Major Mayhem is my kind of shooter – it’s over the top, looks good, and is filled with achievements and power-ups that help keep the gameplay varied.
Its basic formula will be familiar to anyone who spent time in an arcade firing a light gun. The player taps the screen to shoot targets while hiding behind cover to avoid getting blown to bits by enemy fire and projectiles. Major Mayhem does not so much attempt to rotate the wheel, much less reinvent it.
Instead, Major Mayhem refines the wheel. The character models are sharp polygonal cartoons. They look like a G.I. Joe cartoon come to life, and the game’s 45 levels do a great job blending in with the characters on screen using a good mix of colors and shading so that everything feels like it belongs together.
Although Major Mayhem doesn’t change up the formula for the run-and-gun genre much, it does have over 100 achievements to be awarded and like other Adult Swim games, it is loaded with attainable mission objectives (150 in all!) that players should enjoy trying to satisfy.
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On top of all that, the way Major Mayhem showcases the player’s damage is fantastic. Rather than a bland meter that winds down as the character is shot, a series of smaller shots or one large blow will knock off a piece of the Major’s armor. After he’s left with no armor, the next shot ends the game. It helps keep the screen from getting too crowded, which is great, but it also looks really cool, too.
If you’re in the mood for an on-rails duck-and-cover shooter, Major Mayhem should satisfy. It doesn’t take itself too seriously but it has enough gameplay chops to remain interesting well into the endless hunt for achievements it will likely inspire.
