A strange physics simulator that is actually fun to play.
Mount Your Friends was released in the absurd indie frenzy, alongside titles like Goat Simulator and Surgeon Simulator 2013. Mount Your Friends is just as nonsensical as those games, but also features simple and suprisingly addicting gameplay.
Its a very simple mechanic; you control each of the appendages of your players, and you want to climb up a tower and reach new heights. At first the tower is a perched goat, but when the first player "mounts" the goat, he becomes the new vertical record, and then the bodies continue to pile up. By pressing the corresponding buttons for each limb, you "unsticky" that limb from whatever it was attached to and move it around to reach another ledge. Much like other physics-influenced games like QWOP, the controls seem unintuitive at first, but with a little practice you will find yourself flinging your character up the bodies of your competitors.
The single player modes are plentiful but barebones, which is to be expected. There are, however, a surprisingly large amount of multiplayer modes available in Mount Your Friends; the only problem is that they are all restricted to local multiplayer. There are virtually only two modes for the multiplayer lobbies (2-4 players); vertical tower building, and stretching horizontally to create a bridge. There are various settings you can mess with, but these are the only modes available online.
Another big feature of Mount Your Friends is the ability to completely customize your character. If you can create head-shaped images and a collection of images for the stomach, torso, legs and arms, you can add those to the Mount Your Friends file directory and create a player from those images. But again, the games online functionally is limited because your competitors will have to have the same files with the same file names to see your custom players.
When this game says a gamepad is recommended, it isn't joking. A mouse and keyboard are playable but you are severely limited in which acrobatics you can perform. You will become more proficient with 2 joysticks and 4 instantly recognizable buttons. I know where the WASD keys are, but it still takes me second to remember which one is which.
Despite a few multiplayer limitations. Mount Your Friends is an exceptionally goofy and entertaining game with simple controls that are difficult to master. Buy a 4 pack when you can and enjoy it with a few of friends. Expect a solid 10 hours of fun out of it.
