Bite-sized Review:
Mekkablood: Quarry Assault

By Chris Picone, 25 January 2025

Mekkablood is a great new "boomer shooter." It gets the 90s-style gameplay pretty right; pretends to have a story, non-stop action, full of attitude, a fast-paced blastfest. It's a good game.  The only real complaints I'm seeing (the devs are being review-bombed on Steam already) is its use of AI in some of the art generation.  While it might have been nice for the devs to have been a little more forward with this information, if you're into your boomer shooters, and can get past the AI use, you'll have fun. 

Aesthetics

The cockpit of the mech is absolutely awesome, and I love that the pilot's arms are almost as hairy as mine. However, it's easily the game's best visual feature.  The levels are all very samey, full of very similar rooms with repeated textures for days - but at least all of the levels are distinctly different from each other. The baddies look pretty cool but there's a distinct lack of even basic animations other than the shots being fired. Special effects aren't too bad. 

Gameplay

I hate the target reticule, which points in a weird spot so you usually have to point up to shoot straight.  Also the first gun is pretty awful - I assume it's supposed to be a shotgun so it has short range but it's too short, or too weak, to be effective against any but the weakest enemies.  The other guns; machine guns, cannons, plasma blasters, aren't too bad, and there's an okay range of heavy and rapid fire weapons.  I was surprised to find that ammo management was a crucial part of the game - ammo, shields, and armour are found only by destroying crates as you progress through levels but they're weirdly rare so you'll regularly run out and have to ensure you're using the right weapons on the right enemies to get the most out of them.  You're regularly outnumbered so running out of ammo is never a good strategy. Having said that, you are armed with a set of twin saws for melee which, along with your dash attack, is pretty awesome. The levels aren't terribly well designed but they're not too bad and there are a few traps and absolutely stacks of secrets to find. 

Verdict

Mekkablood isn't perfect but it is fun. If you enjoy boomer shooters, you'll enjoy Mekkablood. It has I think 14 levels, which is honestly plenty, it's a good few hours of play.

Links: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3056270/Mekkablood_Quarry_Assault/