Moo Lander

This is what happens when you don't kill all the cows in that cow level of Diablo. Someone made a joke about the movie Zoolander, and these mad lads decided to say f**k it and created a full length video game based on a pun and I’m here for it. It's like Ori, but with OVN's and cows, brilliant, this is the pinnacle of evolution. One sentence summary: You are a flying saucer crash-landed on a planet with aggressive cows that you must abduct as your technology runs on milk. Holy Hell. This game is currently sitting at less than 20 reviews on Steam which is an atrocity. I was concerned at first because the gimmick of the game is that you are a flying saucer. How do you do platforming if you are flying? They manage to make it challenging and fun including the final ability (a tethered laser used to block things/enemies) which I believe is truly unique and used in an innovative way in puzzling. There is a lot of polish on display. Art style reminds me a bit of Ori. Combat abilities are fun with weapons to fit your play style. Combat is challenging. Boss fights tend to be a bit repetitive but usually have enough variation to be challenging. Minor boss spoiler: main bosses are cows with unique fighting gimmicks and abilities. The game is also fully voice acted with a heavy emphasis on the story. As far as being a Metroidvania. There is a small amount of backtracking in each biome, but there is not a sprawling open map where you return to previous areas. The story necessitates this but this game is definitely leaning on the linear side of the scale. As a big MV fan, I was perfectly satisfied with the progression. Even though it’s definitely linear it’s fun and unique. If you want something quirky, fun and with unique mechanics definitely give it a try. 7/10

