Mother Russia Bleeds

A bloody and charming affair. It is Splatterhouse by way of David Fincher. I wanted more when it was done. Devolver Digital and Le Cartel studio have laid the groundwork for a stylish and brutal world. Whether you are a fan of beat em ups or just good old fashioned violence, this is sure to scratch that itch for you. I went into this thinking it would be like Hotline Miami but in a different genre.

Mother Russia Bleeds is cruel, violent, thought-provoking and unique. it knows how to tell a story about drug addiction, political fiction and social problems.

Fans of a half-forgotten genre and the Cold War will understand, others may go a step lower, but Mother Russia Bleeds will find its way into everyone’s heart. Because it serves its slaughter honestly. [Issue#267]

An ultra-violent beat 'em up with a very challenging difficulty level and smart combat.

All-round successful beat’em up. Gameplay mechanics work great both in single and multiplayer. In addition, the style of the game is brought to perfection and the result is a flawless atmosphere.

This is not a game for the faint of heart and some might even find its lack of taste, especially in later levels, appalling. But for those who appreciate nasty aesthetics as well as amusing-if-simplistic action, Mother Russia Bleeds is a fun time.

Despite being a little over the top at times, violence-wise, Mother Russia Bleeds is a fantastic brawler at it’s core. Addicting gameplay with a classic look, this one should keep you and your friends entertained time and time again, just like the classic beat’em ups of the past.

Despite its problems with teammate AI, unfair difficulty spikes and the lack of online co-op, Mother Russia Bleeds is a worthy representative of the "retro" beat' em ups. The fast and addictive gameplay, the robust sense of blows and the deep combat system will delight the fans of the genre.

Mother Russia Bleeds provides the same emotions as classic beat 'em ups in days of yore, but is not without similar issues and problems. For one, the game really needs an online mode.

Mother Russia Bleeds is a great homage to the beat'em ups that ruled the arcades in the Eighties. Excessive, vulgar, ultraviolent, it offers a fun yet deep gameplay, improved by an inspired art direction and a good soundtrack. An excessive difficulty towards the end and some technical flaws prevent the game from becoming a masterpiece, but if you love the genre, you can't miss it.

Mother Russia Bleeds is a very good beat'em all with an original gameplay and a great retro artistic direction.

Mother Russia Bleeds is the dream of a nostalgic gamer. The visuals are awesome, the violence is there to please you and some mechanics are nice. But some flaws in the controls and some frustrating sections hold it back.

Mother Russia Bleeds brings back that old arcade action shown on games like Double Dragon or Final Fight. It's fast, explicit and ultra-violent and, best of all, playable by four players simultaneously. Pixel art meets gore in a beat'em-up that we'd have killed to play when we were thirteen.

Mother Russia Bleeds is an old-school beat-em-'up fans of the genre will enjoy. There's nothing really new in the formula, but a few additions make it feel fresh.

Mother Russia Bleeds is like melting Takashi Miike cinema with tumblr and Hotline Miami. A nice beat'em up with a bloody aesthetic and a nice gameplay.

Mother Russia Bleeds provides a risky but fun experience in the classic beat'em up genre. The game lacks on content, but its replay value makes this game a recommended experience for every fan of that kind of title.

A great excuse to get acquainted with the genre for those who were born after it died, and a great exercise for nostalgic thumbs.

Mother Russia Bleeds is full of drugs and flaws. Its art direction is over the top, but there are frustrating sections that ultimately break the flow.

Mother Russia bleeds takes you back to the good old 80s and arcade machines. It’s gory, it’s brutal, it’s fun, it’s nostalgic. Don’t miss it.

For the fans of the beat 'em up genre, this is a must. Yet, it won't leave its mark on the gaming world bar the impressive amount of political incorrectness, staying just above the average of the gaming spectrum.

Mother Russia Bleeds reaches its entertainment goals. Even though there are some issues in its gameplay that affect the game negatively, we find ourselves with a great beat ‘em up videogame.

Mother Russia Bleeds is a solid debut for Le Cartel Studio. The production is top-notch and the soundtrack is arguably one of this year's absolute finest. It's crystal clear from the onset that the game was born to be wild. It's the culmination of walls gone soft after repeated exposure to drone music and the countless hours spent playing arcade classics. It's a heavy metal game for the most hardcore, and while there's more style than substance to a lot of it, I doubt the fans of that style are going to care in the slightest.

