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RipTen Review: Mutant Mudds (3DS eShop)

Justin Berube — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:00:26 +0000

Mutant Mudds is another 3DS eShop original title that seems to be getting a lot of attention. I was fortunate enough to meet the game’s designer, Jools Watsham, and give the Mutant Mudds demo a shot at E3 last year. The demo left me wanting more, but is the final product worth your time?

Mutant Mudds starts out with a meteor striking the earth and spreading tons of these evil Mutant Mudds over the area. It’s then up to Max, the main character, to use his water gun to kill off the Mudds and clean up the area around his home.

Mutant Mudds is a sidescrolling platformer with an excellent retro style that brings me back to my youth. From the get go, Max can shoot, duck, jump, and even hover for a short period of time using a water/bubble jet pack.

Each stage in Mutant Mudds contains 100 Diamonds, a hidden bonus stage, and a Water Sprite. The main goal of each stage is to obtain the Water Sprite and, thus, complete the level. To 100% the game it will be necessary to get all the diamonds and to beat each bonus stage.

The diamonds serve as the upgrade system in Mutant Mudds. From the stage select screen, Max can visit his Grannie’s Attic. There are three upgrades that can be purchased using diamonds there, a stronger water pistol that shoots further, a jet pack upgrade that will allow Max to hover longer, and rocket upgrade that gives Max the ability to launch himself up to extreme heights. Only one upgrade can be used at a time and these upgrades can be freely changed between levels at Grannie’s Attic if they have been purchased before.

The upgrades become necessary to reach many of the bonus stages. These extra levels will be one of the coolest parts of Mutant Mudds to any longtime Nintendo fan since they graphically resemble classic GameBoy or Virtual Boy games. I found the Virtual Boy look to be dead on with the 3D, and it brought me back to 1995 when I picked one up on launch day, minus the headaches of course.

Speaking of the 3D, Mutant Mudds has some great effects. In the game, there are panels that Max can jump on to send him into the foreground or background. The 3D is beautiful in Mutant Mudds, and it really shouldn’t be played with the feature off. Some enemies will also pop out from the background, and the 3D is helpful in telling when it’s safe to procede.

While the gameplay is fun and addictive, I did have some problems with the design of Mutant Mudds. For starters, the enemies in Mutant Mudds all seem to be very predictable and follow a set path. Not one enemy will leave their preset move path or really vary their attack pattern. It would have been nice to see some more aggressive enemies in the later levels of the game that might continue to assault Max, no matter where he runs, until they are eliminated. I say this because it was often possible to stay out of range of enemy attacks and just wait for the opportune time to strike or proceed. I guess I would have just preferred the game to force a little more action upon me.

Speaking of enemies, I also wished there were, at the very least, one boss fight. Mutant Mudds doesn’t feature any, and it makes the ending seem, well, a little less rewarding. I didn’t feel like I finished off any giant threat since all the enemies were easily washed away.

I also had a slight problem with the upgrade system. As mentioned before, the game only allows the player to have one upgrade at a time. While I understand this is to keep the player from gaining too much power, it also becomes annoying when trying to reach all the bonus stages. I found myself often going back to previously completed levels, trying to find the bonus stage entrance that I couldn’t reach before (and couldn’t remember exactly what upgrade was needed to reach it). Because I didn’t know what upgrade was necessary off the top of my head, I’d only have a 1/3 chance of bringing the right one with me. This meant going back to some stages that I had finished many times, just because I picked the wrong upgrade.

The game does remedy this situation upon 100% completion for those wishing to go back to the awesome retro themed stages. The reward for getting everything in Mutant Mudds is the ability to play as Max’s Grannie, and she has all the upgrades at once! Very nice.

Mutant Mudds is a fun, although short, game with 40 levels (20 normal and 20 bonus) that can be completed in about 4-5 hours. It also costs $8.99, which to me, seems slightly overpriced. That may seem a bit nitpicky, but I know there are currently other great, longer lasting titles on the eShop for less money.

While I may seem negative about many things in the game, Mutant Mudds is still fun and addictive. The 3D effects are fantastic, and the retro look and feel is something I really love! The soundtrack also isn’t too bad, and it can be downloaded off the official Mutant Mudds website, which is something I wish more developers would allow.

