Mr. Addon in Sulpicius Gallus M Review

Game: Mr. Addon in Sulpicius Gallus M
Genre: Action, Arcade
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Mr Addon
Controller Support: Yes
Price: UK £3.99 | US $4.99 | € 4,99
Release Date: December 8th, 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to Mr Addon

Meet Mr Addon

Mr Addon in Sulpicius Gallus M is not exactly a title that rolls off the tongue. According to the description of the game on Steam, Mr Addon is a cosmic renegade who has travelled to a section of the Sulpicius Gallus M crater to help awaken the ‘Big Human.’ Apparently, he then accompanies Mr Addon on his adventures where he battles system maintenance technicians, dominion aliens and replicating cyborgs.

So I had no idea what was going on with the plot of this game but it probably made sense to the developer in some way. From my perspective, you played as a superhero that feels like he featured in one of those old cleaning adverts from the 90s like Mr Muscle. He then travels around taking out funny enemies. So the game is weird? Nothing wrong with that but is it any good? Let’s find out.

Arcade Gameplay

Mr. Addon is a 2D arcade game where you have three lives and one single hit means death. Levels are presented in single screens like arcade games of old. The goal is to take out all the enemies in a level with your zappy gun. When you do this they turn into snowball like structures which can then be pushed off platforms and will instantly defeat enemies caught in its path. This mechanic is probably my main area of praise for the game. It’s a cool idea but it doesn’t get to meet its full potential, mostly because the game is so short. There are also other mechanics like shields that allow you to take a hit from a spike trap, rotating platforms, laser traps and portals.

Enemies come in less than a handful of forms like lizard men and robots. There are three worlds to explore, each with several levels and a boss fight at the end. It’s all pretty by the numbers but there’s very little to make it stand out from the crowd or feel memorable. Mr Addon currently has about an hour of content. I say this because in the credits of the game the developer alludes to adding more content later. The controls are fine, you are able to use a controller if you prefer this method. The game has just two modes. Either play arcade mode where you start from the beginning and work your way through the levels with only 3 credits. Alternatively, you can just skip to the desired world and play from there. 

Mixed Art Style

Graphically Mr Addon is very odd. The main graphics are hand-drawn sprites which certainly look better than anything I could draw. But they look more like rough sketches than being something totally smoothed out. The platform designs are bland and are rather boring to look at. What’s most confusing is the really detailed painting-like backgrounds in each level. These look like works of art from an art museum totally out of place in a game about a superhero shooting lizard people. It feels like an odd joke I just didn’t get. I guess the music was pretty good which felt kinda arcade-like in design.

Conclusion – Adding it All up

Mr Addonin Sulpicius Gallus M is not a bad game but it also doesn’t really do a lot to make it stand out from the crowd. Its art style is muddled and confusing, the gameplay is OK but I wouldn’t say I found myself particularly enjoying myself during the short time I played it. To its credit, I didn’t really encounter any bugs or glitches and I kinda dug the music. Maybe with more development time, the awesomeness that is Mr Addon may be fully realized. But in its current state, you’re not gonna miss much if you give this a pass. But if you want to support the developer be sure to give it a look in.

Final Verdict: I’m not Sure