Bambi
I was a kid the first time I heard Motorhead, thanks to watching The Young Ones. That sound blew me away as I'd never heard anything like it and I've been a fan since. It's superb to see Lemmy (RIP†) making his way onto the Atari ST thanks to Virgin Games in 1992. Yet this isn't an Atari ST game I remember playing.
The story doesn't matter for a game like this, but Motorhead band members have been captured and imprisoned. As Lemmy, we must clobber loads of enemies before attempting a rescue. Typically, they're all trapped in different musical locations, the first being Rapland. Well, if you think rap is actually music...
Anyhow, Motorhead is a beat 'em up not unlike Golden Axe. Richard Costello's name appears in the credits to explain that mystery. Additionally, the credits also show Colin Dooley, aka Fungus T. Bogeyman. He programmed two other Atari ST games I thoroughly enjoy - Masters of the Universe and H.A.T.E. Nevertheless, I remember him for very different reasons: Star Wars/Rap. An ancient demo that blew my socks off!!
In light of that personal revelation, we need a bunch of screenshots from Rapland...
Nothing better than smashing in someone's teeth!
At the end of each level, a captured friend requires rescuing.
Each level ends with us racing down the road to collect goodies!
Before the subsequent level begins, we have a (different) bonus round.
Hit 'em all, hard!
Motorhead starts with Lemmy walking onto the stage to blast out guitar riffs YM2149-style. At first, I was disappointed because I expected a short loop of Ace Of Spades! However, that works well. It's weird, the speed of this chiptune is fast and aggressive. Very much in the spirit of speed metal and I love it to bits!!
As the game begins with the bad guys walking into play, you instantly notice how great it looks. Our life's energy is displayed along the top of the screen with the number of remaining Lemmys shown as spades on your belt. To the left is the score and, to the right is the magic level (more on that later).
This beat 'em up is (cough) similar to Golden Axe because it uses the same engine. That means movements, actions, scrolling, etc feel just the same. So when the baddies walk onto the screen, you know instantly what to do and how to do it. And this means hardly any learning curve, which I like a bunch.
Six horizontally scrolling levels are much the same albeit with a different background and enemies...
Level 1 - Rapland - posers and idiots in baseball caps need leathering metal style!!
Level 2 - Nashville - my favourite level with Tex, Dolli, and an inbred mong!
Level 3 - Karaokeville - we're clobbering Japanese singers, businessmen, and sumos!
Level 4 - Scrapyard - Yet another stage of hitting bad guys.
Level 5 - Cathedral - Quite possibly the best-looking level by a mile.
Level 6 - Rave On - The worst level and the hardest. Zebedee makes an appearance!
Each level ends with a joyride that provides an opportunity to collect bonuses and recover energy and magic. Before the next level, there is another bonus round (which is always different). After level one, we have a beer-guzzler that resembles Tapper. Level 2/3 is weird and made me wish I had read the manual! Level 4 is superb because we trash a motel room! The fifth level has us toppling over stones to crush angels.
Okay, let's pause the reading to see a couple of screenshots...
This is from Nashville level 2 - checkout the inbred mong on the right lol
Karaokeville is level three and we're bashing Japanese dudes!
Joystick magic
Controlling Lemmy is fast and responsive plus it's dead easy to learn thanks to the limitations of the joystick's one button. Is that a good thing? Anyhow, movement and actions are centred around that button (whether pressed or not) whilst using a specific direction. That sounds odd? No, it's quite simple...
Without pressing - Left/Right walks Lemmy in that direction (twice to run). Pushing up/pulling down guides him vertically away/closer. Finally, the spacebar will invoke a magical spell.
Whilst pressing - Up will perform a leap (with left/right movement). Down will throw an object/spit, depending on what you have collected. Left/Right (your facing direction) is used to hit/punch. Doing the same, in reverse, Lemmy shoots a guitar cord (to vaporize enemies using magic).
Your movements around the screens are fluent without lag. You can even use parts of the scenery to avoid pitfalls, like caverns. Enemies will attack in packs of 3-5 but aren't the most rapid movers. That gives us plenty of time to run around picking our own battles. I found myself using the same attack pattern - face them/fire. It works well but I would have liked to jump-kick or something else for extra variety.
Opponents suffer a knockback with each hit but only die after being clobbered a few times. I found it best to hit/knockback and turn around to do the same on the next guy before repeating these sexy moves on the first. After a few beatings, they perish leaving behind a bonus - coins (points), Motorheads (magic for guitar cord and magic spells), beer (energy), a jar of cockles, and whiskey (powers a belch aka a superpower).
Magic can also conjure three spells activated by pressing the Spacebar... 1) a dolly bird appears to distract the enemies. 2) the Motorhead logo emerges to damage the bad guys. 3) instantly kill everyone on screen.
We should have a peep at two screenshots showing some of this magical use...
Level 4 takes place in a scrapyard and here I've invoked magic (level 1)
Level 5 is within a stunning Cathedral and I'm hitting out a power cord!!
Aesthetics
Motorhead's visuals are outstanding and make this a sexy beat'em up thanks to the talent of Jason Wilson who might be familiar - HeroQuest and Horror Zombies From The Crypt. All landscapes and backgrounds are vibrant and highly detailed. Character animation is good but superbly drawn - I love that "inbred" from Nashville!! The scrolling isn't really scrolling as it's used to segment each attack wave, as in Golden Axe.
The audio is equal to the visuals in every respect. From the intro, when the chip rendition of "speed metal" began, I knew this would ROCK YM2149-style (pun intended). Each chiptune suits the action without drowning out the sound effects. Thank you Ben Daglish (RIP†) for your amazing musical talent.
Hey, do you fancy a couple more screenshots? Of course, you do...
Zebedee turns up for the final stage, Rave On.
This bonus round is brilliant and tons of fun!
The CryptO'pinion?
To say I've enjoyed this beat'em up would be an understatement. I've relished repeatedly hitting individuals in the craziest places. However, a cynic might suggest it's just Golden Axe with different graphics? Well, I'm not sure about that negativity. Many games borrow ideas or use the same engine to drive the gameplay.
So what did I appreciate about Motorhead? Easy, I appreciated how simple it is to jump straight in and begin thrashing the enemies until they're dead meat. It's amusing zipping around the screen looking to clobber people. The controls are easy to master without feeling sluggish or unresponsive. This is a no-frills game of hitting everyone and it's brilliant fun!!
Ironically, what I didn't like was that simplicity. The repetitive gameplay backfired by the fourth level. I started to tire because I wanted something more but it failed to provide any. It tried with the two bonus rounds (after each level) but more was needed. Furthermore, Lemmy needed a few more attack moves - like a kick or something more accessible without resorting to magic.
It may not have broken the mould but I've not enjoyed a beat'em up this much since Double Dragon 3. This might shock many but I thoroughly enjoyed playing through to the end (except for the final level).
So I might surprise a few people here but my rating is a golden axe hack of 85%.
Level 2 is brilliant and I can even shout at young girls!
Level 3 got a little weird once my mother-in-law turned up!
Level 4's bike ride looks so gorgeous with that dark sky.
Level 5 is stunning. Truly gorgeous pixel art, just look at those goths and skeletons.
I played through and rescued everyone. I wonder why I'm still collecting bonuses?
The ending is Motorhead banging away on stage. Still no sampled sounds though ;)
