Renegade Kid's critically acclaimed retro-style platformer has finally launched on the eShop. Is it the next great addition to a growing list of titles?
Max has a lot of work to do. (Screen courtesy of Renegade Kid)The game's premise starts out simple enough. Max is at his Grannie's house when, out of nowhere, the Mutant Mudds invade the earth. Determined to stop them, Max arms himself with a water pistol and jetpack and heads out to collect the Water Sprites necessary to stop them. That's about it for the story, though like most classic platformers, it doesn't need a grandiose story to add to the gameplay.
The game is split up into 40 levels, 20 regular levels and 20 secret levels. In all of those stages, Max has to jump, hover, and shoot his way to the Water Sprite at the end of the stage. The level design is decent enough, and while it starts out simple, the challenge slowly ramps up to test even the best of gamers by the time you reach the fifth world. If you see an arrow on the ground, press B and Max will be wisked into the foreground or background layer. The platforming is tightly designed, and the controls are rock solid as well.
In each of the 20 main levels, there are 100 Golden Diamonds to collect. Once you collect enough, you can unlock power-ups for Max to use. One of them extends the water pistol's shot distance and the number of shots he can fire at a time. Another doubles the time he can hover using the jet pack. The last allows Max to super jump by pressing up and B, which is very useful in the later stages. Unfortunately, you can only use one power-up at a time, and you have to keep returning to Grannie's house to swap them.
A secret level, Virtual Boy style. They also come in Game Boy style. (Screen courtesy of Renegade Kid)In addition, each of the 20 main levels houses a secret level. Some are easy to access, but some require specific power-ups to access. These levels house Water Sprites with no Gold Diamonds. They are inspired by the Game Boy and the Virtual Boy. Their colors mostly reflect this, although Max and the Mudds keep their original colors (which was odd to me, but most gamers probably won't mind).
Graphically, the game is a total throwback to the NES/SNES era of gaming. Sprites are fluidly animated and look nice, and the game runs at a solid framerate throughout. The 3D effect is one of
Mudds' strong points. It adds a true sense of depth to the gameplay, especially when Max jumps into the foreground or background and when he encounters the Mudd Maces, horizontal rotating balls of spikes. The music features some nice chiptunes and retro sound effects.
Ultimately, the game has a couple of big drawbacks. There isn't much variety to be seen in
Mudds. All Max can do is basically shoot enemies, jump around and collect Diamonds. There isn't much else to do. It's not bad, but by the fifth stage (which was in space, you'd think gravity would change or something) it got to be mundane.
Also, like I mentioned before, the power-up system is archaic. Having to leave a level to switch power-ups was a curious design decision (even though this is remedied once you 100% the game, but by that time it's a bit late). Finally, the game's length. I fully completed the game in just over five hours. It's not a long game at all.
Gameplay trailer. (Video courtesy of Renegade Kid)Mutant Mudds isn't a bad game. It's a good game, just not a great one. I recommend it if you're looking for a good old-school game, but I would recommend
VVVVVV first.
Editor's note 1: I'm aware that VVVVVV and Mutant Mudds are completely different games. I changed the word "platformer" to "game" in the last sentence to reflect that. My apologies.Editor's note 2: The new Grannie levels don't do enough for me to change the score. They're challenging, but...that's about it.URL to share (right click and copy) 
