Mother Russia Bleeds

The fluctuating difficulty is the only thing subtracting a star. PROS: Ferocious combat, pixel graphics actually lend to the atmosphere, fun with compadres, mind-job of a story, controller support (XInput), modest hardware requirements. CONS: Difficulty fluctuates from normal to crushing to normal to crushing. Verdict: Streets of Rage gameplay + Hotline Miami violence and psycho story = Mother Russia Bleeds. Played on a Dell OptiPlex 780. Core 2 Duo (2.93GHz), 8GB RAM, Nvidia GT 720, Linux Mint 17.3 64 bit, Logitech F310 controller set to XInput.

Mother Russia Bleeds (MRB) is the mix between Streets of Rage and Hotline Miami with a big dose of talent... and madness. Okay I have to admit that menus and controls, especially remapping, are bad. I had to figure out how to select a character and start the game in 30 mins. Discovering that enter is the key to do so. Even if you change the appropriate key. But after that this game becomes a monstruous gem... You are a brawler, trained in the streets of this dying Russia of the year 1986. Taken by the police, you wake up in a lab, veins filled with an horrible drug: the Nekros. Haunted by horrible visions and surrounded by madness you are still strong enough to stand up and fight. It's time for you to punch your way trough hordes of junkies and others wastes of humankind to find the ones who did this to you... even if you have to cross the hell itself to make them pay. MRB is a descent into this hellish Russia created by Le Cartel Studio. We are still in known territory. You punch, kick, grab, dodge and even jump. Some combos are rather cool especially with the addition of drugs that gives a temporary boosts/skills that can be unlocked as you progress in the game. The syringe you bring with you can be refilled on enemies and forces you to keep some alive, turning some situations into epic moments. Because, even if drugs are bad and destroyed millions of lives ... in MRB it refills a part of your health.Giving you the choice between 4 super powers or 4 shots of health. Also weapons are present and numerous. Baseball bats, knives, batons and even toilets... Firearms are also here. They are powerfull and, this time, filled with a clip or two ! Difficulty is very high due to very fast and powerfull enemies. Bosses gives a hard time and rather often you will pray to have a friend by your side... and you know what ? You can call a bot ! TO CONCLUDE: MRB is an excellent game that clearly walks on the path of Hotline Miami as a fighting game. A must buy.

Mother Russia Bleeds is tons of fun. The goal is quite simple: beat up everyone and get the furthest possible. What I like the most are the graphics, sound and ambiance. The way I see it is that this game is like a good movie or a good music album, when you start it's quite hard to stop until you've reached the end. I'm not a hardcore gamer and for me the game is rather accessible: I had to restart a few levels, but they were not impossible to complete, especially with the help of AI bots when all hopes were lost - I thought that was a nice idea from the developers. The only annoyance for me was the "controller" not working: I don't have an XBox controller but the joystick I bought for 10€ works perfectly with my other games (GOG or Steam), I have no idea why I'm unable to use it in MBR .. tough cookie, I'll just smash my keyboard a bit more. All in all for me this is a great game, it's not "perfect" but if you like games where you get straight into the action you'll probably like it too.

Mother Russia Bleeds [MRB] is one of the bloodiest, face smashing, blood born pathogen swapping, zombie kill fest that anybody needing to release an anger-wad could have ever asked for... if it were put together a little bit better. Below are the three things that turned me off this game, and why I think you should pass this title by. i) Hit boxes The hit boxes in this game are so terribly finicky that you will often find yourself punching past or sliding by your opponents. Good luck landing a timed hit of an enemy lunging at your downstairs. You will miss. They will not. ii) Bad guys and their items hanging out off-screen Enemies can be bludgeoned off screen with relative ease when you are screen locked into an area. The enemy AI is prone to staying to the edges of the screen as well. So, should you execute a technique that has a knock-back effect, the enemy and any beating enhancements that they may be carrying are not accessible to you. Too many in fights in MRB take place at the edge of screen. iii)Volume of bad guys VS AI helpers Nothing defines a beat-em-up more than swarms of enemies frothing at the mouth to have their donkeys handed to them. MRB takes this to a higher level. You can attempt to beat every opponent on your own, but it can be tedious undertaking if not insurmountable. However, you can assign yourself additional computer operated meat bags. They are alright at full health, but I find that when you are both close to death, the AI will inadvertently take you down with its preset actions. (Perhaps the number of bad guys should be better prorated for how many human players are present, and/or give an options menu to change how the AI fight ad lib.) I am rather tired of the unfinished feel of many Devolver titles. Blee-yacht/ 10 [Review transcribed from my steam accout; 6.6 hours of play on record]