shines is in the part that sets it apart from most other games of its kind: the difficulty mechanic.
Unlike most other games, where the difficulty is set at the beginning, 'Maximum Momentum' allows you to immediately change the speed from wherever you are in the game. The word immediately here is critical because whereas other games that allow you to change difficulty in the midst of playing force you through menus to do so, 'Maximum Momentum' allows you to quite literally immediately change your difficulty through a speed slider on the side of the screen at any time. It may seem like a small edition to the game, but it's not until you try it that you begin to realize just why so many other space games - 'Star Fox' being the one that continuously came into my mind while playing - set your speed for you throughout the game with little-to-no option to change it. It's extremely easy to go from confident in your handling of the speed slider to a panicky little whimpering Icarus as you've flown your wax wings too close to the speed sun and hurtled yourself straight into a spinning beam. Using the slider is remarkably easy to use, as it's just as responsive as all other controls in the game, which makes slowly switching speeds once you've gotten used to it an absolute dream!
In conclusion, if you have any modicum of interest in space, sci-fi adventures, speed running, and/or rage games, you should absolutely do yourself the favor of checking this game out! It's solidly built, feels great to control, has an extremely fun main mechanic, and even provides some replayability for those desiring to get better times on older levels as they improve! Give it a go and keep your eyes peeled for those damn vortexes!