At the time of this writing, Mutant Mudds is, without a doubt, one of the top three titles exclusively available on the 3DS eShop. Those looking for an original platformer with throwbacks to previous Nintendo hardware, great 3D effects, a cool retro soundtrack, and a fair challenge shouldn’t hesitate on purchasing this game. I just hope that someday there is a sequel that addresses some of the minor issues I had with this title.

Here’s the Rundown:

+ Great Retro Look
+ Cool 3D Effects
+ Fun and Addictive
+ Amazing Game Boy and Virtual Boy Themed Bonus Stages

- Somewhat Short
- Slightly Overpriced
- No Really Aggressive Enemies and No Boss Battles
- Remembering the Correct Upgrade Needed To Find Bonus Stages Is Annoying

8 and 8.5 represent a game that is a good experience overall. While there may be some issues that prevent it from being fantastic, these scores are for games that you feel would easily be worth a purchase.

Mutant Mudds was Developed and Published by Renegade Kid for the Nintendo 3DS eShop. The game was released in North America on the eShop on January 26th, 2012 with an MSRP of $8.99. The copy used in this review was purchased by the reviewer and played to completion.

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Mutant Mudds Impressions (3DS eShop)

Justin Berube — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:19:05 +0000

Before Mutant Mudds existed as a retro style 3DS eShop title it was known as Maximilian and the Rise of the Mutant Mudds and looked like a 3^rd person 3D platformer. At that time it was also slated for a possible release on DSiWare and I personally didn’t find the title to look that exciting.

Skip ahead and now the game has seen a complete revision. Mutant Mudds, as it’s now called, is being made as an 8-bit style retro platformer for the 3DS eShop! As soon as I the new style for the game I wanted to learn more.

Jools Watsham, who is the Co-Founder and Creative Director at Renegade Kid, the company behind Mutant Mudds, mentioned that he’d be giving away free Mutant Mudds goods for those that ran into him at E3. Well I just happened to take him up on that offer and received couple of Mutant Mudds stickers and Key Chains! Jools then told me that I was the first one to track him down and pulled out a demo of the game for me to try out.

The Mutant Mudds demo had three levels each with a different difficulty (Easy, Medium, Hard). I was fortunate, and grateful, to finish each stage.

In Mutant Mudds the player takes control of Maximilian and attempts to complete a stage in a traditional platformer style. Maximilian can duck, fire his water canon, jump, and hover with a jetpack. Maximilian isn’t the fastest character which makes this game a bit slow paced since he can’t run, but it’s still fun. Jools said I played the game aggressively since I tried to rush through but I just took it as a compliment as this was just my play style.

Throughout each stage Maximilian can collect, I believe, up to 100 diamonds. Successfully collecting all of the diamonds can then be used to unlock other bonus stages later on. Be warned through, even in the demo I found at least one diamond that was very tricky to get. I hope there are several hard to get diamonds in the final version.

I did also manage to find an area hidden within a stage, but it was blocked off. Jools told me that it would be added in a later version.

One of the best features of Muntant Mudds was the use of the 3D effects. Maximilian, when standing on special jump panels, can jump closer to the foreground, or into the background. When this happens the 3D depth can really be seen. I wouldn’t even recommend trying to play without the 3D on since it looks so good.

Overall I had a fun time with Maximilian and the Rise of the Mutant Mudds. It’s a 3DS eShop title that is definitely on my radar and should be on yours as well! For more information check out the official site at www.mutantmudds.com.

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DS Preview: Moon

Andrew Podolsky — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 06:18:11 +0000

My DS has been a lot of places, but this time I took it to the Moon. No, not that lifeless gray hunk of rock in the night sky— this is Renegade Kid’s Moon, a first person shooter using the same engine from last year’s spooky FPS Dementium.

One concern I had when I saw Moon’s trailer recently was that the same bland color palette would be used throughout. Dementium had this problem—everything was muddied with black fog and similar looking environments, but at least Moon offers some variety when it comes to the color scheme.

In the first underground environment we explored, the walls were like pulsating rainbows of sci-fi sick. The greens and purples from Halo are spattered throughout, giving each area an individual look but with a weak, grainy quality. The visuals unfortunately contain a lack of detail that reminds me of early 3D PC games like Descent, where pixilated sprites could make your eyes bug out like Arnold in Total Recall.

