Platform: Switch
Publisher: Atooi
Developer: Atooi
Genre: Action, Adventure, Platform, Puzzle
Series: Mutant Mudds
Players: 2
Release Date: December 14, 2017
One look at the game’s startup screen and it’s clear that your eyes are in for a treat. Its animated sheen, bordered by pixelated laurels, barely give a taste of what’s in store. This is Jools Watsham’s domain, and his colorful creations welcome you to Mutant Mudds Collection.
Mutant Mudds Collection is a collection of three Mudd games: Mutant Mudds Deluxe, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge, and Mudd Blocks. Mutant Mudds Deluxe and Super Challenge are both retro-styled platformers ported to the hybrid console, while Mudd Blocks is a brand-new puzzler. The collection offers a nice mix of activities depending on your mood.
It’s all about Max.
All three games revolve around a young boy named Max. Armed with just a jetpack and a water gun, he sets out to repel a “Muddy” invasion following a meteor strike. The game is not much for introductions considering how quickly it thrusts the player into the game. But that’s alright, because its eagerness to show the game’s qualities is merited.
If the opening cutscene for Mutant Mudds Deluxe hasn’t clued you in yet with the beautiful pixelated art style, the first stage definitely will. Just looking at Max alone shows layers of careful detail: the way his hair sways as he moves, the facial expressions of each enemy, and even the satisfying splat of each defeated Mudd. These hyper-pixelated visuals really pop out when you consider the environment’s slightly muted design. It’s colorful without taking your eyes away where it matters.
The Mutant Mudds series is also renowned for its depth of field gameplay. Because the Switch lacks the three dimensional capabilities of the 3DS, switching between background and foreground relies on depth of field effects. It’s always fun to see Max smoothly change from being so small and far away in the background to being so large and close in the foreground. Along with the environment around him, Max’s design ensures that he’s never too big or too small.
Don’t forget about the blocks.
Being a game of completely different nature, Mudd Blocks has to deliver the eye candy in a different way. There’s no fancy background to foreground switching – just you and the blocks. But don’t let the blocks’ immobile nature fool you. Their faces have expressions, similar to how the Puyos in Sonic Mania had their own characteristic expressions. The faces are subtle and never too distracting; after all, you’re there to clear them.
And depending on how you handle puzzle games, you may find Mudd Blocks to be on the easier end of the scale. There’s not as much pressure compared to other puzzlers like it, but it still requires a modicum of concentration. The learning curve is not as steep, making Mudd Blocks perfect for anyone who wish to pass the time with a relaxing puzzle. It also serves as a much-needed respite from the stress of the Mutant Mudds platformers.
There are six modes available for Mudd Blocks: Endless, 2P Versus, 2P Co-op, Rescue, 3 Minutes, and Numbers. Normal gameplay, where you group blocks based on color and pop them when able, is available in endless, versus, co-op, and 3 minute modes, while rescue and numbers offer a slight variation. Rescue requires you to rescue Max (hence the name), while numbers require you to pop numbered blocks in a specific order.
What does Grannie really think?
Despite the graphical beauty across all three games, their problems are prominent enough to cause some hiccups. Max’s jump and hover animations take a longer time than usual, making it hard to judge when to make critical jumps. While not necessarily a gamebreaking fault, it’s a quirk that takes quite a bit of practice. It’s hard to disassociate the fast run-and-gun platforming of behemoths like Mega Man while still considering obstacles that doesn’t quite accommodate the difference in Max’s movement speed.
Switching between the background and foreground can also get a bit annoying when it happens earlier than intended. Jumping activates the pad that launches Max backward or forward, but some of the collectibles are very close to the pad. If not careful, you’ll miss that collectible and get transported instead. Jumping and pad activation bound to different buttons is one way to solve this problem.
There’s also no way to backtrack. The stages assume a linear path that make no allowances for deviation. This means that if you see some missed collectibles that are not in your forward path, you may as well restart to get them safely. There’s only one checkpoint per stage, which means that you must explore the entirety of each rigid area before proceeding so you don’t have to restart the stage.
What about Super Challenge?
Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is the sequel that throws caution to the wind and ratchets up the difficulty to 11. Be ready to start loving those spikes and ghosts because they’ll be everywhere. And just to make it easy for you, the game takes the liberty of counting your deaths for posterity.
The biggest fault for this game is its reliance on blatant deadly spots that require just the right amount of butt-clenching to get through. Similar to Kaizo-inspired Mario levels in Super Mario Maker, you’ll wonder more often than not as to why that obstacle is there specifically. And with the sheer amount of deadly things around, your deaths will mostly result from a single pixel of Max touching a single pixel of something.
But once you get through the numerous deaths, the game actually strives to be different from its predecessor. Perhaps the biggest change are boss fights – a welcome break to the constant jumping and collecting. You just gotta get there first, of course.
It’s time to go.
Mutant Mudds Collection sends your feelings all over the place and that’s expected. As a collection of three different games, it’s only natural that you’ll feel strongly for one but not the other.
But unlike other collections where it’s simply a bunch of titles grouped together, this one actually strikes a balance. The difference and difficulty spike between the two Mutant Mudds games gives you a choice depending on your current mood. Mudd Blocks counteracts the two if you’re getting frustrated. There’s plenty of content to go around, and they all serve you at different times when needed.
When you consider all of those points against its price tag, it suddenly becomes clear that the game is very affordable for what it offers. The series has a lot of spirit and it shows. Watsham’s love for his creations, especially Max, shines brightly despite the flaws. Love it or not, you’d be silly to pass up such a great deal for your Switch library.
