The Super Bowl is Sunday and the most important question to ask is, what commercial is going to win? Actually this is the first year I don’t care. Lately, the commercials have been boring and not funny and I’m not caring if Justin Timberlake is going to pull another Janet Jackson stunt. So, bring on the Puppy Bowl and then let’s find something more constructive to do…. Like beating the daylights out of the other team.
Time to open the famous Old School Arcade Magazine time capsule. Let’s see what we have. In 1993, the 6th version of Madden NFL Football was released with 94 season for the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo. I wonder if they knew it was still going to be going strong to this day. But here is another game that was released for only the Sega Genesis. Mutant League Football, created by Michael Mendheim was also released. What was considered to be a sequel to Mutant Hockey League, MFL was basically a game created with the same engine and setup of the Madden series…..just a tad more violent. How can football be violent?
When you have aliens, skeletons, robots, trolls, and siperhumans, you know that this is not going to end well. The premise of this type of football was simple, either score as many points as you can like regular football game, or go for broke and attempt to kill as many players as you can to force your opponent to forfeit the game. You can kill your opponents in several humble ways. Forcing them into land mines, toxic waste, explosions, electro shocking and even by the dirty tricks that each team has up their sleeve. Didn’t like the call that the referee made? You can bribe him, and if that doesn’t work, you can kill him too. This was the best game to play during my college years. Who needed studying?
Jumping into the time machine and going into 1997….GREAT SCOTT has it been that long?!?!?! After a underfunded Kickstarter campaign the first time around, Mendheim and his team re-focused on what should be worked on and improved, and the result was Mutant Football League for the PC, Steam, Xbox and Playstation 4. Going way over the campaign goal the second time around, over 3137 backers sat back and waited in antici………pation as the Digital Dreams team got to work. After months of hearing the voices of the backers, public and other team members, on January 19, 2017, codes were delivered and blood started flying.
First you get to pick one of eighteen teams to use as your choice of carnage. There are no actual names of players or locations, but boy do they come close. Do you want to play as Deadlanta Vultures or the Cardinal Sins? Each team has the team character styles as the original game but looking way better than before. Also each team has their own set of dirty tricks that you are able to use once per half of the game. You can use a Gianormous mode that makes it look like your team is on steroids or you can give the ball to a running back who just “happened” to have a shot gun with him. Yeah, it’s like that.
Each game is divided into four quarters that you can determine the time in the options menu. And within that allowed time, you make your choice of plays through the Blitz like menu. So you are able to pass, run, use a dirty trick, even go to the bench to view what players you have left…..alive. At the half time, you play a very short mini game where you are running around a field grabbing shotguns and shooting zombie refs. The object, stay alive. But during the actual game, the concept is the same. But it’s not just staying alive from other players. Within one game, I was impaired by spikes when I was close to the end zone. At the 50 yard line I was cut in half by a rotating buzz saw. And when I was at the 20 yard line, I was eaten by some type of ground lizard/snake that came up from out of the ground. Again…..seems fair.
All this going on while listening to the commentator make inappropriate jokes with his color commentator who is always looking for the certain player to be killed so he can win his bingo round. I won’t say anymore. And just like the original game, one object is to kill the other players while they are still down. And if they run out of players such as, oh say the quarterbacks, the game is over. .
MFL is a perfect homage to Madden, Supper High Impact and Blitz But when you play it, you may detect more of the Blitz element than anything. The first attribute to this is the audio. If you listen closely throughout the game, you will hear the familiar voice of none other than Tim Kitzrow. If you can’t remember that name or voice, he was the famous voice announcer for the NFL Blitz and NBA Jam franchise. Just close you eyes and think “HE’S ON FIRE!” or “BOOMSHAKALAKA!” Now, for MFL, he is Grim Blitzrow, and he is NOT holding anything back. Everything that you wish he would have said in either NBA JAM or the NFL Blitz series is pretty much said here. With a Mature rating, there is a lot of innuendo and fowl language to listen to. It’s awesome to listen to if you are playing alone, but even better when you are hanging out with friends. Just don’t play it around the kids. You never know what they will say next.
The graphics are beyond exceptional for what it is. MFL follows the good lessons of Blitz and the original MLF game. I don’t think I have ever reviewed a game saying the blood and carnage never looked so pretty. I need help. But each player and motion are played out just perfectly. Also, when you are selecting a play and getting ready to execute it, you have the option of viewing the play movements, again similar to Blitz.
Then there is the controls. I am a gamer who just wants to get to the game. I have to be able to pick up the controller and just play. Sure there may be a few extra things to learn, but I just want basics. It has to be fun or I am eventually going to hate it. This is not going to happen with MFL. As long as you have held a controller before, it is very quick to pick up on the controls.
You may wonder why I keep mentioning the NFL Blitz over and over. The thing is, ever since I got the Playstation 3 and Playstation 4, I have always kept saying I really miss the Blitz series. The reason for that is because the game was fast, fun and easy to play. When they stopped making the franchise, I was always trying to find a way to play it. But now, with Mutant Football League, I just don’t need to worry about that anymore. You don’t have to have the actual team names and players to have a good time….. You just need to make sure the players have a shotgun or chainsaw in their hands.
There are just a couple problems with the game that are actually being worked on at this time. For the Playstation version, they are working on fixing the trophy system that is part of the Playstation Network. They are also working out just a couple bugs here and there, but seriously, it’s a new game and they aren’t asking for anymore of your money for “upgrades”and “additions.”
The other problem, and it really has nothing to do with the game itself is, the online world. I played five times online and got my butt handed to me five times. Not trying to play a not fair card, but it would be nice to be matched up with someone that is at the same “level”as you. It’s either that, or I really stink at this game and need to go back to playing alone….or maybe I’m too old for this!!
I was one of the many proud Kickstarter supports for this game and I have done nothing but say good things about it. Was it because I actually got to communicate with the creator? No. Was it because I funded it as a beta tester? No. It’s because, when it comes to reboots, the game has to feel like it had a reason to be there. And after watching the Kickstarter trailers and other videos about the game. It had every good reason to be there. It’s extremely fun and fast…….. Oh did I mention that it is only $19.99 to download? Now there is no reason not to get this. I’m talking to you Sister Mary Ann Maragaret.
Brad has been a die hard arcade fan ever since he can remember. From the first time he played Space Invaders, to the first time he played Pacman, Brad has always had a love for video games. Hanging out at either the Great American Fun Factory in the mall, or spending the night in front of the glowing games at the local roller rink, he was always thinking about when he can spend the next quarter.
He also worked at Babbages, which is now GameStop, for over six years. Mostly because they had a really sweet checkout policy on new products and great discounts. But since he had the Atari 2600, he has never looked back and owned some of the greatest home machines, NES, SNES, GENESIS, Turbo Graphix 16, GameBoy, Game Gear, Lynx, Playsation 1,2,3,4 and Vita, XBOX, Gamecube, and N64...just to name a few.
Brad is also a reviewer for Mobile Beat Magazine as well as a freelance videographer, part time disc jockey, performing artist and photographer. But has a true love is for video games and Star Wars, as he is a member of the 501st Central Garrison.
His ultimate dream is to own a fully working pinball machine and arcade machine. Difficult to say which one, but a Star Wars one would be nice start.
