La Mulana 1 & 2 Review: X Never, Ever Marks the Spot

La Mulana is a Metroidvania that came out fifteen years ago in Japan, but didn’t grace the US until seven years later. The sequel launched six years after the original’s US debut, and the two are now packaged together on current consoles. So what are they, and are they any good?

When I first played the original La Mulana on PC, I had been playing a lot of Spelunky. Having a somewhat similar aesthetic, I went in expecting it to control similarly. If you’re expecting fluid controls where the character does what you think he will, you’re going to have a bad time. Think more along the lines of original Castlevania with a jump that you’re committed to once you execute it. You have to be very precise with your actions and be mindful of what you’re doing, lest you face the consequences.

If I’m honest, I put the game down after a very short while, chalking it up to my computer’s lag and the fact I was using a keyboard. I never jumped back in until this compilation, and I found it was hardly the computer or keyboard. Something just wasn’t clicking for me, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. So I did what any person would do and booted up the sequel instead. This is what got me hooked, and while it’s a far superior product in my eyes, it helped me delve into the original with more insight and confidence. And while the second one has a more comprehensible story and roster of enemies, the first’s sporadic nature makes it quite charming.

While the first game follows Lemeza, the sequel follows his daughter, Lumisa. The world is similar starting out, as you’re retreading a partially reconstructed La Mulana, but it soon evolves into new areas that are unique and seemingly original. It’s nice seeing the common areas between the two games, to be honest. It creates a sense of purpose and importance, and makes the improvements that much more notable. Something else that’s very noticeable from the start is the change in ESRB rating. While it’s only Everyone 10+ to Teen, the imagery and dialogue certainly felt like a big difference. Honestly, the game caught me off guard with some of its jokes, and I couldn’t help but laugh at not only the game’s intentional comedy, but the likely unintended comedic areas of the environments and enemy placements.

Between the two games, you can expect some extreme difficulty, although I had an easier time with the second on hard mode than the original. If you’re playing and don’t want to activate hard mode, make sure you adhere to a tablet that tells you not to read it. I will say that the second has more modern aspects for tracking where you’re going and puzzle solving, whereas the original is much more old school and wants you to have a meltdown while trying to decipher what’s going on. Having a map was enough to keep me going on the sequel, while I’d easily get lost in its predecessor. That’s not to say the first doesn’t have its merits, as the design choice was likely intentional to be a throwback, but I found most of these features to be more of an annoyance than entertaining.

Combat and skills eventually develop as you play, but never become something astonishing. Honestly, the combat was my least favorite part of the whole experience (bosses aside, which were all very fun to look at and battle), but it certainly breaks up the occasionally troublesome platforming (especially the trolling) and puzzle solving. Actually, as much as I found myself laughing at the game’s punishments, I would curse them for time wasted when I had no real way of knowing what would happen. There are plenty of games like this nowadays; I feel like they are made with the purpose of streaming to audiences that can laugh at your failure and frustration. While it’s not inherently a bad thing, I think cutting it down would make the overall experience better. It becomes over-saturated with trial and error, and it’d be served a lot better as here and there like the original Bioshock with its enemies, as compared to Bioshock Infinite with it’s abundance.

If you’re looking for a Metroidvania that will test your wits and patience, look no further than this collection. With charming art and music, there’s a lot to dig into here. Honestly, I’m surprised by the length of each, especially when attempting to do more than just the main story. Plenty to do and lots to see; just keep in mind that you’ll probably be yelling from time to time in frustration.

8 out of 10

Pros

  • Sense of Humor
  • Interesting Mythos
  • Surprising Amount of Content

Cons

  • Difficulty Spikes
  • Punishable by Death Trial and Error
  • Sluggish Controls

La Mulana 1 & 2 was developed by Nigoro and published by Nippon Ichi Software, Playism, and NIS America. It is available on NS, PS4, and X1. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of La Mulana 1 & 2, check out the game’s official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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