Motorslice [REVIEW] – Chainsaw-Powered Platforming… Need I Say More? 

Motorslice pitches a rather mental concept: what if you did hardcore parkour through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but your main tool for getting around was a massive chainsaw? It sounds absurd but also brilliant, and for the most part, it really is. However, beneath the blood-splattered walls and banging tunes, there is a bit of rust on the blade that holds it back from greatness. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

Motorslice puts players in the role of P, a fierce young woman navigating a world filled with deadly, living machines. She is accompanied by a little floating drone called Orbie, who acts as both her camera and companion. And… that’s about all you need to know. The game tries surprisingly hard to push a narrative, but it’s easily the weakest part of the whole package. The story progresses through optional moments where P and Orbie interact, but the dialogue itself feels awkward, clunky to trigger, and, if I’m being honest, just a little unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I liked both P and Orbie as characters, but the paper-thin plot doesn’t add anything of value to the experience. 

Thankfully, you are not here for a deep story… I mean, come on, it’s a game about chainsaw-based parkour, you’re here to run along walls and cut up robots, right? The movement heavily channels the tight, linear platforming of 3D classics of yesteryear, which demands genuine focus if you want to survive each perilous challenge. If you misjudge a leap, P will plummet to a very crunchy, gory demise, and believe me, it will happen on a VERY regular basis. Of course, the star of the show is the ‘motorslicing’ itself – by revving up your chainsaw and jamming it into orange panels, you can drag yourself up vertical drops or across massive horizontal gaps. When it works, it gives the traversal a fantastic sense of weight and physicality, with players given the flexibility to really judge the angles of their jumps to pull them off with satisfying precision. 

“Motorslice is a blast to play and makes for some exciting platforming action, though some occasional missteps prevent it from achieving greatness.” 

The only problem is that the controls do have a slightly floaty quality to them, which can make the motorslicing feel a little bit janky… well… at least until you fully get used to the controls, anyway. There are times when you will strike a wall at what looks like the perfect angle, only for P to do a standard attack, bounce off the surface, and fall to her death. It feels completely random when this happens, and it can be incredibly frustrating. This frustration is further compounded by occasional camera issues, and while it is mostly fine, sections that ask you to wall-jump back and forth can suffer from awkward angles that put a bit of guesswork into the platforming. Don’t get me wrong, these aren’t massive problems that ruin the experience and, for the most part, the platforming feels great… it’s just that when issues do kick in, it can be pretty frustrating. 

Combat is woven into the platforming quite seamlessly, with most enemies essentially acting as aggressive obstacles in your path. You don’t get bogged down in long brawls – a few quick slices and you are back to running – whilst you can also parry almost anything in the game, putting as much of an emphasis on playing defensively as you do offensively, even IF the parry timing window is brutally strict. It feels good and adds an extra element of coolness to a game that already gets high marks for simply mixing up parkour with a chainsaw. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

Of course, the absolute highlight of Motorslice comes with its bosses. These encounters are magnificent, massive spectacles clearly inspired by the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, with players having to parkour their way onto giant moving machines and use their chainsaw to shred their weak points. They’re absolutely awesome, and whilst they do bring some sharp difficulty spikes, the generous checkpoint system ensures that they never feel frustrating. They’re an absolute treat, and I constantly found myself looking forward to the next hulking mechanical beast that the game would throw my way. 

Visually, Motorslice goes for a retro, PSX-style aesthetic with chunky environments and pixelated textures, which suits the desolate vibe perfectly. Admittedly, there were some locales that felt a little lacking in personality and detail, but at the same time, you speed through them so quickly that it’s a bit easier to forgive. On the audio front, the game is a massive winner, with some slick tracks on offer that fit the bouncing energy of the experience PERFECTLY. 

Developer: Regular Studio 
Publisher: Top Hat Studios 
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S. PC 
Website: https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/concept/10018133