While some of mobile gaming’s less appealing aspects have been carried over to console and PC games — we’re looking at you, loot boxes — one that hasn’t that often, but should, is the idea that it’s okay to have a game you only play in short, quick bursts.
But that’s exactly where we find Mullet MadJack (Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC), an over-the-top, cyberpunk sci-fi arcade first-person shooter on a timer that can be a bit much if played for too long, but is ridiculous fun in small bits.
In Mullet Madjack,
it’s 2095, every human is a cyborg, and needs constant injections of dopamine or they’ll die. As you for you, you’re a contestant on a live streamed game show in which you have to shoot your way through a building, and if you don’t kill a robot every couple seconds, the audience won’t give you any dopamine, and you’ll die. Though you do get reprieves between floors, during which you can get new weapons and other helpful upgrades.
And yes, this is as frantic as it sounds. Rounds of Mullet MadJack basically have you sprinting your way through narrow corridors, shooting wildly, and occasionally kicking robot ass…literally. That’s because, along with shooting them, you can also kick robots. Which is encouraged when they’re standing in front of exposed wires or uncovered ventilation fans.
Though some of the environmental hazards in Mullet MadJack can hurt you as well. There are, for instances, pits of acid, as well as platforms you can fall off, and long drops that won’t kill you, but will hurt a lot.
Good thing there are a lot of vending machines in this place, since drinking soda replenishes your health, while the audience will also reward you for destroying them.
As for the robots taking pot shots at you,
Mullet MadJack offers a nice variety. Along with some human-shaped ones that look like skinless Terminator in bad suits, you also take on drones that look like skulls with rotors, as well a spider-bots who are as comfortable on the ceiling as they are the floor. Most of which will appear right in front of you (though the operative word there is “most”).
You also sometimes use melee weapons instead of guns. Not only do you sometimes have a katana instead of a gun, you can also, on occasion, grab a fire axe or crowbar off the wall, and bury it in a robot’s skull as a finishing move. Though unlike in DOOM Eternal, you don’t need to finish enemies to get supplies you might need; you just do it for fun.
As for when you have that katana, this happens after you beat a level of whatever building you’re in. That’s when you earn a reward; your choice of three that include new weapons, a change to the conditions of the next level, such as “Slow Bullets Chance,” or an augmentation like “Toxic Shell,” which “weakens everything that dares TOUCH you!”
Just be warned: if you fail the next floor, you lose that bonus. And yes, that includes the shiny katana you just got.
That said,
unlike so many games, the pistol that serves as your default weapon in Mullet MadJack is a good one. Sure, it’s not a good as the submachine guns, the plasma rifle, or the shotgun, but it will serve you well.
As for how you shoot in Mullet MadJack, it’s here that the game becomes rather old school. Your guns never run out of ammo, though they do need to be reloaded, while you move through the world like every surface has just been freshly waxed and you’re wearing clean socks. It’s very DOOM in that regard.
Now, as I said, Mullet MadJack gives you a limited amount of time before you have to kill a robot, while killing them gives you more time. How much of each, though, depends on what difficulty you play this at. And there are a bunch of them, ranging from the super easy to “Permadeath.”
For instance,
For instance,when played on “Lenient,” which is considered one of the “Normal” settings, you have 10 seconds to make a kill, and get 2 seconds for every kill you make. Those numbers change to 15 and 3 in “Accessible,” and 10 and 1 for “Challenge,” while “Hard” makes them 10 and 0 and only gives you time for headshots and environmental deaths.
And then there’s “No Timer!” In it, you can take all the time you need, though you still have to drink some soda when you get shot. It’s a mode the game tries to discourage you from playing, and understandably so, it’s not true to what they were clearly trying to do with this game.
That said, it still actually fun. Sure, you’re not running from one gunfight to the next in a mad scramble, but it is engaging, especially since it’s actually not super easy like you might expect. The robots still shoot you, and those shots still hurt.
It’s just not as much fun…
as playing Mullet MadJack on one of the other difficulty settings, since it’s the timer that makes this rather frenzied, and thus that much more challenging and engaging. Kind of like if you tried to speedrun the recent remake of Quake.
That is, as I’ve alluded to, only for a while. The unrelenting pace can be a bit much after a while, especially if you’re playing one of the tougher settings and death is your constant companion.
It also doesn’t help that the game’s visuals and sound design add to the cacophony already present from the constant gunshots. Mullet MadJack‘s aesthetics are a mix of old school arcade games, ’90s anime, and ’80s action movies. And the music is just as bold and ’90s-sounding. It’s like if Capcom made an arcade in the ’90s that was based on an anime version of 1988’s Die Hard. Or, for that matter, trying to speed run Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon.
Granted, this may be a case of “if it’s too loud, you’re too old,” and I am old, but all the flashing lights and pulsating music combined with the unrelenting gameplay made me want to take a break every 20 minutes or so.
But this is not a bad thing.
Especially if, like me, you have a lot of other things to do. Playing quick rounds of Mullet MadJack served as a nice change of pace from reading comics, doing a rewatch of Battlestar Galactica, and, uh, work. The enemies are nicely tough, and the levels sometimes give the latter places to get the jump on you, which will really test your skills with the smooth controls.
Now all I need is a mobile version…
SCORE: 8.0/10