While Mother Russia Bleeds is a competent brawler with a nice variety of punishment to extoll, it clings a little too tightly to old school mechanics and ideas about gameplay and narrative. The slick presentation is nice to look at, though, so you could do much worse for an afternoon on the couch with your buddies.

Mother Russia Bleeds is a nice first down for Le Cartel Studio, but not yet a masterpiece because of some bugs, a very changing difficulty and too much big pixels that make it kind of hard to see things. The game is saved by its cliché Russian setting and a very good OST.

Mother Russia Bleeds succeeds in being a self-aware play on the edginess in video games. As interesting as its concepts, art design, themes and general aesthetic are, issues with its combat and AI hold it back from being the indie darling it clearly has the potential to be.

It introduces wrinkles that make each level feel fresh. And it weaves complex themes into its gameplay in ways that, although not subtle, are nuanced. Mother Russia Bleeds knows how to upset many expectations of the genre--I just wish it wasn't always trying to shock me.

Delightfully demented but lacking knockout power. For good and bad, a sidescrolling, sin-stuffed brawler. [Nov 2016, p.75]

Mother Russia Bleeds has a great title and a unique look with its ugly and yet beautiful 2D sprites. Unfortunately, the combat gets dull rather quickly, and with the lack of online multiplayer, it’s a difficult game to recommend to anyone but the true enthusiasts of the genre.

Mother Russia Bleeds is fun, but that fun costs patience as well as the time lost when dealing with some of the nastier checkpoints. While nailing the simplistic amusement that comes with a little digital sadism, Mother Russia isn’t shy about showing a sadistic side of its own in ways that don’t always feel reasonable. Still, it’s a good afternoon’s distraction if you need a quick fix of something vicious..Oh, and it’s a shame that its representation of kinky behavior is a little bit backwards.

As a beat’em up, MRB doesn’t exactly shine, but its brutality and style almost make up for it. [Issue#213, p.57]

The most flattering description I can offer Mother Russia Bleeds is that of an enjoyably formulaic brawler, but the ferocity of its execution was refined enough to get lodged in my head. I can’t quite work it out: it exists like a ringing in my ears that has no obvious source. Or, rather, it’s a third-gen VHS copy of its influences, a quavery deja vu of a violent brawler both familiar and unsettling.

Exploding heads and taking drugs is fun for a while. [Issue#256, p.65]

Mother Russia Bleeds feels like the creators wanted to make a side scrolling beat ‘em up for adults, but it ends up feeling like what a middle schooler would come up with if you asked him what their idea of a mature game would be; one that’s full of blood, sex, and drugs. While the combat is challenging and often satisfying, the lack of variety between the characters and a graphically messy multiplayer keeps Mother Russia Bleeds from being an exceptional game.

A potentially great game that is completely let down by its balancing and lacklustre enemy encounters.

Gamers with a special place in their hearts for beat-’em-ups may get several sessions’ worth of enjoyment out of it (and I’d still recommend it to folks who really enjoyed arcade beat-’em-ups back in the day) but Mother Russia Bleeds is not the shot in the arm the genre needed to remain relevant in 2016.

Mother Russia Bleeds is a rose-tinted callback to the genre’s giants. Playing the game, you will be reminded of the time spent in youth playing Final Fight, and Streets of Rage. However, you will also be reminded of how one note those games truly were, and how it was more than just graphics that advanced as hardware did.

MRB’s most notable aspect is its nice pixel art, but I don’t think that’s enough to recommend this game, especially if you’re thinking on playing it alone. [12/2016, p.42]

This savage brawler has its moments, but swiftly moves from brutal to boring.

Mother Russia Bleeds brings drug use, killing animals and women, and loads of gore to the beat'em up genre, but lacks originality and is riddled with bugs.

It’s somewhat difficult to recommend Mother Russia Bleeds, as the dystopian setting and drug-filled plot are at odds with the conventions of the side-scrolling beat-em-up genre. While the sprite work is overall quite ugly, the level of detail is astounding in depicting this game’s disturbing imagery. With limited replay value, couch only coop, and not much diversity among the playable roster, these issues outweigh the promise of Le Cartel Studio’s debut game.