Mutant Storm Reloaded Review

By Kristan Reed Published 16 February, 2006

It's raining X-men. Again.

Version tested: Xbox 360

If there was one game that stood out among the mediocre first wave of Xbox Live Arcade titles released just over a year ago, it was PomPom's hugely addictive take on Robotron. Few old hands needed convincing of the allure of an updated version of that old top-down shooting classic, but the thing that impressed most was the immensely attractive visual sheen that turned the game into an eye-frying Minter-esque slice of psychotropic twitch brilliance. That the game has been revamped (or, strictly speaking, Reloaded) for the 360 can only be a Good Thing - as long as you didn't buy it a year or so ago. Or, er, even longer ago, seeing as it was originally released on the PC way back in 2003.

For those of you somehow new to the ancient Robotron template, the premise couldn't really be much simpler. Based around the then-revolutionary concept of moving your ship/man/whatever with the left stick and firing in your chosen direction with the right stick, the basic idea is to clear each playfield of enemies and move onto the next, more difficult level. Easy. Ish.

On your travels you'll encounter a wild and varied selection of foes, some easy to dispatch in droves, some exploding into smaller shards, some growing into missile-spitting turrets, others engulfing the 3D arenas with threatening tentacles and requiring boss monster-esque weak-spot detection. From the opening level onwards (there are 89 of them in total) it's evident that you're massively outnumbered, hopelessly outgunned and generally overwhelmed in a way not seen since the likes of Minter's Llamatron, Smash TV and the long-forgotten Loaded were the stars of the era. Wave upon wave of determined enemies swamp the screen, all making a dramatic beeline for you, causing the kind of intense brow-furrowing survive-by-the-skin-of-your-teeth dodge-and-weave twitch gaming that evokes visions of one of those heroic last-ditch, seven-lane changeover manoeuvres on the Hanger Lane gyratory during rush hour.

None shall pass

But unlike our dodgy driving excursions, destroying those who dare to cross your path reaps various rewards, as opposed to a few months in chokey. Power-ups of the weapons and armour variety make short work of dozens of tiny, oncoming death machines, but sadly the likes of the Laser, Three-Way and Spinner appear all too briefly, making Mutant Storm as much about your skilful dexterity and pattern avoidance tactics as your ability to collect the power-ups.

'Mutant Storm Reloaded' Screenshot 1

The contents of someone's stomach after a Friday night special, or a screen from Mutant Storm Reloaded? You decide...

Much like the revered Geometry Wars, it's all about second-guessing what's coming next, positioning wisely and keeping an eye on what's teleporting at any given time. But unlike the celebrated Bizarre Creations effort, this is much more focused on short, sharp bursts of prescribed waves, with recognisable challenges that can eventually be overcome with precision and set tactics. As such, the game's appeal works on a subtly different level. On the one hand you can try and play it like a typical arcade game, working through the various stages one after the other and going for a massive high score, score multipliers and earning the various 'belts' (colour-coded, like Karate belts, from white up to black, all in the name of 'Blastikkidoo', appropriately), or you can play through it stage by stage in what amounts to a pseudo score-attack mode, choosing to play it on whichever belt colour you choose and attempting to earn the best individual score.

If anything, the definable progress you make from this so-called Tally mode provides a great deal of satisfaction and by extension acts as a kind of repetitive tutorial to gain intimate knowledge of each and every level. It's the kind of knowledge that will probably elude you if you stick to the normal Adventure mode, and works well, almost by accident (but probably not). Gaining the highest possible belt on each and every level becomes the goal, but it's the score that ultimately means more. Curiously, PomPom's leaderboard system only caters for your overall Tally score, rather than allowing you to aim for the best on each individual level, but that's a minor issue.

Tally ho

Perhaps the only real irritation about Mutant Storm Reloaded is the sudden spike in its learning curve about a third of the way through, and how heavily it punishes players for daring to lose a life, and the knock-on effect this has towards earning any of the belts in Adventure mode. We realise this is all part of the fun, and represents a serious challenge, but many of the achievements locked away will only be earned by seriously skilled players, and getting that good is a lot tougher than it initially appears - even if you are the sort of player who romps through black belts on Tally mode. As with a lot of shooters, there's an equal portion of luck involved in squeaking through, and for us, the punishments for failure are a little too hard to swallow when you're that close to scoring high multipliers or earning new belts. It's not necessarily that the game itself is too hard - it isn't - but the reward structure is set firmly in the red zone. Then again, this is exactly what the hardcore retro shooter wants, so I'll shut up now.

'Mutant Storm Reloaded' Screenshot 2

Somehow this mishmash of colours makes sense in real life.

Of course, one thing we've not mentioned yet is the presence of the excellent co-op two player mode for both Adventure and Tally modes, adding a decent social mode that makes your life a fair bit easier during the more insane levels.

And one thing we can get enough of is the fantastic visual style, which manages to haul what is ostensibly a 25 year old concept into the modern age with aplomb. Somehow the arenas are varied, look exceptionally cool and are populated by the kind of random evil that game designers were hankering after a quarter of a century ago. Shoehorn in a sub-woofer-busting soundtrack and the retro-futuristic feel is complete.

