Tetris is grand, but it could do with more chainsaws. Thus (presumably) went the thought process of the developers behind Dr. Fetus' Mean Meat Machine, a Super Meat Boy spinoff about lining up colourful meaty blobs while dodging buzzsaws and other grizzly hazards. Think Tetris meets match 4 meets Meat Boy slapstick.
A demo came out in April, but publishers Thunderful Games have just announced you'll get to play the full thing on June 22nd.
I haven't had a chance to give the demo a whirl myself yet, but I'm already sold on the combo of simple match 4 strategising and reflex-testing hazard-dodging. It's a treat to look at, too, all popping colours and sometimes literally popping meat blobs. Perhaps not surprising, given that developers Headup collaborated with Super Meat Boy studio Team Meat and SMB's artists.
Alice O dug the demo, welcoming the splash of murder-based variety the Meat Machine brings to tetrominoes and tiles. Missiles and saws and lasers and more means each level has plenty to play with.
As Alice also notes, this Meat Machine is a clear homage to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, which is itself a Sonic flavoured version of Puyo Puyo. A noble history.
You can squish some meat yourself for free by grabbing the demo on Steam, GOG or the Epic Games store. The full Machine comes out on June 22nd, but Thunderful haven't yet revealed how much it will cost.
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