Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge

Mutant Mudds was developed under Renegade Kid and it is a platform video game. It was released for the first time at Nintendo 3DS in the year 2012. It arrived on iOS and Microsoft Windows in the same year. The game has improved version called Mutant Mudds Deluxe and was released for Microsoft Windows and Wii U. Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge is the spin-off of the game and it is accessible on Microsoft Windows, Playstation Vita, Playstation 4, Nintendo 3Ds and Wii U.

While playing the game, the music can be turned off which prevents the player against damaging himself by listening to the music many times or for a long time. The game follows Max who is a protagonist and he jumps over or shoots Mudd, it is the variety of the outlandish baddies that crawls or flies around many colorful stages of the game. The enemies are in huge number, including haunting ghosts, pig heads that drop the bombs and simple worms.  Imaginative characters appeal to the eye and they make happy the retro gamers but this is not the reason why people continue to play. The game is addictive, and even if it is simple, it brings the feel of trying just once after the death

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The player is able to hover, jump or crouch by using the fire or jetpack of Max.  The game is based on a bare bone style but the most important aspect of the game is to be able to jump in three sections at the background and foreground. This makes the game to be different in a significant way and it makes Max to appear tiny or large according to where he is put to stand. However, during the transition period, there is some unexpected death since it is hard to see the enemies that may lurk out in a backdrop and they are ready to be added on the lost life counter.  This is correct since the game counts the deaths that you suffer during the game.

The game has depth to its experience and some may be hidden within the surface. In order to complete a certain level, the player has to go through trial and error and many re-educations. Sometime, the player may have to drop and to hit the jetpack before firing on the incoming bad guy.  In order to advance past an enemy, you should dive with your head first at the pit of the spikes while shooting him.

The game is based on the timing, and sometime you may feel as if you are cheated since the game does not include the checkpoints.  When you die, you may restart from the beginning or you may start at a given checkpoint. The levels take only few minutes and most are only five minutes. However, to play the level many times, it may feel as if it is eternity for some people.

Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge is the game with 8-bit but at the same time, it is fun and it is done right. However, the game can appeal more to hardcore retro crowd since it has a high level of difficult.  Each button matters and it has to be timed in the perfect manner or it will bring death to the hero of the game.  For any player who is brave enough to reach to 40 levels of the game, then he is going to have the addiction that he will have to overcome for a long period.

The player has to use A and B  button in order to jump just once and to press the same button again while in the mid-air, it will make the game’s character to hover for some seconds.   The player may shoot using Y or X buttons. The enemies in the game may be shot many times in order to be killed.  When the character is on the launch pad, jumping can send the player to the foreground or in the background.  This gameplay continues to be the same for long period and it has the use of 3D capabilities of 3DS. A PC version, since the visuals of 3D are not standard, they use the depth of the field effect while jumping or between the foreground and background.

The main levels in this game will be put in the four worlds and the worlds have to be unlocked through winning the previous stages. In every level, the player will have three objectives.  The most straightforward and the main one is to be able to reach at the end of a stage and to get water sprite.  A second level is to get all the golden diamonds found in the level. In every level, there are more than 100 golden diamonds found around the entire place. A third but which is also challenging objective can be to find and to complete a secret land that it is hidden in every stage. There are doors that are labeled G-land or CGA-land or a V-land and they are hidden in every area.  After entering, the player will be transported to a challenging and also a secret stage which is needed to complete this game fully.

At the beginning of every level, Max will be given the unlimited ammunition with three hearts. The character can lose one heart whenever he runs into the enemy or in the obstacles that may harm him.  However, there are obstacles like lava or spikes that can kill him at once.  The 3DS version will kill the character if a level has not been finished within 4 minutes. When he collects enough of the golden diamonds, Max is capable of upgrading and to equip himself with the jetpack that can help him in crossing larger gaps, with a rocket jump to reach to high level places or a bazooka to pass through the barriers.  They are also required for accessing to the V-land and G-land areas.

The PC version has 20 bonus levels with free downloadable content of 3DS version. The players may take control over the grandmother of Max called Granny and she is capable of using all the upgrades at the same time.

Plot

This game starts with the short cutscene and it is showing two people and Max is among them. He is the main protagonist and the two are playing a video game in the living room and a meteor hits them. The scene also goes to a TV station which reports of Muddy Invasion. Max goes out to stop the Mutant Mudds with only a jetpack with a water gun.  The game is based on the Legend that water sprites may erase mud or dirt and getting them all can help in getting rid of Mutant Mudds completely. After this, the player will be taken to the tutorial where he gets to learn which controls to use.

What makes Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge special

Compared to the old game, Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge has come with some improvements like the replacement of the double-jumping with the jump and hover: when there is a demand that the user can land perfectly when he has rows of spikes which may lead to instant death. At the start, the player can play at 8 levels and this means that when you are tired of one level, you are able to go to another level.  The core of this game is the capacity of travelling between the background and the foreground and this adds the puzzle element on the player’s experience. This game got positive reviews. This is because it cuts fat away of the normal in order to deliver satisfying and pure experience. It also demonstrates that a retro game is more than just  pixel graphics with the chiptunes but it is more about understanding the basics which made the genre a popular game even before.

The game is a top title and any player who is interested in a 2D game should play it.  The game is preferred because of its unique visual styles with the crafty level designs. The Mutant mudds bring together the 8 and 16 bits world while at the same time, giving the fans the classic 2D experience.  The game is the homage to the era of 8-bit but at the same time, it comes with its personality. Even if the gameplay is simplified, it is still clever and challenging which gives the player a good time as far as he is ready for a constant death.