Mullet Madjack PC Review
Summary: The greatest homage to the 90's the 2090's ever saw, a wonderfully different first person shooter experience a bit high on the difficulty.
4.4
Mullet Madness
Mullet Madjack is the literal epitome of everything that makes an indy title great. It’s original, over-the-top, and a niche artistic endeavor that a mainstream developer would likely never touch for all these reasons. Thankfully, Hammer95 is around to bring this insanity to a PC near you.
Mullet Madjack is an homage the 1990s, taking place in the 2090s, where a throwback badass is stuck in a truly dystopian future. In this future, robot billionaires run the roost, with unlucky humans pawns at an array of life or death games to please these overlords. Our hero – plucked right out of Duke Nukem stereotype – is forced to rescue some unnamed princess trapped by a high profile, psychotic robot billionaire. The reward for this endeavor? Literally a snazzy pair of high-end sneakers.
Mullet Madjack is moderated by, well, a Moderator who reminds our titular would-be-hero how the crazy game he’s locked in works. Mullet Madjack is advised the named princess is locked 10 floors up, with him given 10 seconds (at default difficulty) to survive prior to next literal dopamine hit obtained by killing an array of robot types out to get him and securing likes (and more time). Along the way, expect tons of insane environmental elements packed with exploding cannisters and fire extinguishers, breakable giant fish tanks, acid pits, wall runs, vents to slide through, long ramps to nowhere, fans that grind up baddies and more. Almost everything in a level can be interacted with to create ridiculous kills and streaks.
Everything in Mullet Madjack operates at insane speeds, with around a minute to complete each level, on average. Life soda (obtained by kicking or shooting soda machines) does just that, adding time and health when one needs it most.
Each completed level offers an upgrade typically a weapon swap, environmental edge, or ammunition charge. All will significantly impact play, as weapon range/speed, immunity to certain trap types or a propensity for specific damage type will alter how to best tackle a level. Completing 10 levels (culminating in a boss fight) finishes a floor, and with it access to a checkpoint. Spoiler alert: things gets NUTS 30 levels in.
Mullet Madjack presentation is absolutely gorgeous. The game is housed in a beautiful anime style, one which adds even more chaotic immersion. The sheer amount of chaos on display at once is incredible, with every death – to include head and groin shots popping off your screen. The extremely clever ‘unboxing’ mode is an absolute blast, a clever touch our beloved Editor in Chief would love that also unlocks a weapon along the way. The deluxe version (which we didn’t review) has some goodies referenced in the unboxing.
For so much going on, controls are surprisingly simplistic. Almost every non-shooting action is mapped to a single shoulder button, creating easy discovery and application of skills along the way. An extremely clever bit of game design that surprisingly never feels watered down. Think Super Smash Bros in genius simplicity sneaky deep.
While a blast (pun intended), Mullet Madjack does have its warts. Its unforgiving ‘one death and you’re done’ approach sets you back to the beginning of a set of floors and to square one. Almost nothing carries over across gameplay sessions, an unfortunate reminder of how significant the prior mishap truly is. And this game is anything but easy too.
Sadly, dying is sometimes not a fair right, with wonky wall running mechanics, occasional dead-ends, and overpowered shotgunners. I confess to lowering the difficulty (increasing time to 15seconds of life) to lower frustration and be able to properly explore the title to both write this review and enjoy everything it has to offer.
Last and related, level design is usually interesting (as so much going on), but a bit generic at times. Lots of thin, branching hallways with occasional changes to accommodate ramps, vents, and branched height options en masse. Still, there’s only so much Hammer95 can do and keep everything intact, playable, and still fun. It’s hard to literally not laugh out loud after unlocking the 1-liner upgrade (resembling Duke Nukem once more) or admiring an over-the-top close-up killing via wrench through robot head.
Final Thoughts
Mullet Madjack is a challenging, creative, and wonderful first person shooter homage to the 1990s that truly is something different. Every level is fun to tackle, with another bit of craziness always just lurking around the corner. Be prepared for unforgiving difficulty and literal restarts.
About the Author
Paul Stuart A gamer for over 30 years, Paul Stuart has an unhealthy obsession with Assassins Creed, God of War, also sport and virtual reality titles. In his spare time, he teaches Muay Thai kickboxing, runs WrestlingInFlorida.com, and drives his toddler crazy.
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