All round, Mutant Storm Reloaded is the kind of sympathetic update that reminds us exactly why gamers gets so foamed up about supposedly outdated concepts. Sometimes things just work, and always will. Although, at 800 points, it's by no means the cheapest retro thrill out there, it's well worth giving Mutant Storm Reloaded a try (for free, there's a decent demo available, remember) and remind yourself how intoxicating a Robotron-style shooter can be.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (42) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • thegamesthething #1 6 years ago

    if this is worth 8/10 for 800 points, then the superior GW, at half the price, will surely be a 10 when the review finally arrives

  • myiagros #2 6 years ago

    seems like the Xbox arcade games are the best thing about the 360 at the moment. Long may it continue it makes a refreshing change to annual updates of the same old crap.

  • rauper Verified Managing Director, Eurogamer Network #3 6 years ago

    These pick-up-and-play games are making me want a 360...!

  • Furbs #4 6 years ago

    You'd never get time to play it.

  • Bitkari #5 6 years ago

    You could just go and buy Mutant Storm for PC

    http://www.pompomgames.co m/

    :]

  • dbeamish #6 6 years ago

    is this beter than Geometry Wars? GW is flipping hard and the demo of MS:RL seemed a bit easier to get into..

  • OllyJ #7 6 years ago

    again cheers EG for the arcade review!

    I haven't actually got MS so this might sway me!

    on a side note where can I purchase cheaper MS points than on 360?

  • tiddles #8 6 years ago

    I bought this again even though I own the PC version.

    Don't think the sound effects are as good as the original's, though - I miss the tom-tom sound when you shoot the swimmy, petally things, and the ice-cube like "tink"s when the crystal blocks break up.

  • LetsGo #9 6 years ago

    I love the fact that the BEST RATED X360 games are XBL Arcade ones :)

    Why didnt MS release a oldskool 16bit console instead? It'll be cheaper thats for sure...

    hehe!

  • thegamesthething #10 6 years ago

    i prefer the whole feel of GW, the ship movement particularly seems a lot more responsive - they are both excellent games though, especially once value for money is factored in

    MSR perhaps only got an 8 when the golden 'nothing higher than an 8 for the 360' rule was taken into account :)

  • Stormflood_UK #11 6 years ago

    Don't think the sound effects are as good as the original's, though - I miss the tom-tom sound when you shoot the swimmy, petally things, and the ice-cube like "tink"s when the crystal blocks break up.

    The XBLA version does has those exact sound fx. Or were you talking about the PC version? /confused

    Anyway, is no one on EG going to ever break my tally score?

  • bloke #12 6 years ago

    Working on it mate :-)

    aka janeaustinsmum

  • bloke #13 6 years ago

    I think that MS's Tally Mode (where you can play single levels repeatedly, one at a time at any difficulty level) is a big difference between it and the excellent GeoWars.

    This means you can dip in and out of the game, rather than having to endure long sessions of intense concentration. You can do that as well, of course..........

    It's almost unbelieveable that a few people have got the BlackBelt Grandmaster acheivement. They must have God-like skillz.

  • GingerMagician #14 6 years ago

    I've had the 360 for a couple of weeks and I've probably spent two or three times as long playing MSR than GW. Feels much less random and you always get a sense that you're improving. Plus I love that music on the menu screen.

  • peterfll #15 6 years ago

    I've purchased MSR as I can play it for a lot longer than 4 minutes 50 seconds, which is the longest I've lasted on GW. I like GW but I find it way too hard. I know there's plenty of hard core gamers out that can play GW until blood is coming out their ears, but unfortunately I don't seem to be one of them (my biggest gripe is GW has one difficulty level and that's set to Very Hard).

  • Eighthours #16 6 years ago

    I think that GW is way better than Mutant Storm, though MS is very good in its own right. GW is just a phenomenal piece of work.

  • Mr_Whacker #17 6 years ago

    800 points? How much is that in Bells?

  • tiddles #18 6 years ago

    The XBLA version does has those exact sound fx. Or were you talking about the PC version? /confused

    I was talking about the XBLA version. The sound effects are not the same as in the PC version (at least, the PC version I own - it may have been updated since then).

  • neon #19 6 years ago

    Xbox360 is finished. Did it ever begin?

  • LetsGo #20 6 years ago

    I menat on EUROGAMER.

    Call of Duty 2 - 7/10
    Perfect Dark Zero - 7/10
    Dead or Alive 4 - 6/10
    Kameo: Elements of Power - 5/10
    Condemned: Criminal Origins - 7/10
    NBA - HAHAHAH!

    See my point now!!?!?

  • captainrentboy #21 6 years ago

    neon,once again just the one word for you.Twat!

  • Furbs #22 6 years ago

    LetsGo - good idea, compare the score a £4 game gets with one costing more than 10 times that :)

    Twat.

  • glaeken #23 6 years ago

    I thought PGR3 got an 8? Still I guess that would derail your point ;)

  • bloke #24 6 years ago

    Comparing Scores between Budget and Full Price titles is always a problem.

