Motorslice is a brand-new parkour action game that takes inspiration from Mirror’s Edge and other parkour-focused titles, while adding its own twist to the genre. The game stars P, who is known as a “Slicer” in this world. Her main weapon is a chainsaw, which she uses not only to slice through the machines that rule this world and threaten her life, but also as a tool to cross platforms, slide along walls, and destroy structures.
The world of Motorslice feels like a dystopian future where your goal is to destroy a machine-run megastructure alongside a companion named Orbie. The story does not provide much exposition, with most of the lore coming through the atmosphere and environmental details. As you explore between levels, the story unfolds gradually through cutscenes that focus on the relationship between P and Orbie and their views on the world around them.
While the developers try to make the story feel interactive through choice-based dialogue, the decisions do not seem to have much impact on the narrative and mostly create the illusion of choice. Although the game never explores the world’s history in depth, it is still interesting enough to keep you invested and pushing toward the ending. Unfortunately, the story struggles to properly convey the scale and depth of its world. In other words, the world-building feels weak and does not fully deliver on its premise.
Motorslice feels like a game where the main focus was creating a strong gameplay experience, with everything else coming second. In that regard, it succeeds as a fun parkour game packed with dynamic gameplay systems that work well together. The game uses a third-person camera and focuses heavily on parkour, with some light action elements mixed in. Its inspirations range from the Prince of Persia series to Mirror’s Edge.
Traversal is built around a mix of wall-running, pole-swinging, and chainsaw slicing along metallic structures. If you enjoy these kinds of movement mechanics, you will likely have fun with Motorslice. While the gameplay is definitely enjoyable, the game unfortunately struggles to fully deliver on its potential. The visuals and level design often feel dull and repetitive, which could be overlooked if the gameplay stayed consistently engaging. However, the context-sensitive parkour system frequently fails to register actions properly, leading to frustrating accidents instead of satisfying movement.
It also feels like the game did not really need a combat system, because it ends up being fairly average. Regular enemies usually go down in one or two hits and rarely feel satisfying to fight. The boss battles, which use mechanics like parrying and motorslicing, are the stronger part of the combat. Even then, they feel more like platforming puzzles where you figure out how to climb giant mechanical beasts, similar to Shadow of the Colossus, rather than true skill-based action encounters.
While the soundtrack is decent and complements the game’s world and overall design, the visuals, unfortunately, feel too basic. It may be an artistic choice, but the world design suffers because of it. I did like the idea of Orbie acting as a camera that follows P, since it reminded me of Super Mario 64. Since the game runs on Unreal Engine 5, there are some performance issues, but nothing that cannot be improved with a few settings tweaks.
If you are looking for a lengthy campaign, Motorslice is unfortunately not one of those games. Still, it feels well-paced and never overstays its welcome. There are a total of eight chapters, with a playtime that can be completed in under 10 hours. There is not much replay value, so it is mostly a one-and-done experience. If you really enjoy the gameplay, though, a replay might be worth considering later on. Aside from that, considering its launch price, I would say it offers decent value for money.
Motorslice Game Information
- Price: $19.99
- Publisher: Top Hat Studios, Inc.
- Developer: Regular Studio
- Platform: PC, PS5 (Reviewed)
- Disclaimer: A review code was given by the publisher
