Act: Mutant Storm (by Pom Pom)

Game: Mutant Storm
Release: Nov. 1, 2002
Genre: Action
Website: Pom Pom
System Requirements: P3 400mhz or greater, 64 MB RAM, Open GL compatible Video Card, DX 7+, Win 98/ME/2K/XP, A good joystick
Price: $20

GameTunnel's 2002 Independent Game of the Year!

For two straight Novembers now Pom Pom has unleashed its brilliance on the independent gaming world.  This year's foray is called Mutant Storm, and if you haven't played it yet, get a buddy and set apart a day, because you are in for a lot of fun.

Mutant Storm hails from the likes of such classics as Robotron and Smash TV.  For anyone who hasn't played those games, the basic concept is to blast away a seemingly endless number of enemies while moving around a semi-obstacle ridden board.  You use either a joypad with to joysticks, or you can use the buttons on your joypad much like you use the directional pad to fire in any of eight directions.  This allows you to move away from your enemies while firing back at them...but I'm getting ahead of myself now.

In Mutant Storm you chose from one of several vehicles and you are thrust down to a small planet that is entirely inhabited by "horrible mean nasty vicious blighters."  While that may sound frightening enough, the real difficulty comes from the fact that you must destroy every single last one of these buggers...AND the better you fare at destroying them, the more difficult the game gets.

Each level begins with you appearing in an arena that will soon have a host of enemies that seemingly beam into the arena.  As you move about the arena, you must blast away at the enemies while avoiding their bullets, their bodies and several other interesting arena obstacles as you progress through the many levels of the game.  Occasionally as you fight through the hordes of evil special power-ups appear.  These include 3 different weapons.  My personal was the missile that launches a series of homing missiles.  These missiles are quite potent, and the particle engine employed by the game makes the explosions created by the missile's impact quite rewarding.  There are also a couple of defensive power-ups to help extend your life for a few more seconds.  Perhaps more important than any of those items, however, is the smart bomb.  At the beginning of a single player game you have 3 of these life savers, 5 to share between two of you if you play a two player game.  The smart bomb creates a large circular explosion that will level any creature in its path.  Used correctly, smart bombs will extend your playing time. 

Game play proceeds from level to level, but not all levels are created equal.  There are 79 levels to conquer in the game.  This may seem like a daunting task, but most of the levels last just seconds.  Every 9th level (9, 19, 29, etc.) provides you with a "checkpoint" so that you can continue from that level on subsequent games. 

There are many of the arcade goals you would expect along with one interesting new twist.  You can get multipliers for surviving long periods of time, and you also get extra bonuses for clearing large numbers of boards without using your smart bombs.  The twist is that as you play through the game, if you do well, the game becomes more difficult.  The bottom left hand corner of the screen shows a white belt with a percentage when you begin play.  As you do well, the percentage will increase as will the difficulty of the game.  If you reach 100% on the white belt, you graduate onto the yellow belt.  The belts are very similar to belts granted in martial arts and follow that type of color pattern with black being the highest level.  In fact, Pom Pom has dubbed this "art" Blastikkidoo.  Reaching the higher levels of belts is quite difficult.  Every time you die you lose a portion of your belts completion percentage, and if you lose all your lives you will be starting over at the beginning of your belt.  Earning the belts is a slow process.  The light at the end of the tunnel is that if you finish the game with one belt, you get to start over at the beginning with that belt to keep working your way up again.  This setup works very well in the game and will keep you playing for many many many hours trying to get to black belt...if it is indeed possible!

As mentioned, the game also sports a two-player mode that allows you to work with a partner to get through the levels.  While playing through a level with 2 people, the game will track what percentage of the score was earned by each player.  This fun system allows you to show off how much better you are than the other player without making him the opponent.

Graphics: 10
Without playing the game you cannot fully appreciate the graphics of this game.  Many games look better in snapshot than they do in game.  While the screenshots of Mutant Storm are quite colorful, they pale in comparison to the beauty of the graphics in game.  Each individual board has multiple moving backgrounds and floors that track you as you move around the level.  The particle effects in the game are superb.  One of my personal favorites are the holographic looking pylons in the arena.  A nice touch with the graphics is the variability you will find.  The levels backgrounds will change colors nearly every time you play, providing an experience that seems quite singular each time you play. 

Sound: 9
The sounds for each of the enemies is individualized and very fitting off the enemy you are fighting.  You will learn to cringe in fear as you hear specific ones knowing that a laser wall across the entirety of the board is about to be right in front of your face.  There is no music in the game, but it is not truly missed.  With the large number of enemies you are blasting all of the time, you would be hard-pressed to hear anything above the sounds of weapons firing and enemies falling by the hundreds. 

Game Play:  9
The great difficulty in a game like this is to make it feel like you are in complete control of your character.  With so many enemies always attacking you, any incorrect movement can cost you your life.  One of my favorite things about Smash TV was the ability to move in and out of extremely perilous situations without dieing...playing on the edge gives you a sense of being the all-power game master when you are able to do so.  Mutant Storm allows you the same sense with game play that makes you feel that you are in total control of your character.  Notwithstanding, it will take a little bit of time to come to full grips with how your character moves in the arena.

Options: 9
There are a plentitude of options in this game.  One of the more interesting ones was the ability to choose your ship in both shape and color.  While the differences are mostly just aesthetic, I found myself doing much better with specific colors...perhaps it allowed me to see the ship better, perhaps not.  However such a simple, yet uncommon gives you a good idea of the time put into making sure all necessary options were available.

Concept: 9
The concept for this game is taken from games that have done the same concept well.  However, this is the best incantation of this idea to date, and due to its presentation, I believe it may be the ultimate Robotron-esque game.

Fun: 10
Due to my busy schedule and the number of games I play and review, I find that I do not have time to play any one game for more than 5-10 hours.  However, with this game, I found myself unable to put it down for more than a solid week.  This game is as much fun as a single player game can be, and the two-player option only makes the game that much better.

Overall:  10
In two years Pom Pom has created two of the best independently created video games ever released.  We can only hope that they earn enough from these games to keep them going in the world of independent games.  Without a doubt Mutant Storm is worth your money and it will suck hours away from you in great quantity...but anyone who has played this game well tell you  it is well worth every lost moment. Added: December 31st 2002
Reviewer: The Mole
Score:
Related Link: Mutant Storm Screenshots
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Language: english