I had no idea of what to expect from Team17’s latest release, the puzzle(ish?) Mugsters, prior to playing it. The trailers didn’t showcase much, but I had faith in the guys who published games such as Overcooked and Yooka-Laylee. I went in completely blind without any idea of what to expect and to be honest, I liked it for, believe or not, nostalgic reasons. This is far from being a perfect game and it does boast some annoying issues, but I had more fun than expected with this weird-as-heck title.

The premise is simple: you’re thrown into a small island and you have a few objectives to complete. You need to destroy a certain amount of enemy buildings/machines/installations, rescue hostages from containment pods, collect a few crystals, avoid being abducted by alien ships, and then look for an airplane and pilot it in order to escape from said island. When you reach the next island, it’s rinse and repeat. Oh, you can also equip a cape while doing all of this.

It might sound like a bunch of nonsense, and while it definitely is, it’s still fun due to the sheer amount of destruction that is caused in order to complete your objectives. You can use bombs, explode large fuel containers, drive lots of vehicles and use their weight and speed to destroy walls and other small objects, and so on. You can also do that with more than one player at the time, making the gameplay even more chaotic. In a way, Mugsters reminded me of Blast Corps, a Rare cult classic released for the Nintendo 64 back in 1997, another puzzle game in which your objective was to destroy tons of things with explosives and vehicles scattered throughout the map.

The gameplay is fun, even though the isometric view can be a hassle at times, but there are two things that really bothered me while playing Mugsters: the visuals and the sound department. The graphics aren’t exactly exciting as the game might be colorful and somewhat stylish, but I eventually got tired of its low-poly aesthetic, severely repetitive environments and small text fonts even when playing it on a big screen. The soundtrack is pretty much nonexistent. As soon as you explode your first bomb in any level, the game will proceed to continuously play two notes over and over and over again, and that’s all you’ll hear throughout your entire playthrough.

Mugsters is not devoid of some glaring and irritating flaws, but I fell for its gameplay loop and overall amalgamation of influences. It feels like a previous unreleased version of one of those adorable and addictive puzzle-action games you would see on the Nintendo 64, and I’m more than okay with that. It won’t grab your attention for hours on end, but it’s a good choice if you’re looking for a new puzzler for your PS4.

 

Graphics: 6.0 The graphics are colorful and stylish, but they’re extremely low-poly, and all the text presented onscreen is too small even when playing the game on a big TV.	Gameplay: 8.0 The controls are easy to learn and very responsive and the gameplay loop is engaging enough, but the camera angle is extremely counter-intuitive.
Sound: 2.0 The game’s entire soundtrack is literally comprised of a couple of notes that loop endlessly. It’s not very exciting…	Fun Factor: 8.0 Mugsters’ gameplay and overall desgin reminded me a lot of games from the Nintendo 64 era I used to love. Even if its visuals and sound aren’t anything special, it’s tons of fun, be it alone or with a friend.
Final Verdict: 7.0

Reviewed on PS4.
Also available on: Xbox One, Switch.
A copy of Mugsters was provided by the publisher.