Review | Mighty Goose

LifeisXbox’s Mighty Goose review | I don’t know about you, but I love run’n gun games. Classics like Contra, Gunstar Heroes, Alien Hominid, Metal Slug, and, most recently, Cuphead are some of the most beloved titles of the genre. Still, something that was way more abundant and relevant during the 8-bit and 16-bit generations has only seen a few titles in the past and current generations. Yes, we had the opportunity to play Super Time Force, Guns, Gore & Cannoli, and Fury Unleashed, to name a few. But it looks like that, for somebody at the Dutch studio Blastmode, it wasn’t enough. So they joined forces with MP2 Games to bring to life their first title, right from a successful Patreon campaign. So today, I bring to you Mighty Goose (honk!).

Controlling a legendary bounty hunter, you will traverse the galaxy hunting down the Void King, an evil monarch who rules an army of minions and mechanized monsters and threatens the galaxy. Your goose (honk!) uses an armor equipped with hands that allows him to use guns, vehicles and fight enemy forces. So prepare your drop-pod, and let’s jump into action!

Rafa fought evil minions and saved the galaxy in 7 hours on his Xbox One X. The game is also available for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PCs, and Nintendo Switch.

What we liked!

• Visuals | Colorful and beautifully detailed, the visuals of Mighty Goose are a show by themselves! The game has cartoon looks with a nice touch of humor, but without becoming exaggerated. Scenarios, characters, allies (more about them later) are impressively detailed and have beautiful animations. The visual effects for your – and your enemies – guns, explosions, and the bosses are truly unique! I need to mention, though, that when there are lots of enemies in the screen firing their guns at the same time, there’s a brief FPS drop and slowdown that annoys a little. Still, it seems intentional to give you a split second to breathe and plan your next move. There are some funny moments, like when you die and see your hero’s body becoming a roast duck, showing a large amount of love and attention to details in the development of this title.
• Audio | The audio department of the game is very well served, thank you. The music is engaging, and the sound effects are simply spectacular – with a special place for the distinctive honk! our goose friend makes every now and them (maybe an homage to everyone’s favorite goose game).
• Gameplay | And here we are, my friends: the icing of the cake! The gameplay in Mighty Goose is simply outstanding! You can run, jump, dodge and unload your magazines at everything that crosses your path in this run and gun game. Sometimes, fallen enemies will drop weapons that you can use to obliterate other foes. When your special bar is complete, you can simultaneously press both triggers to activate a Super Sayan mode that gives our hero extra firepower and invincibility for a short period. It’s perfect for taking you out from tough or against bosses. At some specific moments in each stage, you can resort to special vehicles to traverse the stage (which reminded me a lot from Metal Slug – what’s great, since this is a game we all love!). Are you running out of ammo? No problem: open up your PDA and – literally – buy a resupply or order a vehicle to be delivered to you by an intergalactic courier cat. I had no idea that Amazon was already making prime deliveries among the stars. Good to know for my next space adventure.
• Customizing your arsenal | Before you start each mission, you can customize your hero in the base (or what looks like one). There you can select a secondary weapon among grenades, shields, and much more. You can also install nodes in your armor to increase your movement speed, allow you to double-jump, or use a charged shot, among others. In the store, you can also select a companion to follow you in your adventures – and a second player can control this companion if there’s someone to play with you. You unlock more nodes, secondary weaponry, and buddies as you advance in the story. When you find yourself stuck in a mission, you can always go back to the base to change your equipment for a more efficient setup for each given situation.

Somewhere between

• Co-op | I love the fact that you can have a couch co-op friend playing this game with you. I just don’t think the way it was implemented was the best possible way – although it makes all the sense in the universe of the game. Besides being a good (and necessary!) help in combat, your companion is irrelevant to the adventure. It made me feel like I was playing Sonic 2 (yes, the ancient one) back again, where my second player was almost immortal, and I could totally advance without him. It’s something that could have been waaaaay more relevant in the story of the game. And now we mentioned the story of the game…

What we disliked

• Lack of story | A legendary bounty hunter… that’s all the information we have about our hero in this title. And even less go for its allies and enemies, especially the Void King, your ultimate enemy. The developers set an interesting background for your adventure, but don’t use anything from it. At all. The little information we have about the missions and our enemies comes from the radio. One of your allies gives you some clues about your objectives and an overall description of each new area. But that’s all. We don’t know why the Mighty Goose is after the Void King – or if he is even interested in his opponent. Let’s hope that in its sequel, they will explore the backstory and motivations of each character.
• Duration| Do you know when you love a game so much that you feel bad when you finish it? That’s how I felt after finishing Mighty Goose’s main game and new game plus. The game duration is perfect for a title of the genre, but there’s so much quality content in it that I wanted it to last for way longer! More levels, more enemies, more vehicles, more guns, more honks!… more about everything!

How long to beat the story | Between 4 and 5 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | Between 6 and 7 hours
Similar with | Metal Slug, Cuphead and other great run and guns from the past!

CONCLUSION

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