Price: $8.99
Mutant Mudds Review
Mutant Mudds from Renegade Kid (quickly becoming one of my favourite developers on the 3DS eShop) follows the story of a young boy who fights off Mutant Mudds that have randomly crashed onto Earth. Saddled with a jetpack and water gun, he fights through various classic-themed 2D levels.
What I Liked:
The Retro-ness
From the first time I heard the awesome retro music that harkens back to the old days, Mutant Mudds had me hooked. The graphics follow suit, as they look like they were ripped right from the early 90′s, and the 2D platforming invokes memories of Mega Man by having a slow character, with a limited range gun. By adding multi-tiered levels though, where you can be pushed into the background of a level or the foreground, it adds an extra later of depth to the gameplay.
The Difficulty
Like Mega Man, this game isn’t a walk in the park. You only have three hearts and the ‘safety period’ after being hit is only about a second, meaning that you must have quick reflexes after being hit by an enemy or projectile. Even with pinpoint precision though, dying still happens quite often in Mutant Mudds and my personal total of deaths was easily in the hundreds.
This wasn’t to say I was brought to a point of throwing my 3DS against the wall because each death taught me something about the level. By taking everything I had learned from each death, I was able to progress further and further into the level. Also, did I mention that you only have 4 minutes to beat a level?
The Playtime
I was originally very worried about how long this game would be. The overworld shows just 16 levels, with 4 unlockable after completing those 16. My fears quickly disappeared when I learned that there are 100 coins to collect per level and a secret world hidden (some almost impossible to find) in each one as well. If Mutant Mudds wasn’t so difficult, it could easily be beaten in a couple of hours, but it will take most people 4-5 hours to 100% the entire game.
What I Didn’t Like:
Death Means Restart
While I enjoyed the difficulty of the levels, I wasn’t a fan of how dying was dealt with. While it does fit with the classic nature, it adds insult to injury when you are within arms reach of the end of the level, only to be hit by an enemy and forced to replay the past 3 minutes over again.
The Gameplay Doesn’t Mix Up A Lot
Though you do unlock different items such as a better gun or longer lasting jetpack, the gameplay really doesn’t mix it up a lot from the very first level where you jetpack, jump, and shoot. This isn’t a huge negative, I just would have liked a little more variety, especially considering the low amount of different enemies.
The Price
It shows up at $8.99 on the eShop, but after taxes, it was over $10 for me, a little more than I would’ve liked to spend. $8 after taxes would be the perfect price for Mutant Mudds and hopefully there’s a price adjustment in the near future because that somewhat high price for a Nintendo 3DS eShop title may be turning people off.
Comparison:
Better Than: The Majority Of 3DS eShop Games
If you exclude all of the Virtual Console games, Mutant Mudds is one of the top 5 games available (with Bomb Monkey also from Renegade Kid on that list as well) on the 3DS eShop and is something every 3DS owner should buy.
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Final Word:
Though it does have a couple of issues, Mutant Mudds is a really fun game with a classic 2D feel. If you haven’t turned your 3DS on in a while, or want a challenging platformer, this game is the perfect excuse to hit that power button.
Mutant Mudds was reviewed with a copy provided by Nintendo.
