If you grew up in a household with more than one child (or gamer for that matter), you’ve likely had the pleasure of deciding who gets to be the dreaded player two. Sure, the early Super Mario Bros series didn’t have any real differences between Mario and Luigi, but many siblings would battle it out in real life for the prize of playing as the red garbed plumber. The co-op portion of Team17’s newest release, Mugsters, gives the players a unique solution to this predicament – make both players a carbon copy of each other as a featureless white being.

This puzzle game can be completed via local co-op or single player; however, each mode has their own benefits and downfalls. The fact that both characters look completely identical is a huge point of frustration, which often caused my partner and me to be lost as to who was doing what. By default, the game offers an extremely panned out viewpoint, making large sections of the small islands you visit to be visible at all times. This works well in the single player portion of the title, but in co-op it zooms out even further, making a game that is already difficult to navigate at times even harder to view.

The premise of the game follows your nameless, featureless, quite frankly boring protagonist(s) as they set forth to free their people from the clutches of their equally bland villains. You’ll start the game in a decently sized hub world that houses the level select, as well as some areas fit for exploring, or racing through which we will discuss in a bit. You’ll start the game with a few areas available, while others will be added as you progress. Each level is a small area comprised of an island or group of islands, each with three objectives: destroy specific objects, save your captive friends, and collect shimmering green crystals. Completing these will open the option to run through the level in a time trial that omits all of the previous objectives and feels like it was tacked on for no reason other than to extend the longevity of the title. To complete your objectives, you’ll need to use items found within the game world to progress through barriers and walls, such as switches, pressure plates, and the standard puzzle tropes including vehicles and the all too familiar red barrels that explode if you hit them too hard. Mugsters offers no direction whatsoever, so you will have to rely on your own wits to progress.

Progression in itself is not overly difficult if you use common sense, with the collectible hunting being the largest challenge. The levels are designed in a way that you don’t always see the obvious path needed to make it to areas just out of reach, and standing a van or a bus is not an option, although the characters appear to be able to reach them and simply just slide off. The same can be said for ledges that appear to be within reach, meaning you have to complete the game in the manner it was designed to be, despite it seemingly offering the freedom to complete the tasks any way you choose. The biggest frustration is the lemming quality that the NPCs you will have to rescue on your journey, where they will randomly walk head first into danger or ignore the fact that a car or barrel right next to them is about to explode. Stray too far from them or walk to close to an in game asset and you’ll likely lose them or forget they are even there. The one time they seem to exhibit any type of intelligence is when you get into one of the many cars spread out around the level, but you must keep in mind they won’t remove themselves hastily in the event you want to use the vehicle as a high powered explosive to take down a wall or run over a barrel, which typically makes the smaller methods of transport explode immediately.

Regardless of how you play the title, be it solo or with friends, the campaign is exactly the same. While I found that playing with my wife managed to speed up the time it took to complete the objectives, the issues I mentioned previously did not really make the experience something I would want to play again and again. Playing with my young son was equally frustrating, primarily due to the driving mechanics. The controls work, albeit feel a bit sluggish, but the driving mechanics are quite taxing, forcing the player to steer left or right while moving within a 3D space. Since each level requires you to escape via a plane that can be found at the end of the level, this is something that can end in epic failure, often after you’ve completed all of the objectives that the level requires. Sure, you’re not out much time due to the failure, but some of the puzzles require constant backtracking on foot to complete and no mid-level checkpoints are present.

Much like the overall package, the presentation is hit or miss. I’ve already called out the fact the enemies and protagonists are bland and quite boring, but when the individual levels are so well designed visually, it makes this stand out as a fault even more. The cel-shaded environments are aesthetically pleasing and well rounded, despite getting fairly repetitive early on with repeated designs lasting a lot longer than I would’ve liked to see. The music and sound effects found within the game are forgettable – having just beat the game a few hours prior to writing this, nothing stands out as memorable.

Mugsters is not a bad game by any means, with the steering controls being the standout performance issue; the overall package is simply mediocre and lacks any unique factors to make it standout in any meaningful way. If you’re into puzzle games, you won’t be disappointed, but will likely feel indifferent towards the title upon reaching its climax.

6 out of 10

Pros

• Well Rendered Cel-Shaded Environments
• Clear Objectives
• Co-op…

Cons

• …Co-op Presentation
• Boring Characters
• Dumb AI NPCs
• Lackluster Driving Controls

Mugsters was developed by Reinkout Games and published by Team17 Digital Limited. It launched on PC, PS4, NS, and X1 July 17th, 2018 for $14.99. The game was provided to us for review on PS4. If you’d like to see more of Mugsters, check out the 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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