But hey, at least the thing moves fast. You use the stylus to look around and aim your weapons, like in Dementium, and the action moves at a quick clip. After a brief introduction, where the research station on the Moon is decimated by aliens as soon as you arrive, you can pick up an assault rifle with unlimited ammo and start hunting droids.

As you crawl the subterranean corridors, you’ll occasionally be pestered by floating orbs like the kind that Luke Skywalker sharpened his lightsaber skills on in the original Star Wars. They’re fast and relentless, and shooting back is pretty fun if you like a bit of target practice. Moving, shooting, and holding the DS in Moon can be a bit tricky, which is a complaint that Josh had with Dementium in his review. Hopefully there will be other, more natural-feeling control schemes in the final product.

Some of the story elements, beyond the first five minutes, were absent in the build we played. A few glowing computer terminals offered some placeholder cues like “politics”, but it’s uncertain if the storyline will be highly compelling. At this stage, the introduction felt more like a Doom throwback—some terrible stuff happened, and it’s an excuse to pour in a lot of angry robots and aliens.

We didn’t fight any aliens in the first few levels—just some pissed-off droids and one spidery-looking miniboss. I did enjoy finding a friendly droid that you can control and use to bypass certain locked doors, and this is the type of variety that might make Moon worth playing all the way through. Hopefully these shifts in gameplay will be made early and often. Once you find the friendly droid, you can go into new areas and even fight enemies from a foot-high vantage point, which is actually dramatic.

At this stage, Moon doesn’t really seem like it’s going too far beyond what Dementium accomplished. It’s a speedy FPS, and there’s nothing wrong with a few five-minute bursts of target practice, but don’t expect an in-depth storyline or groundbreaking level design. We wish that a portable sci-fi FPS could make us feel like we’re playing an artifact from the future, but for now certain aspects of Moon still seem to be lagging behind the times.

Moon Trailer: Like Dementium, But In Space

Andrew Podolsky — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:18:00 +0000

A year ago we previewed and reviewed Dementium: The Ward, a dark and spooky FPS for the DS that ended up being, well, not so great.

Developer Renegade Kid is giving it another shot this year with The Moon, which looks like it not only grafts a sci-fi raygun onto the action, but also lets you get behind the wheel of a Moon Buggy. Sweet!

Let’s just hope they expand the color scheme– Dementium relied a bit too much on black fog, and from the trailer we expect there to be lots of shades of gray. Check out that trailer, right after you click on “read more”.

Moon is expected to come out on November 18, 2058– I mean, 2008.

Source: Pocketgamer

DS Review–Dementium: The Ward

Josh Pankratz — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 00:06:57 +0000

Dementium is a horror title, and I was afraid of a lot of things while playing through this game, unfortunately none of them were intentional. For instance, I was afraid that I would soon suffer from carpal tunnel due to the game’s control scheme. If you’ve ever played a first person shooter on the DS you’ll know exactly what I mean. You have to keep your left thumb on the D-pad while tapping the shoulder button with your middle finger to fire. Hand fatigue sets in faster than those lonely nights playing with your waggle wand.

The controls are frightful, but what had me completely terrified were the graphics. Now, this is purely subjective, and I know the DS can’t put out decent 3d graphics. But that’s just it– the DS can’t put out decent 3d graphics. Why would they shoehorn in a 3d FPS on a console that lends itself more to a stylized art deco?

Like the art direction, the story is another source of mystery for Dementium. Just what the hell is going on? The argument could be made that any good horror story has an element of the unexplained, but the narrative is damn near inexplicable.

On the plus side, Dementium runs at sixty frames per second, which is something you have to see to believe on the DS. The thing runs very smooth. Granted, there isn’t much to render, but the feel of controlling the cursor with the stylus is spot on, and should be shamelessly copied by any other prospective DS developers.

Equally suave are the puzzle elements incorporated into Dementium. Playing a tune on a piano using the touch screen to unlock a key resonates as one of the most intuitive usages of the DS functionality to date.

Renegade Kid’s DS debut was an ambitious one to say the least, and I for one will continue to hold out hope for their next installment. That said, if you’re looking for a survival horror game on par with PSP’s Silent Hill Origins, Dementium: The Ward is not it.