[h1]Sometimes, it’s better to [i]moo[/i]ve on[/h1] There’s a whole bunch of games out there that never realised their potential, be it from all kinds of mismanagement nonsense or simply being too old. Maybe that’s for the best; let the past stay in the past while people go on to build new and exciting things, not bogged down by trends from four decades ago. Yet, I can’t help but feel like there’s something noble in resurrecting a forgotten concept that not many people care about and giving it a fresh coat of paint, as long as it’s done without post-ironic throwbacks or nostalgia bait in mind. No, I don’t remember the ‘80s, stop asking me that. Take the old [i]Lunar Lander[/i] games for example—a little spec of pixels trying to land on uneven terrain while having to factor in speed, fuel, and anything else that wouldn't make a processor from the last millennium catch fire. Bring something like that back, make it a bajillion times more complex, and I’d bet all those guys playing [i]Kerbal Space Program[/i] would start frothing at the mouth, especially if they somehow have fond memories of the genre. With a name like [i]Moo Lander[/i], it wasn't quite what I was expecting, but I could still see a semi-serious simulation game improved in all the right ways by adding cow and milk puns to it. That notion quickly got dispelled, however, when I opened up the store page and saw it described as the world’s first [i]mootroidvania[/i]—a notion that, in turn, got dispelled by actually playing the game. See, [i]Moo Lander[/i] falls into that grey zone we call 'action-adventure', with every other game that doesn’t have any distinct, genre-identifying features. It’s a side-scroller with puzzles, but no platforming, combat that would best fit a shoot ‘em up or bullet-hell, and souls-like boss battles—big health bar popping up on the screen and all, you know the kind. Simply put, it’s a mechanical mess. [h3]Cowabunga, dude![/h3] The story goes: you’re the captain of a combat drone and one of the Landers (a carefree, hotheaded one at that), an alien race left near extinction after their cow population is wiped out and supplies of milk are left dangerously low, all consequences of a war with the Anunnaki, a rival species wanting the milk all for themselves. Milk, however, is a rather big deal in the [i]Moo Lander[/i] universe. It’s an irreplaceable resource used to power [b]literally[/b] everything, important to the point that nothing can function without it. So, before you ask, no—it’s not like someone made a big deal out of the whole thing just because they couldn't make their cereal one morning. As any good alien species from a place far, far away threatened with being kaput any second now, you come to Earth, at the tail end of a galaxy-spanning journey in search of cows, as well as the legendary Elwir—a device capable of producing infinite amounts of milk. This isn’t your everyday Earth, mind you, but rather a mystical, overgrown landscape filled with fantasy creatures and mutated cows. With the less-than-serious tone in mind, I was actually kind of surprised by just how well [i]Moo Lander[/i] captures the metroidvania experience, at least in spirit. There’s not much in the way of a plot to speak of, but that’s not the narrative appeal of metroidvanias now, is it? It’s the world, the lore, the impending doom and the sense of glory days long passed that looms over everything. And [i]Moo Lander[/i] nailed making that connection with me, even with a notable lack of ruined gothic churches and castles, and an overabundance of glossy forests, caves, and ill-fitting fantasy creatures that just aren’t my thing. Even its sillier aspects are great—it has this Saturday morning cartoon quality to it that the writing embraces with open arms. While the jokes it goes for are easy targets, they flow rather naturally, never coming across as trying too hard—a point that’s not landed on too often amongst games that go for a similar tone, made all the more an impressive achievement here, where English isn’t even the developers’ first language. The game doesn’t put itself down over it either. There’s no need for self-referential or ironic quips pointing out just how silly a milk-propelled universe would be, or how inept our protagonist is without the player to guide him along the way. I applaud a work that doesn’t lack the confidence to just go with its [b]fun[/b] setting and [b]fun[/b] characters, without nervously reminding the audience that “Yes, we’re aware of how stupid this would be, and no, we aren’t trying too hard, we swear! Had we actually tried, the game would be ten times better!”…or something like that. God forbid someone calls you cringe! Special props go to Troy Hudson, the voice actor behind our Lander, who does a great job of capturing that overconfidently suave, dare I say macho, timbre that brings back memories of G.I. Joes and action men dealing away with this week’s threat on cable TV, even more so considering his VO partner in crime, the one voicing the drone’s AI, is a text-to-speech. It might be too archetypal for some to care, but all things considered, I find the candid way these tropes are handled in [i]Moo Lander[/i] rather refreshing. That’s great and all, and makes [i]Moo Lander[/i] quite an easy game to get behind conceptually. But, in practice, playing [i]Moo Lander[/i] and liking what [i]Moo Lander[/i] is about are two very separate things. [h3]Got milk?[/h3] Remember when I said that milk powers everything? That remains true, even in terms of gameplay. Anything your ship does, except for moving, depletes your milk gauge. Empty it completely, and the only thing left to do is limpingly make your way back to one of the milk geysers generously placed before and after each encounter and puzzle. I guess it beats getting stuck, but it creates a gameplay loop that’s completely tensionless. Instead of a limitation that you have to play around it just interrupts the flow of the gameplay; a prerequisite to check off before attempting to have any fun. Health is handled the same way, though instead of a geyser that instantly heals you up, you have to prod a regrowing plant to restore it bit by bit. And I played on [i]Legendary[/i] difficulty—the hardest one, labelled the 'intended' way to play, yet it didn’t prove to measure much of anything, except for how fast one could develop carpal tunnel syndrome, with its spongy enemies and awkward control scheme. I hate to use the term padding because it's often used as an excuse to lambast parts of a game people dislike without any meaningful criticism, but [i]Moo Lander[/i] pads it out! I think the last three hours of the game were spent fighting two enemy types, interspersed with minor variations of the same ‘avoid the laser beam’ puzzle. It’s not like the boss battles were of any help; they’re essentially the same, each with its own gimmick that doesn’t seem to matter much since I used the same strategy to beat every single one, sort of like the cow version of that one time [i]Dark Souls[/i] made most of its enemies a variation of ‘dude in armour’. And, yes, every arena did have one of those healing plants. In a corner, tucked away where I could heal without being disturbed. Imagine if I had to actually be somewhat good at the game to beat it. Oh, and you can’t even use any of the cool firing patterns you unlock for your milk cannon, since boss battles require you to use a rather limited set of different, ‘non-lethal’ attacks. I suppose you’re not getting much milk out of a dead cow, huh? At least not without trying! [quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Wondering if that underground indie title you’ve been eyeing for some time is either a hit or a miss? Our Curator, [b]IndieGems[/b], has you covered![/url][/quote] [i][hr]The Sixth Hammer provided IndieGems with a copy of the game for the purposes of this review.[/hr][/i]

