Meatgrinder is a fast-paced, First-Person Shooter / Run-and-Gun hybrid action game made by indie studio VampireSquid, one which the stuido proudly promotes, "No cutscenes, no storylines, pure action"... and boy does it live up to it's claims.
For the lack of a plot; it's a post-apocalyptic world out there, roaming with all kinds of thugs and murderers, you're a gun-totting, bloodthirsty biker wielding all sorts of weapons, and you have your eyes on a rival gang's convoy passing the desert, filled with supplies and goodies you need and plenty of faceless mooks to kill. So you do exactly just that in a lengthy rampage as you swiftly jump atop speeding trucks, trains, through the bowels of giant monsters and eventually on planes.
Also, you need to keep moving, or else you'll die. Because prior to the game's events, your enemies have removed your heart as a sort of punishment, that you barely survived, with you replacing your absent cardiovascular system with an engine powered by your legs. As such, you will have to watch your adrenaline and ensure you're always on the move and kicking ass.
Contains similarities with Clustertruck, another indie game based on vehicular chases from a first-person POV.
"I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass! And I'm all out of bubblegum!"
- Air-Dashing: You use this ability to leap from your motorcycle on the back of raiders' trucks, and repeatedly dashes from one vehicle to another as you kill your way to a convoy's front.
- Bolivian Army Ending: The final stage's plane chase, after destroying all the planes, sees you with nothing else to land on, ends with you retrieving a chest containing... your beating heart. Then you realize you're still falling.Uhh, crud! [SPLAT] [Smash to Black]
- Bullet Time: Whenever your heartbeat (YES) reaches over 180 BPM, as indicated by a meter at the screen's bottom, the gameplay will suddenly run on slo-mo as you charge around with superhuman speed and blast apart everyone in your way.
- Chew Bubblegum: Your first line is literally quoting Roddy Piper's character from They Live! while prepping to launch a one-man raid on a convoy of thugs.
- Excuse Plot: That the game's promotional materials isn't even attempt to hide, proclaiming that the game has "no storyline, just pure action".
- Game-Over Man: Lost a life and the game will throw a giant green skull in the middle of the screen while taunting you:MISSION FAILED
TRY HARDER, MEATBAG - Gatling Good: You can lug around a minigun and vaporize mooks through use of More Dakka. It's easily one of the best pickups the game grants you.
- Gorn: In a game called "Meatgrinder", expect onscreen gorn to be cranked off the charts with each and every enemy killed, where mooks gets blasted to Ludicrous Gibs from the most basic of weapons.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Your character has grappling hook launchers in the heel of his boots, that he can launch to help him latch and cling to the back of vehicles between jumps. He can even use his hook to snatch unfortunate mooks and hurl them to their deaths.
- Guns Akimbo: Your first firearms are dual pistols, containing Bottomless Magazines to boot.
- Low Clearance: A recurring obstacle for chase scenes when the truck or train you're on passes through tunnels, bridges, and the like. Watch before jumping!
- Outside Ride: You spend every single stage in the entire game (save for the Womb Level) kicking ass while clinging to the top of trucks, trains, and assorted vehicles. Thanks to your dash, you'll spend most of the game leaping from above one vehicle to another. The final stage have you jumping atop planes.
- Sand Worm:
- In the middle of a high-octane chase, one kaiju-sized desert worm pops out of the sands and suddenly swallows everything, including you, in a single gulp. Cue the Womb Level.
- Appears as an obstacle in the desert chase stage, where giant worms will suddenly pop up and attempt swallowing the train you're standing upon.
- Sean Connery Is About to Shoot You: You're aiming at the player the game's cover art using two different weapons simultaneously, your shotgun and hand cannon. The cover art appears in the loading screen, too.
- Sequential Boss: "Crazy" Charles, who's not a person but a heavily-armored trailer truck with three segments. You'll need to destroy all three segments, each having it's own (small) life bar, before you can damage the main truck itself.
- Shout-Out:
- Your character's first line have you quoting Roddy Piper's "Chew Bubblegum" line from They Live!.
- Latching a mook with your boot's grappling hook and yanking them off to their deaths will have you commenting, "Get over here!"
- On the ground-based desert chases, the enemy vehicles looks suspiciously similar to those from Mad Max: Fury Road.
- Stepping Stones in the Sky: The game's final stage have you jumping on planes, and expectedly it's harder than the truck or train-based chase levels.
- Traintop Battle: The train chase inevitably leads to you shooting enemies while on a train. And you even need to jump in an adjacent train at times because there are giant worms trying to devour the train you're on!
- Womb Level: As mentioned above, one stage is set in the stomage of a giant Sand Worm that suddenly pops up and swallows everything. You'll need to leap on crates, trucks and other objects floating in the worm's stomach acid while trying not to fall and shoot at smaller (but still human-sized) intestinal worms.