    Let's face it, a reviewer is going to be way more critical of something which is a 40UKP investment for a gamer than one which is a 4UKP one.

    Whatever, on Live Arcade all titles have a playable demo, so you can (very easily and for free) decide for yourself before investing all that cash :-)

  • LetsGo #25 6 years ago

    Why should price come into a factor of a review score? It shouldn’t at all.

    Maybe the length of it should (if you have a budget game, maybe the length is smaller) but never the price.

    If Half-Life 2 cost £1,000 it STILL deserves the score it got because it is a great game (for example).

  • Furbs #26 6 years ago

    Er. No.

  • LetsGo #27 6 years ago

    Why should price be a factor in a review?

  • gaijin #28 6 years ago

    why try changing the subject when your initial point has been proved ill-researched and plain wrong?

    oh yes, of course. silly me.

  • bloke #29 6 years ago

    Letsgo - every review is written in context, not of itself alone.

    Something that is good for a fiver, might not be good value if was 500 quid, compared to other stuff on the market.

    HL2 is not worth 1000UKP. But it's a great value for 40.

    So, in essence, most reviews are telling you something about value for money, because most people find that more useful than an abstact figure.



  • Mr_Brown #30 6 years ago

    Played it and liked it. But promised myself I won't buy it...I already own almost all of them! Personally I think Geo wars is the best, its rock solid but so adictive. But its the best out of a very good bunch. Theres definatly at least one game for everyone at the moment and Xbox Live Arcade is still young at that!

    I honestly can't wait for the likes of Sega, Capcom and Namco to start developing for it...who needs new 360 games then huh?

  • Kavvy #31 6 years ago

    @Eighthours

    Funny, that's exactly the opposite of what I think... To me MSR *is* perfection, I'm happy when I die because I know I made a mistake and I know that next time I'll try another tactic.

    I think that's the key here, MSR is a tactical shoot em up players game where you can try different approaches to a level, while GW just feels too much like you have to rely on a couple of basic play styles and hope that you are also lucky.

    Although being a big PomPom fan i'm completely biased.
    Edited by 1 at 16/02/06 @ 17:57

  • LetsGo #32 6 years ago

    I really can’t believe the amount of console fanboys, it does make the chuckle.
    What I said was a semi-joke/semi-serious.

    On Eurogamer, the XBL Arcade games seem to be (as a whole) fairing a lot better than the big budget main titles, that’s all I was saying.

    Of course there are exceptions to the rule (PGR3 for example) but there still isn’t any killer 360 games about yet.

    Love games, not consoles ffs
    Edited by 1 at 16/02/06 @ 18:19

  • Furbs #33 6 years ago

    Thankfully the worst fanboys have been driven off LetsGo. Instead we just have trolls who cry "fanboy" when people show them up for what they are.

  • Rambaldi #34 6 years ago

    This is so much better than GW. For me, XBLA is what you do when you want a break from punishing yourself with Veteran COD2 or Platinumn PGR3. In this respect, Mutant Storm is perfect. The audio is superb too.

  • crashVoodoo #35 6 years ago

    love this game, just unlocked the purple and blue belts. was going for the brown but as soon as a i died, concentration went out of the window, along with the belt conter percentage :(

    just need brown, work on the black and then go for the grandmaster whatsit. not got a prayer with that :(

  • inpHilltr8r #36 6 years ago

    It's the flipside to Geometry Wars. MSR can take an hour to play when you start getting good, plus it keeps twisting the style. Whereas GW just pushes you relentlessly until you pop. Both are top notch, and both easily outclass any of the big retail X360 games.

    Also, buy MSR because that way you're supporting a proper UK indie developer.

  • inpHilltr8r #37 6 years ago

    The best thing about X360, is downloading demos, and saving money you might have risked based on a dubious review.

  • morriss #38 6 years ago

    Hadn't even considered this game. Thanks for thrusting under my nose.

    /buys

  • Heds #39 6 years ago

    It's the dip-in-and-outability of MS:R that's probably its most appealing feature over GW.

    That and the fact that on blackbelt, the tally levels can take you bloody ages to get a decent score.

    Anyway, 313th on the leaderboard and still 20 odd levels to go. Anyone higher? :-)

  • bloke #40 6 years ago

    I was contenting myself keeping up in the top 500..........until recently :-(

    Now 569.

    Must try harder :-)

  • Xerx3s #41 6 years ago

    oh well, better late then never.

  • Machiavel #42 6 years ago

    Really love this - the structure and different difficulty levels gives it the edge for me over the delirious Geometry Wars, which is always the same dull opening 40 seconds followed by a frenzy of fun and unjustified dying (to my frazzled eyes, anyway!)

    The room structure also seems to ease you into that 'zone', and the quest for newer belts (I think you just need around the first 18 levels completed without dying) is phenomenally addictive.

  • Xerx3s #43 6 years ago

    Just as good as SotC then. Except, this is cheaper ;p

    /me throws his poking stick away.