A gorgeous and fun puzzling/platformer shooter with heart that deserves a lot more attention. This game was a very nice surprise as I was expecting it to be moo-re of a gimmick, but the more I played of it I could tell that there was a lot of effort and love poured into this. The best thing about this game is the game and enviroment art. There is obviously inspiration from games like Ori or Rayman and they really added their own flair. Backed up with a fantastic musical score, this game was a gorgeous audio and visual feast. Just look at the videos on this Steam page. The combat is simple but the controls were very smooth and responsive with a good variety of enemies and weapons. None of the weapons feel redundant and each one has its own strengths versus different enemies. The cow bosses added the biggest challenge and it was fun to see how different the next cow was, but this brings me to my biggest complaint of the game. I was playing the game on the hardest setting but with the addition of health plants that produced unlimited health over time in the arenas where you fought the cows, they made the fights almost impossible to lose. You just had endless health which felt right for lower difficulties but for the "hardest" difficulty felt out of place. I do know they are looking into this so I may edit this review at a later date. The game had a lot more puzzles than I was expecting. Nothing too difficult but enough to make you think and make traversing around the world more interesting. The story writing is good but the main characters Lander and Hamilton stole the show for me. A lot of the dialogue is predictable and some of the jokes on the nose but the solid voice acting really sold it. I believe the game actually needs a lot more dialogue from them especially in some later parts where it felt too quiet for too long. There are a few QoL changes I would like to see but nothing that majorly takes away from the game. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to play the multiplayer so I cannot comment on it but it looks fun. Overall, I think this a great game that is full of character and you can really feel the love put into it. I will definitely be looking out for TheSixthHammer's next project whether it will be something different or the next adventures of Lander and Hamilton.

If you like games with various physics mechanics and puzzles, like Ori and the Blind Forest you will probably enjoy this game! It has a good amount of silliness, although a bit too on the nose at times!

Moo Lander to dwuwymiarowa platformówka od niezależnego studia The Sixth Hammer. W grze kierujemy ostatnim statkiem kosmicznym należącym do naszej cywilizacji, eksplorując nieznane tereny w poszukiwaniu źródła nieskończonego mleka. To najczystsze źródło energii, do którego dostęp utracono po wojnie. Musimy zrobić wszystko, by odnaleźć starożytne urządzenie pozwalające na produkcję jak największej ilości mleka. Wykonanie powierzonego zadania utrudnią nam krowy. Są one bossami charakteryzującymi się zaawansowaną "inteligencją", więc podczas rozgrywki musimy znaleźć sposoby na przechytrzenie zwierząt. Łącznie stawiamy tutaj czoła ponad 20 różnym typom wrogów. Co ciekawe, gra oferuje także dodatkową opcję pozwalającą na przejęcie kontroli nad krową i zmierzenie się z bohaterami opowieści. Pod kontem graficzny tytuł prezentuje się ciekawie. Grafika zrobiona trochę w stylu filmów animowanych, ale nie przeszkadza to w pokazaniu humoru i ciekawych rozwiązań. Pod kontem samej fabuły i różnorakich gagów produkcja przypomina trochę starego, poczciwego Eathworm Jim'a. Dubbing i oprawa dźwiękowa stoją na przyzwoitym poziomie, a same zagadki nie męczą, za to są bardzo intuicyjne. Warto sprawdzić. Ocena: 9/10

