Review: Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge

Posted by Curtis H on August 8th, 2016 | 1 Comment | Tags: Mutant Mudds: Super Challenge

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge sits somewhere between an expansion and full sequel to 2013’s Mutant Mudds Deluxe. Max is back to take on the fight against the Mutant Mudds in brand new levels designed specifically to be much harder than what was seen previously in Deluxe, but despite the addition of boss fights the game doesn’t aim to introduce many new concepts. Instead Super Challenge sticks to what made Mutant Mudds Deluxe so great in the first place by following a less-is-more approach to design, each level is deliberately designed to challenge players while never being frustrating, and every victory is always due to your own skill.

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge includes forty brand new levels (twenty base levels with a secret level hidden inside each) and, thanks to popular demand, five boss fights. Each level will feel familiar to those who have played Mutant Mudds in the past; you’ll jump between layers, blast away mudds, collect water sprites, and avoid any dangerous spikes along the way. This time around the game assumes you’ve played Mutant Mudds before and provides a difficulty curve that starts at challenging and only gets harder from there. The basic controls are pretty easy to pick-up, but it’s best to start with Mutant Mudds Deluxe as this is clearly designed with Mutant Mudds experts in mind.

In the hub area Max can equip an upgrade to boost gun damage, hover duration, or jump height, all depending on what may be required in any given level. These upgrades are useful for navigating some of the tougher platforming sections and are also used to access the game’s secret stages, and, much like Mutant Mudds Deluxe, the jump boost is by far the best upgrade and slightly broken. In fact, I never once used the upgrade to increase the duration of my hover and I’m not sure there’s even a reason for it to be there. I would have liked for more levels designed specifically around each power-up and the ability to eventually use all three at the same time, which is something that was present in the last game.

Unlocking any given boss fight requires that you earn 100% completion in each level and secret level in a zone. Thankfully, this can be done over consecutive attempts as every collectible is saved upon level completion. One boss in particular is designed around the special gun needed to kill ghost mudds as well as their ability to respawn after a few seconds. The result is a deliberately paced micro-level that requires the conservation of ammo to hit the boss three separate times. Each boss is quite different and, while some are better designed than others, they’re each crafted in such a way to test your skill and knowledge of the game’s mechanics. It’s also significantly different from the general pace of the game and helps to provide something fresh to change things up.

Mutant Mudds Super Challenge is designed specifically for anyone that’s itching for more, and Renegade Kid is successful in providing just that. This isn’t a full on sequel, and that’s okay, but rather a refined and far more difficult Mutant Mudds challenge. New bosses and 20 unlockable characters from popular indie games just serve to make Super Challenge that much more enticing.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here.