When you shout at your buddy for being greedy and getting all the best minerals, that’s not exactly engendering a “go team” spirit. Within the framework of the game, having individual cargo spaces makes sense, but it doesn’t make sense from a cooperative perspective. Finally, player progression is only tied to the first player, so while he or she will reap the benefits of everyone’s upgrades to the different characters/rigs, the other players will lose out. So even though you’re all using up the same fuel, you’re responsible for collecting your own minerals to sell off. Each player has his or her own cargo space for the minerals they collect, and each player has his or her own health bar and cash collected. However, that’s the only resource that’s shared. All players share the same fuel pool, so when one player is out of fuel, you’re all out, and drilling operations have to cease until all players return to the surface and somebody buys some more fuel for the group.
![super motherload not working super motherload not working](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SC8a3ZNHqsw/maxresdefault.jpg)
Super Motherload supports up to three other players locally. Now, add another player (or two or three) to the mix, and that puzzle becomes a little more competitive than cooperative. Even if it appears to have all the trappings of a different genre, it is still a puzzle game. Part of that is due to the casual nature of it (the developers even state it’s a “casual” game on the website), but the other part is that that’s not how the game is intended to be played. If you approach it like an action game or any other platformer you’ve played, something just feels off about it. You spend the cash to make upgrades to your mining rig, which carry across playthroughs, so you can dig deeper and get bigger combos. That’s the mindset you have to be in when you approach Super Motherload - that you’re playing a puzzle game where the goal is to get the biggest combos to get the most points (cash). It's working through and deducing these kinds of combinations that not only yield you the highest payouts, but also make Super Motherload so oddly addictive. Then, if you go that extra little bit further, you can snag that Goldum to make some White Gold. If you drill across to grab Bronzium, then go back and drill down for that Silverum, you can create Sterling Silver. Instead of a bunch of minerals scattered about the place that you casually drill towards to collect, the Mars underground becomes an intricate strata of possibilities. One of the first upgrades you'll purchase is a smelter, which allows you to combine two elements into a new one that sells for much more.
![super motherload not working super motherload not working](https://www.ultraboardgames.com/super-motherload/gfx/components.jpg)
While the game moves like a platformer, has skill-leveling elements like many action platformers, and just feels like a platformer, it's not. Or maybe the unobtanium is a lie? How about it's all a metaphor for the Industrial Revolution and the minerals actually represent the children consumed and spat out by the unfeeling, heartless machines of the time period? Surely there's some mind-blowing twist, like all of a sudden your drilling rig turns into a spaceship that uses its drill to deliver intergalactic justice. I thought surely there's more to it than dig down, collect some minerals, take them back to the station, refuel, maybe buy and upgrade, and repeat. I'll be honest, the first couple hours I spent with Super Motherload I didn't get it. The further down you go, you also start to learn more about the company that’s employed you and not everything is quite as it seems. Once you’ve upgraded and refueled, then it’s back down you go. Of course the more valuable resources are located deep within the planet and your humble rig won't be able to reach them without some upgrades, so you'll spend some of that hard-earned cash on making it possible for you to delve into the deepest depths. Drill down, gather the minerals, then bring them back to the surface to sell for profit. Super Motherload puts you in the boots of a miner who's been tasked by the Solaris Corporation to go to Mars and dig for precious minerals. But there's a puzzle game laying just beneath that surface.
![super motherload not working super motherload not working](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K6bYBOkKcFg/Uoo_-ifDFKI/AAAAAAAAMyw/IaFAPkdlmno/s1600/Super+Motherload+3.jpg)
![super motherload not working super motherload not working](https://asset.vg247.com/super-motherload.png)
At first glance, it's easy to dismiss Super Motherload as a repetitive platformer with little to keep you playing. XGen Studios' first game out of the gate with the PlayStation 4's new indie program is Super Motherload.