Overview

Happiness, anger, sadness, pride, robots...

No, you read that right. And I wouldn't blame you for raising an eyebrow at your screen. Emotions aren't exactly what I think of when I hear the word "robots." But, in M.O.O.D.S., that's exactly what you get. In this roguelike by developer and publisher StickyStoneStudio, along with Erabit, emotions are everything.

After an experiment went wrong, robots were left without their creators on a planet overrun by the very thing they craved: emotion. The world was split up by it, leaving everyone fighting each other just to feel emotion. Most of them can't handle it without breaking, plunging the world into chaos and war.

That's where you come in. Saved from a scrap heap, you find out that unlike the bots running rampant, you can actually handle emotion in your body. And this is where the gameplay REALLY starts.

Gameplay

At its core, it's your standard top-down, roguelike shooter. Play with different guns, collect armor and add-ins for your weapons, giving them different attributes (my personal favorite combo being a giant laser beam with an add-in that created a clone of myself every time I reloaded. Which, with the clip being so small, was like every 5 seconds.)

The choice of add-ins and weapons is vast, which gives you plenty of opportunities to whip up disgustingly powerful builds. All add-ins work with one another. Meaning yes, if your bullets are explosive, and you find something that makes all explosions atomic... you have a nuke launcher.

You have three areas to choose from, corresponding with three different moods: sadness, anger, and pride. Each area gives you a different challenge to take into consideration. For example, plenty of the enemies in the pride area charge headfirst with a shield drawn, requiring you to pop to their backside and take care of them that way.

What REALLY spices up the gameplay, however, are the emotions themselves. Not only do they determine how enemies will act, but they also act as a sort of class system. More or less health, the number of dashes you have under your belt, and of course, a special ability (one of my personal favorites being Disgust's, allowing you to create a forcefield to push enemies away from you. Spacing is key in this game!)

Arguably just as important, however, is how moods affect boss fights.

After walking into the boss room, you'll initiate a dialogue with the enemy. Depending on what option you choose, your fight could become significantly easier... or WAY more challenging (but with far better rewards.) They're not small changes at all either. They can range from keeping a boss completely immobile to making their explosions literally nuclear. So needless to say, you actually have to think about what you want to say.

Or... don't. You can always charge in with reckless abandon. I certainly won't judge you for it.

Final Thoughts

Overall, M.O.O.D.S. has a very tried and true formula, with its own unique spin. It has an interesting story in the background; however, the gameplay is where it really shines. The game isn't without its bugs, but nothing is quite game-breaking or terribly jarring.

It's top-down, shoot-em-up, roguelike fun, plain and simple. If you like at least 2 of those 3 descriptors, I say give the game a try. It's available for $12.99 on Steam, (which, if you're like me, costs a little less than your average fast food run.)

Oh, and I'll end on a small little tip: you don't take damage from your own explosives.

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this game.