For most gamers from the 32 bit era, NBA Jam, Tecmo Bowl, or Madden were their first enjoyable experience with a sports game. For me, it was Mutant League Football. At the time, I had little interest in sports, but loved the fact I could win the game by murdering the other team in gloriously violent ways. As a kid who had plenty of friends who loved football and the like, I’d get destroyed regularly (and still do) in any sports title – so being able to win with this was a nice change. 20 years later, Michael Mendheim, the original creator and lead designer has partnered with Digital Dreams to remake the title for current gen systems. The game is currently in Early Access on the Xbox One and is slated for full release in 2018.

If you haven’t ever played or watched football and need a refresher on how the game is played, this title does offer a handy tutorial that initially I skipped. After struggling with my first few games, I realized I might have been doing it all wrong and decided to run through it. Sadly, I was mistaken, and the game is kind of broken in its current state. For those bored with the same Madden being released year after year, this title is a bit different and can be fun at times, but only when playing with a friend locally (an online option is available, but I have not yet been successful in connecting to another player) or on the game’s easiest mode, with the violence turned up to the max. The gameplay is similar to the NFL Blitz arcade style football, with a number of traps and hazards on the field.

The overall presentation isn’t terrible, but it’s not going to win any awards either. While some animations do look acceptable, most character models and fields look dated. I found the optional attacks you can direct toward the opposing team during the seconds after a play, which can occasionally kill a player that has plagued you throughout the game, were both awkward to execute and looked like the attack animations from Die Hard Arcade. Not only do the visuals look akin to a Sega Saturn or early Xbox title, the audio is severely lacking. The commentary offered is occasionally worthy of a chuckle, but the writing does fall flat more often than not. The controls are passable, but there is a pretty severe delay in the juke move, which would occasionally not work and result in my player stopping in his tracks opposed to dodging another player or hazard.

My biggest issue with the game is the AI and horribly broken penalty system. Like a vanilla football title, there are penalties, but these are from the largest dumpster fire I have ever seen and will regularly happen one after another. These can result in a loss of possession or points, causing you to lose when you would have clearly won had the ref not decided he didn’t like your Facebook posts (yes, that’s a thing, see the photo below), thought you insulted his mother, or potentially gave him the stink eye. I believe these fall under what the game dubs a “dirty play,” which offers options such as bribing the ref, whipping out a chainsaw and mowing down members of the opposing team, or just sending your entire team after the quarterback at the second the play is set in motion. When I try to use these, the game limits the frequency that I can use them, while the AI seems to be able to use one after another. This has caused me to lose against one of the worst ranked teams twice, on both normal and easy difficulties during the season play mode. I’m not sure if this is a glitch or how the game is intended to be played, but either way it’s annoying beyond belief. In addition to the awful penalty system, the AI seems to be able to shake off multiple hits that would have taken my players down in a single attempt and keep running. The only saving grace when this happens is that the AI seems to be unable to see the obvious traps on the field I mentioned previously.

While I am aware this game is still a work in progress, I am disappointed in its current state and find it hard to recommend the game at the $24.99 price point it currently has tagged to it. I have enjoyed some of the time I’ve spent with it, but more often than not I’ve been frustrated and felt that I would be better off dusting off my Sega Genesis and giving the original some much needed attention. I am hopeful that these issues are patched or improved for the full release. I would strongly recommend to those of you who are interested in MFL to try the free demo or to wait for the full release before committing.

 

Mutant Football League was developed and published by Digital Dreams Entertainment. It was released on Steam and Xbox One Early Access on October 31st, 2017 and November 3rd, 2017, respectively, for $24.99. The game was provided to us for preview on X1. For more on Mutant Football League, visit its official site.