The Games We Never Talk About: Motorhead

It is finally time to return to a series we started back in March 2019 with Kid Gloves II, The Games We Never Talk About (but probably should) series, this time it is for another title that I really enjoyed when it came out and still do today, Motorhead.

Why Motorhead is one of those games that no one seems to own nor talk about much is beyond me as both the game and publisher is rather renowned, but then again so was Kid Gloves II as well.

Motorhead is a bizarre game, your goal is to put together your band again after being separated by “someone” and every level in the game (there are 6) got a team member in it that you rescue at the end of the level, to get there you have to kick and punch a lot of goons in a good traditional beat ’em up sidescrolling brawler type of game ala Golden Axe or Double Dragon.

The odd thing about Motorhead though is that there ain’t a 2 player mode anywhere to be seen in the game and that is rather sad as these games are best in co-op, just look at Golden Axe or Turtles In Time etc.

The level locations in the game are pretty good too, a typical city location is where you start but you will go to the Wild West, a Church, Hotel, the train station, a morgue, a pub, a farm and so on and strangely enough, it works rather good thanks to some odd mini-games and different styles of enemies.

The mini-games can be a bit on the quick side for some people but there are quite a few different ones in this game which mean there should at least be one in there that you will like.

There are Tractor races, Hotel Room Trashing, Tapper, Diner Dash, Grab A groupie (LOL), and something that looks like a rock tumbling on top of Phil Collins and so on in here and most if not all of them makes me smile every time i get to a new mini-game in it.

The thing with Motorhead is that most can complete this game if they put some time into it or erm, actually not really as the last boss fight in the game can be rather annoying and difficult which means that most have probably seen them but never beaten them (hint: thing on a spring slinky type of things). 

Why they made the end so difficult is a bit puzzling but then again I completed the game back in the day and I did it again a few days ago but I have to admit that the last level still annoys me to a point where I just want to switch the game off.

Once completed you get your award, the band is back together and they pull off a pretty awesome concert and you finally get to hear the opening tune the way Ben Daglish meant it to be before cutting all the instruments in the intro.

The picture to the right is from the Phil Collins look alike (uh) rock mini-game thingy, hilarious stuff.

The mechanics in most parts of the game works rather good, for once in these type of games you can actually jump properly and yes there are enough moves and special moves in the game for most gamers out there although this ain’t any Mortal Kombat or SF2 type of game.

The special weapons like puking, hitting the whammy and so on are pretty effective and fun to use but I do miss super weapons like the ones Golden Axe had etc.

The Motorhead box looks brilliant and could easily be mistaken for a CD/LP/MC cover but no matter how brilliant it looks it still didn’t appeal to most gamers out there back in the day because it doesn’t say anything about the game and I’d bet most even had problems seeing who it was too, its not like Motorhead is a name many younger kids knew about back then right?

With that said, the game ended up getting rather rare as an original game box as most found out about this game too late and only in the form of a pirated copy or such which means that this ain’t an all that common game to find on eBay and the likes today, heck, I am pretty sure my box is the only one I have seen in person since like forever.

The backside of the box is a wee bit better looking as it actually shows something about the game, but sadly not too much as the pictures are a bit small and well, you have to know what the game is like to really understand the screenshots too I guess.

Motorhead looks great, it sounds great too but it is hard to market such a game like this as it is a game for teenagers right? but the graphics look like it is for younger kids and the Motorhead name is more of an adult thing.

Motorhead is a wonderful game, I love it to bits and I totally understand it why it ain’t mentioned on social media and such all the time, but I think it deserves more recognition and fans as it is a much better game than any other in the same genre, games that get mentioned many times over and over again. The sound and graphics in the game holds up well even today but it certainly ain’t Ben’s best work but for some reason it still keep on rocking in my head even after I quit the game, I’d say, give the game a chance, sit down and enjoy it and you might even grow to love it and maybe, just maybe one day you will speak about it on the internet.

Thanks to Hall Of Light for the screenshots.  The box shots are from my own collection as always, time to upload another box scan to HOL it seems.