“The game that takes you under the surface of arcade-style gaming and into the roots of fun. Tipping the hat to old favorites such as Dig Dug and Boulder Dash, Motherload incorporates a modern interface, fast-paced gameplay, and an in-depth storyline. Experience exciting gameplay in the substrata of Mars, where you’ll search for the Motherload; A [sic] fabled cache of rare and valuable minerals.”

Motherload while not being one of the latest games from XGen, is one of their more popular offerings. Winner of “Action Game of 2005″ from MiniClip.com, Motherload is a fairly enjoyable game. As the site says the game is fairly reminiscent of Dig Dug with all the umm… digging action. The game is fairly simple initially.

You’re a miner for an ambiguous company which mines on Mars. Due to “strange activities” and that’s where you come into the picture. You start off with a basic miner and as you go on you’re given instructions on how to proceed. You begin digging and collect various minerals which fetch you money at the depot. You use the cash you get to improve your miner with increased capacity, armor etc..

The game gets harder as you progress, with minerals being more sparsely placed and various obstacles like undetectable gas pockets, lava pockets being placed in your way. Also earthquakes occur at random which destroy whatever paths you have created in the soil. Gas pockets are the most dangerous as running into one will instantly destroy your machine. There is a final boss battle against “Satan”, but I have not reached there yet so I can’t really comment on it. The game offers quite a fair bit of replay value with 99 levels. Each level is essentially the same, but is harder than the previous one.

As I discovered from the official FAQ on the XGen forums, “After defeating Satan you start the game again but this time with a “Satan’s Head” in your inventory, this keep track of how many times you’ve defeated Satan. Every level you complete makes the game a little harder. On the second level the point value of everything doubles but the money you get from minerals is cut in half. On the third point value triples, but money value is one third, etc. There are 99 levels however after 15 the values [sic] of everything is so low you won’t be able to pay for fuel let alone upgrades.”

The game does get fairly repetitive after a while, but it is an excellent time killer if you’re at work or at home.

Casualty Tips:

I doubt I can offer much advice, but here are a few tips:

• Always keeps your miner fully fueled.
• Play carefully. Rushing into things will just make you lose.
• Save often.
• Here are some cheats:
  • “To use a cheat, open the options menu and just type the cheat. If done correctly, you’ll hear a noise. The cheats are as follows”
  • blingbling – adds $100000 to cash
  • penetrable – hull strength + 1
  • digdug – drill strength + 1
  • warp9 – engine strength + 1
  • guzzle – fuel tank size + 1
  • toocool – radiator strength + 1
  • supersize – bay size + 1
  • fillerup – refill fuel
  • ntouchable – maximize all parts, and give access to core transporter by pressing zero.