Freaking Meatbags Review

*Freaking Meatbags is currently in early access mode, opinions are subject to change on release of full game.*

Freaking Meatbags is a tower defense/RTS hybrid that follows the story of Chip, a robot who shows up .002 seconds late to work and gets stuck with the bad sector (ouch). The company he works for helps clear out soon to be dead planets of all the useful minerals they have. The boss’s wife just happens to love the Meatbags on the planet, or in layman’s terms, Humans. This means that you have to keep yourself, the base, and the Meatbags alive.

Freaking Meatbags campaign tests the limits of storytelling through short e-mails. Throughout the game you interact with your loved ones and employers through these e-mails. With an engaging story line, the game takes away the need for cut scenes – often thought to be the gem of any story driven game.

Freaking Meatbags is easy on the eyes. The game takes place entirely in 2D, with the ability to scroll out and see at least half of the level – depending on the size – at a time. The unique tower designs make it easy to distinguish each one, and the human hybrids beautiful and practical design will woo players throughout the game. Accompanied with the most fitting soundtrack, Freaking Meatbags tribute to the retro era will not go unnoticed.

Freaking Meatbags controls are smooth, although a few hotkeys would have been nice for control during waves. The game follows a very cookie cutter design, allowing little creativity in how you defend your base.

Freaking Meatbags late game includes broken gameplay and jumps from casual tower defense to one of the most challenging games in the hybrid genre. The campaign is relatively short, if it wasn’t for the broken level at the end, it would, at most, be a 6 hour play through. Despite the fact that the game cannot be beaten easily, if at all, the re-playability shines through and will have you trying for days.

Throughout the game you can collect gold and core. Gold is harvested by the Meatbags, and any time a robot is destroyed it has a chance of dropping core. Gold is used to purchase upgrades for your turrets and genetically enhance your Meatbags, while core upgrades your base or yourself. To say the game uses the time wisely would be an understatement, although most upgrades will not be purchased by the end of the game, allowing for little creativity in builds and using your gold and core a bit more wisely then expected.

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In the end, Freaking Meatbags is an amazing contribution to the indie scene, with its only flaw being late in the game. For being an early development game, Freaking Meatbags contains little to no glitches, and will continue to offer more content in future updates.