E3 2015: You Will Die in Mutant Mudds and (Probably) Love It

<p>Live&period; Die&period; Repeat&period; These are the words that made up the tagline to Tom Cruise&&num;8217&semi;s <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;warner-bros-changing-edge-tomorrows-title-video&sol;">Edge of Tomorrow<&sol;a><&sol;em>&comma; but they aptly describe <em>Mutant Mudds <&sol;em>nonetheless&period; A retro-flavored platformer from the minds of <em>Dementium<&sol;em> and<em> Moon Chronicles<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Mutant Mudds<&sol;em> is a tough-as-nails throwback to games gone by&period; Needless to say&comma; my first time jumping and shooting with <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;renegadekid&period;com">Renegade Kid<&sol;a>&&num;8216&semi;s cruel creation for Wii U left me enthralled&comma; humiliated&comma; but never defeated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Much like the sci-fi thriller in question&comma; you will die well and die often in <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;review-mutant-mudds-deluxe-one-big-mud-ball-of-fun&sol;">Mutant Mudds<&sol;a><&sol;em>&period; You begin as Max&comma; a bespectacled young boy with a jetpack and a gun that looks like he could&&num;8217&semi;ve been a reject from <em>Earthbound<&sol;em>&period; Aliens called Mudds are invading his humble burg and like any good kid&comma; Max&&num;8217&semi;s out for some close encounters with the squishy kind&period; That entails jumping from platform to platform shooting every Mudd he can find – every brown&comma; oozing one of them at a time&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It&&num;8217&semi;s all that simple and handles exactly how it looks&period; You run&comma; you jump&comma; you shoot and you do it all with the A or B button in tandem with the left stick or the D-pad&period; For all intents and purposes&comma; the D-pad offers more accuracy and comfort in the game&&num;8217&semi;s 2D confines and conveniently suits the NES design scheme&period; The gameplay&&num;8217&semi;s always precise and instantly damning of any judgment calls I made too late&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reminiscent of <em>A Thousand and One Spikes<&sol;em>&comma; <em>Mutant Mudds<&sol;em> offers a bonafide 8-bit arcade experience in every discernible way&period; Renegade Kid&&num;8217&semi;s lively chip-tunes follow you everywhere you jump to your inevitable death and offer a wry to the morbidity of me and Max&&num;8217&semi;s countless failures&period; At times&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s hard not to feel trapped in the seeming time-loop of defeat even in the demo&&num;8217&semi;s single level&period; In what would&&num;8217&semi;ve likely taken any better player a mere five minutes to beat&comma; it took me a good 20 minutes to learn the game&&num;8217&semi;s rhythm&period; Like the classic arcade tropes of its inspiration&comma; <em>Mutant Mudd<&sol;em> is all about building up a certain muscle memory to your hand-eye coordination combined with my whispering to myself&comma; &&num;8220&semi;Don&&num;8217&semi;t&period; F&ast;&ast;&ast;&period; Up&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While the godsend of the game&&num;8217&semi;s checkpoint system alleviates some of that anxiety&comma; <em>Mutant Mudds<&sol;em> maintains a careful balance of challenge and frustration&period; I would inch ever so close to glimpsing the finish line when&comma; to my dismay&comma; a pit of spikes and &&num;8220&semi;Who put that there&quest;&excl;&&num;8221&semi; moving platform would only send me on my way to another early grave&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Like its 8-bit predecessors of <em>Ninja Gaiden<&sol;em> and <i>Ghosts and Goblins<&sol;i>&comma; experimenting is key in <em>Mutant Mudds&period; <&sol;em>You and only you are responsible for loss of life and each death is an invitation to picking yourself back up again&period; Whether this is a confession of my own inabilities or not&comma; my beautiful agony lays some testament to the side-scrolling menace Renegade Kid&&num;8217&semi;s made&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s all as instantly repayable as is inherent in its design and while I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure the level&&num;8217&semi;s collectible coins serve much more that superficial swag&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s easy to find yourself getting back in&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Daring&comma; gripping&comma; and brutally uncompromising&comma; Renegade Kid&&num;8217&semi;s made something splendid in <em>Mutant Mudds<&sol;em>&period; As the industry&&num;8217&semi;s renaissance of hard games marches on with the likes of <em><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;survival-fittest-dark-souls-ii-hands-preview&sol;">Dark Souls<&sol;a><&sol;em> and<em> La Mulana<&sol;em>&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m not sure how <em>Mutant Mudds<&sol;em> will stand the test of time&period; What I do know is that <em>Mutant Mudds<&sol;em> is easily one of the hardest demos you can find&comma; much less survive&period; Why do we fall&comma; dear gamer&quest; So that we can try&comma; try again&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p><em>Mutant Mudds <&sol;em>is available for digital download on 3DS&comma; i0S&comma; Steam&comma; Windows for PC&comma; Playstation Vita&comma; Playstation 3&comma; and Wii U&period; You can also download the demo free until 9&colon;59 am PT&comma; <strong>June 22nd<&sol;strong>&period; Be sure to check out <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;nintendos-letting-you-download-e3-indie-demos-from-home&sol;">all things Nindie<&sol;a> and more E3 coverage as it comes right here at <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com">BagoGames<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;