Mechanical Guardians

Co-op games are designed to be enjoyed by at least two players at once, and they are not too fun if you substitute an AI for a human player instead. Approaching the levels as a team can be a lot more manageable and engaging, especially in an action game that requires good reflexes and coordination. On the other hand, anything with a few bullets and explosions should do as long as the players are having fun.

Mechanical Guardians may look like a basic shoot ‘em up at a glance, and it actually is one when you get down to it, but the amount of fun it can offer you is high enough for that not to matter. In short, the game’s greatest strengths are the support for co-op gameplay and the randomly generated levels, which makes every new round exciting and unpredictable.

As far as the story is concerned, all you need to know is that the Earth is being attacked by aliens, and only a handful of people have the guts to go and face them. However, they decide to sneak into the mothership instead of facing them down on Earth. Thus, you have to explore the ship and try to destroy its vital components, while also fighting the powerful creatures that seem to control it.

Since it’s vital that you move quickly and pick up on your enemy’s attack patterns, the controls must be responsive and accurate, otherwise frustration sets in rather quickly. Thankfully, everything is in order in this case, although it would have been a lot nicer to be able to use the mouse. Controllers are supported, on the other hand, which makes it easier to enjoy the game in co-op.

As you might expect, the visual quality is about as low as it gets, considering the fact that Game Maker Studio was used to develop the game. However, it barely matters how old and faded everything looks, because it’s all about the shooting. The pixel art is not half-bad anyway, depending on whether you are a retro fan or not.

In the end, Mechanical Guardians is not bad at all, and it’s actually quite well designed for an indie production. With more content, better artwork and a few extra gameplay mechanics to diversify the experience, this could gain a lot more popularity.