No, not Effect and Cause.
Remember that amazing mission in Titanfall 2? No, I’m not talking about Effect and Cause, or the one where you battle along a giant, constantly moving assembly line (man, that game is brilliant). I’m referring to Trial by Fire, where you and BT-7274 must fight your way across a convoy of airborne transport vessels, leaping from ship to ship as you gradually work your way to the front. Anyway, there’s a rapidly approaching FPS which takes that idea and uses it as the basis for a whole game.
Said FPS is named Meatgrinder, and it’s a shooter that revolves exclusively around vehicular action sequences, with you leaping across the backs of trucks, trains, and even aeroplanes as you blast crimson juice out of hordes of masked baddies.
Why is any of this happening? Well, according to developer Vampire Squid, the reasons don’t really matter. Meatgrinder is a shooter with “No cutscenes or storylines, just pure action” a sentiment I can get behind. What does matter is that you keep moving during play. One of Meatgrinder’s key mechanics is that your health is governed by your heart’s BPM, to the point where moving too slowly will see your health start to drain. Moving and killing quickly, however, will heal damage taken from enemy gunfire. In other words, maintaining momentum keeps you alive.
To that end, your character can jump, dash in mid-air, and deploy a grappling hook attached to their leg to cross gaps between vehicles. And it’s not just the rapidly moving ground you’ll need to avoid touching. As you can see in the game’s trailer above, you’ll have to contend with wrecking balls, canyon rockslides, helicopters dropping explosive barrels, and even a giant, Dune-like sandworm that looms over one level.
I took a quick spin in Meatgrinder’s free demo over lunch, and while it didn’t strike me as the most mechanically sophisticated FPS, I enjoyed the taster road trip the demo offered. Leaping off the giant red tanker trucks before blowing them up under my enemies’ feet was especially satisfying.
Meatgrinder ignites its engine on April 13. If you can’t wait that long to shoot a man off the back of an articulated lorry, you can download the free demo here. And if you’re looking for something a little different in an FPS, check out Morgan’s rundown of what’s happening in the shooter space this year.
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