Mutant Mudds Super Challenge (Nintendo 3DS) Review

The most important point worth noting about Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is the feel of Max's controls. Character feel is an incredibly important feature to nail just right, especially in a platformer as precise as this. Max moves at a relatively quick pace, which is necessary for beating the four-minute time limit on each level. His jumps are just high enough to get to new heights, but they aren't enough to get through the whole adventure. Max's jetpack allows him to gain a quick burst of air before plummeting back to the ground. It lasts for only about a second, but it proves itself as an incredibly important tool for the entire game.

The trickiest aspect to Max's control is his gun. It controls perfectly fine and all shots register in a timely manner, but the enemy placement is so cleverly done that simply firing won't kill most Mudds. Instead, short jumps must be made to position Max properly in order to get rid of most enemies.

With an overall very mindful control scheme, Max feels great for the world he's in, especially when taking into account the thorough design of each level. Utilising depth of field, Max traverses through the background and foreground of nearly every stage. The foreground shoves the camera incredibly close to the main man, demanding quick, reflex-based platforming, while the background has a greater field of vision, necessitating more thoughtful and puzzle-based jumping skills. By combining these two ideas together, Mutant Mudds Super Challenge creates a dynamic four-minute world for every stage Max goes through.

Even though the whole package is wonderfully crafted, the difficulty does get on the frustrating side. Too often does it feel like obstacles are difficult for the sake of being difficult, instead of for the sake of teaching a new mechanic or to offer an intellectual challenge.

Deaths will happen, and they will happen with frequency. Stages are short enough where it never really feels like much progress is lost, and there are checkpoints for the longer ones, but nothing feels more discouraging than dying at the same part over and over again.

Despite the almost unforgiving difficulty, there's a genuine rewarding feeling at the end of each stage. Clearing a level is, in itself, a great feat. Mutant Mudds Super Challenge isn't the kind of game that eases in with beginner and tutorial levels; instead, it starts out guns blazing, and while this may seem overwhelming at first, it's ultimately for the best, as it demonstrates that the levels Max goes through are the levels the developers really wanted in.