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La verdad es que este juego tiene un aspecto muy muy extraño cuando lo ves por primera vez en su vídeo promocional, su temática y sus imágenes. No sabes si puede ser lo que necesitabas para cambiar de aires, o un verdadero bodrio. Pero si le das una oportunidad... ¡Oh, qué gran sorpresa te vas a llevar! Prueba aunque sea la demo para hacerte una idea, porque puede que te sorprenda mucho más positivamente de lo que piensas. El juego está hecho con una atención al detalle gráfico y sonoro que es exquisita, la verdad. Las voces no son gran cosa, y los textos podrían mejorarse mucho para darle más humor aún a lo que pretenden ser diálogos que no hay que tomarse muy en serio, pero son detalles que se pueden pulir en posteriores expansiones. El juego comienza bastante tranquilo, y creo que conforme avanzas al final, se va haciendo más y más interesante. Tiene momentos donde piensas "Se les ha ido la olla completamente... ¡pero me encanta!". Los puzles podrían haber sido más complejos en ciertos casos, y la dificultad creo que aún tiene algunas vueltas de tuerca que dar, pero por lo demás ha sido un juego que me mantuvo pegado desde el principio hasta el final. Lo acabé en un día en dificultad normal, y tengo ganas de volver a jugarlo en mayor dificultad, ya que los desarrolladores han dicho que tienen a un especialista mejorando las traducciones al español (que de primeras dejan bastante que desear, para ser sinceros...), así que espero el momento de poder volverlo a instalar y jugarlo al máximo a ver qué retos me plantea. Insisto: si te gustan los metroidvanias, descárgate la demo ya y pruébalo. Solo con la demo deberías ser capaz de ver si te pica más la curiosidad o no. Personalmente no me arrepiento de tenerlo en mi biblioteca. Buen trabajo, The Sixth Hammer, seguid así. ¡Queremos DLCs!

想了想勉强给个推荐吧，但是游戏的缺点不少。 首先是这游戏介绍里玩恶魔城银河战士的梗，但实际游戏是一本道，没有任何探索要素，更没有地图；看着像平台或者卷轴过关游戏，实际是双摇杆射击游戏，游戏流程是不断打怪打奶牛，问题尤其突出的是打奶牛（BOSS），千篇一律的基础技能，各分配一个特技就算是不同的，倒是可以不打，就是没技能点拿了；其次游戏关卡设计不及格，往东开开关，往西开开关，再东边开开关，最后从西边过关，除了拖时间没有任何意义；故事的话，迷你神族地球捕奶牛记，平淡如水，让人怀疑整个游戏剧情写出来只是为了最后的一个双关梗。 优点是全配音的双人相声说得还行，音乐和美术在线，入夜后的关卡多了几个机制后跑图也变得稍微有趣了一点。

The game is fun at first but due to extremely clunky controls and unpolished design, it is progressively more and more frustrating to the point where I just gave up halfway through. What is good about the game is the art style and the music. The story is kind of meh and the rest is just bad. The controls feel like it was designed by someone who never held a controller in their life. It is truly atrocious. It tries to be a twin-stick shooter but somehow fails miserably and the controls just feel extremely bad. I got the laser as fast as I could so I would not have to spam R2 for each and every shot because hold-to-shoot is apparently too cool for the devs. It legit made my fingers hurt. Once you get the dash ability, you immediately realize how bad the camera is. It constantly fails to follow at reasonable pace, making me constantly dash into thorns cos I can't see where I'm going. It truly shines in chase scenes where you just smash into things. The constant zoom-in in narrow places is also annoying as hell. Once you get the splitter thingy, you also realize another design flaw. When aiming it, it constantly snaps to the ship itself which renders it completely unusable. So you have to keep constantly repositioning it until you get a lucky angle that somehow works. Why? What's the point of this useless snap "feature"? Why do I have to fight the game in order to play it? Can it be disabled? Of course not... Changing camouflage of the ship to get different bonuses is nice until the game forces you to constantly switch in order to progress. It becomes just another annoyance at that point. The cow fights are just as frustrating and extremely boring. It basically consists of just spamming L2 and moving left to right until your fingers fall off. But where the game really took a dump on me was when you encounter the jumping hogs or whatever. The game locks your controls and zooms into a "cutscene" where you see the hogs spawn and start zooming around with lightning speed while the camera sloooooowly oh so slowly, taking it sweet sweet time, zooms back to your ship while all your controls are still locked. Once you finally regain control of your ship, you have about 0.000001 seconds before you're obliterated. So no, I would definitely not recommend this game to anyone. When you need to fight the game in order to play it, that's when you know to stay away.

A very fun indie game, enjoyable 2D graphics, puzzles are nice, and it has a very funny campaign. Also has co-op and PVP modes, which is awesome. Definitely recommend for some fun times with friends