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Mutant Mudds: 3DS eShop Review
Posted by ugadawg239,
24 June 2013
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1336 views
3DS eshop review video game platformer indie nintendo
Mutant Mudds, developed and published by Renegade Kid, is a downloadable game for the Nintendo 3DS eShop. Mutant Mudds is a difficult to master platformer with a very sharp 8-bit, modern style. It makes great use of the 3D capabilities, enhancing gameplay. Even though Mutant Mudds is a 3D game, it is not required to have a great experience.
Mutant Mudds is not a game rich with story but it offers enough to provide the motivation for the main character to go on his adventure. The game starts out with the main character playing his 3DS on the floor while his grandma is playing her 3DS in her easy chair. Then the game shows a meteor falling to earth and landing with a crash. A news alert on a tv shows mutant mudds have landed on earth. It is about a one minute opener that then jumps strait into gameplay.
You play as a nerdy kid with glasses, a water gun, and a water pack and after the brief introduction, of what can loosely be called a story, the game starts at the first level. This level has a brief tutorial showing you how to play. The controls are only two buttons, one for jump and one for shooting a water gun. If the player jumps and presses the jump button again while in air, he will use his water pack to hover for a few seconds. They key is knowing when to use the hover. This is especially important on the platforms that disappear and reappear. The timing for those platforms can be a real hassel.
What you encounter at each level are "mudd monsters" that can only be killed by using the water gun. There different mudd monsters that have different abilities and take different amounts of shots to take down. The mudd monsters are really just used as obstacles in the platforming. They aren't difficult to take down but there placement in each subsequent level makes the level harder to complete. If the player gets hit three times, falls in lava or onto spikes, ect, or doesn't complete the level in four minutes, they must either retry the level or go try a different one.
There are four different stage types in the game, a grass type, ice type, lava type, and air type. The backgrounds to the game of each stage add a lot to the experience. Also, there are platforms that can jump you out into the background of the stage or into the foreground. This is where the 3D really shines. The downside is that it can be difficult to play with the 3D off if the foreground, middle ground, and background are all present. It gets difficult to tell them apart.
The player selects a level through a hub screen where you enter different doors. There is a missing gem and two smaller ones on each side of the larger gen that is above each door. As a level and hidden level is completed, the gems fill in. Each stage has gems that can be collected and spent as powerups that are purchased at Granny's Attic. As the player gains powerups, they can then access the other hidden levels of the game, that are a solid color, that are even more difficult than the regular levels. Some of them are red, reminding me of the Virtual Boy. It kind of reminds me of the Special stages in Super Mario World.
There are number of things that attracted me to this game. The art style is really cool. I love the 8 bit graphics this game has. The 3D is really cool as well. The smaller 3DS I had gave me serious headaches with the 3D on so I played much of this game with the 3D off. I recently bought a 3DS XL and tried the 3D as well. It doesn't affect my eyes to the extent that the other one did so I played the rest of the game with the 3D on. It looks great and really makes the game pop. I also LOVE the music in this game. Its so catchy and fun to listen to. It reminds of Mega Man music in a way in that the music for Mega Man was so good. Lastly, I really like the difficulty of the game. Its not too hard to where I get seriously frustrated but it does offer a challenge. When I screw up, I want to jump right back in and beat the stage. Since the stages are only at the max, 4 minutes long, its great to play on the go.
Mutant Mudds is one of the best games I have played on the 3DS eShop. If you don't already have this game then you owe it to yourself to buy this. It is a fantastic platformer that offers so much great entertainment at a only $8.99. Get out there right now and pick this game up.
Use a different color, doesn't look good with the dark theme.