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Mutant

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Developer: Napoleon Games
Publisher: Napoleon Games
Genre: Action > General
Released: Oct 14, 2007
Players: 1

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- Mutant Review

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The concept of Mutant is appealing enough: one man, four arms and a multitude of weapons with which to combat a large-scale alien invasion of Earth. Couple that with an RPG element that grants you nine superpowers and you should be in for a good time, right? Well, not so much.

Set in modern day Prague, Mutant wastes no time in throwing you headfirst into the action. Within minutes you will be running around, armed to the teeth, with a lust for blood and no sense of direction at all. The invading monsters will be after you like dogs and it is your job to fend them off whilst looking for the exit to every level.

Instead of gently introducing you to the concept of multiple weapons, you will immediately be able to make use of all four arms with little idea of how best to work them. The ability to select each individual arm is there, but it�"s clumsily implemented. You can group together limbs for more control so that any unselected will sway automatically in search of an enemy to fire upon, but this is usually problematic and it�"s wise to turn auto-fire off to conserve ammo.

It is important to mention that Mutant follows a learning curve that has a lot in common with a brick wall. Ammunition (or the lack of it) is a serious issue in the game and one that could have easily been solved with a little play testing. It is frustrating to the point of being torturous because it turns the focus of the game away from fast-paced action and skill development and presents the player with a long and dreary task of find-the-item. When you�"re spending more time worrying about ammo stocks and save games than you are actually shooting things, you know something�"s wrong.

To Mutant�"s credit though - and it's probably the biggest selling point of the game - the graphics are good. Time has been spent on modeling individual houses and structures on the city levels and once you get out into the open countryside there is a welcome sense of freedom. The texturing is particularly well done and the water effects are easy on the eye, but due to the perspective offered by the camera, there's very little chance to take in the design-work done on the different locations that you get to explore. It's a shame that the city levels are reduced to a confusing spread of identical streets because when you do get odd glimpses of the rooftops and landmarks it really does add something to the game.

The troublesome camera angle also means that you will only be able to see about a foot behind you at all times and because the turning speed is so slow, the chances are that any attack from the back is probably fatal. So, when monsters start turning up that fire homing rockets at you from just off-screen, you will almost be ready to give up.

Ah, the monsters... A new one turns up every level to give a bit of variety to the frenzied killing. Every enemy in the game has a set method of attack. Some stand and shoot, some throw grenades at you, some just run towards you and, as I just mentioned above, some give you little chance of survival. One single homing rocket that targets you will decrease your life by half when it inevitably hits and when you�"re surrounded by a hoard of monsters, you�"ll start to think that the developers really have it in for you.

There are a few points at which Mutant shows it's potential as a formidable top-down shooter, but everything tends to fall slightly short of enjoyable. The super powers turn out to be less useful than expected because, like ammo, power-ups for these abilities are few and far between. Telekinesis stands out as the most innovative of all and it is fun to wipe out a hoard of bad guys with a car, but the physics don�"t really convey any sense of weight or power. If the developers had worked more on balancing the game then it could have turned out to be a truly excellent gun-fest. As it stands though, none of the gameplay elements work well enough for it to be anything more than an average action experience.

Graphics:
First reactions when loading up Mutant are very good. But the levels are somewhat let down by a lack of any sort of personality. For a deserted city in the middle of alien invasion, Prague sure is tidy. But it is well modeled. It�"s just a shame the camera doesn�"t show anything above street level.

Sound:

The music is well implemented and hits the right dramatic tone for a fast-paced action game. If anything there isn�"t enough of it, because without it you are left with the sound of your own footsteps for company and the repetitive groans and clanks of nearby monsters. No ambient sound at all lets the game down, especially when so much work has gone into the visuals.

Gameplay:
Although appealing, utilizing all of Mutant�"s four arms can be tricky. The opportunity for customization is there though and works to the game�"s advantage. However, most - if not all - fights in Mutant simply require the player to run backwards whilst firing repeatedly. If there was more variation to the combat, the multiple limbs could have really given a strategic element to the action. Add to that the insane difficulty level and cumbersome controls and you are in for a tough and tedious time.

Concept:
Underneath the attractive outer shell and gimmicky multiple limbs, Mutant plays just like any other shooter. The RPG elements, whereby you can increase the effects of your special powers, could have been made easier to access in combat. The same applies when selecting which arms to use whilst fighting. It�"s just not practical.

Value:

There are a lot of levels to explore although the lack of variation in setting makes playing through repetitive. Playing time is significantly increased by the time you spend loading saved games. If you are a pixel-perfect shooting genius then there's a good amount of killing time here.

Overall:
Mutant makes me laugh. It makes me laugh a lot. The plot and dialogue are laid down with no sense of irony at all (or grammar). It�"s brilliant in the same way that Arnie movies are brilliant… if you happen to like that sort of thing. The only problem with Mutant is that it also makes me cry a lot too. In fact, after the first thirty minutes of play, tears of frustration were rolling down my cheeks, my blood was boiling and I was ready to kill for real.

Although I was desperate to like Mutant for all its beauty and weaponry, I can really only recommend this game to trigger-happy masochists. Everyone who doesn�"t fit into that category may find it too hard a slog during the early stages to persevere and unlock new powers and guns. If you do get to that point then the gameplay does improve, but rarely enough to choose it over all other perfectly good top-down shooters on the market, which are both better and far more generous when it comes to handing out ammo. Check out the demo to see if you have what it takes.

By: Rowan Davies
Posted: Friday March 07, 2008