Shrouded in darkness, as black as the sanitarium’s corridors without a flashlight, is the game’s potential. It’s there; it’s just hiding in a gimmicky monster closet along with every other enemy in this game.

What does this score mean? Read our review scoring breakdown here.

The Ward Will Be Packed This Halloween — Cocks Ready For Action

Drake Hess — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:43:27 +0000

Anticipating high demand for the Nintendo DS title, Dementium the Ward, publisher, Gamecock, will be taking pre-orders via the games official website, www.dementium.com. Excerpts from the press release in typical Gamecock fashion below.

“Due to the fact that we believe the consumer demand for Dementium: The Ward on Halloween will outweigh the inventory available at retail that first day, we are accepting pre-orders directly through Gamecock at www.dementium.com. This way, all gamers who have told us they are dying to get their hands on this game for Halloween can be assured of having a copy in their mailbox, hand stuffed by the gang at the CockPit.”

“We would also like to state for the record, that it is wrong to steal your child or younger sibling’s DS. But surely no one can be faulted for borrowing it just for Halloween week.”

If you are looking for the perfect game to play while you rip through bags of candy this Halloween, look no further, this is it.

DS Preview – Dementium: The Ward

Andrew Podolsky — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 04:35:31 +0000

If hospitals remind you of death, this game’s for you

Ahead in the darkness you can hear the groaning of a chest maw, a zombie-like creature with a gaping mouth in the middle. You can hear your heartbeat quicken as the cockroaches buzzing around your feet take tiny bites out of your health. You rev up the bone saw and charge headfirst into the gore-spattered hallway…

It doesn’t sound like a typical Nintendo DS game, but ever since Metroid Prime Hunters proved that the handheld could power a first person shooter, developer Renegade Kid has made an honest to goodness survival horror game for the DS. Playing as a mysterious stranger who awakens in a bloody and deserted hospital, in Dementium: The Ward you have to solve puzzles, fight monsters, and try to gain insight into what caused the medical mayhem.

Demetium is an M-rated shooter, but unlike the arcade action of Touch The Dead, Dementium has a lot more exploration and puzzle solving. The puzzles are in the typical Resident Evil or Silent Hill style–they don’t always make complete sense but they are often unsettling and have a sort of internal logic. The puzzles often unlock new sections of the hospital like the children’s ward and an eerily silent chapel.

Besides the atmosphere and exploration, which seem nicely done for a DS game, there is a ton of combat in Dementium. Besides cockroaches, chest maws, and ugly slugs called mollusca, there are a few really intimidating boss fights. These fights are tough, and there’s no extra ammo or health around to make them any easier.

If there’s any concern to be had, it’s that the hospital setting can get a bit repetitive, especially for a lengthy game like Dementium. Some of the sound effects, like the heart monitor that constantly reminds you of your health level, could be muted without losing too much atmosphere. And while some of the controls work well, like using just the touch screen for aiming and accessing your inventory, it can be a bit hard to run and gun like in a console FPS. Hitting up twice and holding it to run, for example, is unwieldy when you’re trying to aim at enemies with the stylus at the same time.

But overall, Dementium is surprising in that it manages to capture some of the best parts of a Silent Hill game, like the creepy crawl through monster-filled buildings, with limited ammo and weird puzzles. For a survival horror experience on the DS, Dementium manages to get the tone just right. Now that we’ve seen what can be done, don’t be surprised if other companies try to match Dementium’s scary style. Dementium: The Ward will be available on October 31.

Dementium: The Ward Goes Gold

Chad Lakkis — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:21:08 +0000

All The Horror You Will Need For This Halloween

Renegade Kid is excited to let the world know that Dementium: The Ward for the Nintendo DS has gone gold. The game is being manufactured now and set to hit store shelves on Halloween.

We first played the survival horror FPS at Gamecock’s first annual “EiEiO” Conference in Santa Monica CA and were very impressed. The team at Renegade Kid did their research and it shows. The controls were fluid and the graphics were some of the best we had seen on the Nintendo DS. Killer sound, beastly boss fights, and a disturbing storyline all but guarantee that you will need to change your shorts after playing this one.

If you haven’t heard of this game check out the gameplay video after the jump.

[youtube width="425" height="335"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en1xcfxqCJw[/youtube]

For more information on Dementium: The Ward check out www.dementium.com.