MULLET MADJACK Review

MULLET MADJACK is utterly delightful. It’s the perfect culmination of artistic vision, combined with a fantastic soundtrack, a flawless gameplay loop, and a surprisingly apt story.

You take the role of Jack, a “Retrohuman,” in a world full of robots. The “Influencer Princess” has been kidnapped by a group of incredibly rich robots, and it’s Jack’s job as a Moderator to climb the towers of Nakamura Plaza and rescue the girl (and also win a pair of really nice sneakers). You team up with PEACE Corp, a terribly named corporation that streams your acts of violence and pumps the dopamine of the viewers directly into your bloodstream, keeping you alive and tying into the core gameplay loop. You have only ten seconds of life (which doubles as health, reducing faster when you take damage), which are refilled by getting kills. The more stylish the kills, the more time is returned to you. You can also find items (such as Life Soda) which fill your time back up.

Throughout the game, you’ll climb 82 floors, with a checkpoint every 10. Floors themselves are a pretty simple series of corridors, laden with foes and hazards, some of which harm you, while others are perfect for killing those enemies. Despite the linearity in the level generation (which is randomised each time), it’s a fantastic decision in this case, allowing you to seamlessly flow from one action to the next. There’s a small amount of moment-to-moment decision-making, deciding how best to kill your enemies and keep your timer as high as possible.

After each floor, you’re given a choice between a few upgrades, from alternative weapons and upgrades for them to other miscellaneous options, such as critical hit chance or explosive soda cans. While you’re not crafting entirely new playstyles with weapons and abilities, the variety at play is enough to keep each run feeling fresh. The armaments themselves are arguably the biggest source of variety, with two elemental katanas and multiple different guns. You’re able to vary your options, and they’re all entirely viable, each excelling with specific perks.

Every 10 floors, you’ll have to face a boss, which is definitely the low point of the game. Boss fights remove the timer gimmick, which leaves them incredibly simple and not all that difficult. Some of these were entertaining, though, mainly the sillier gimmick fights, such as the Samuray, which was initially formatted as an RPG, or the second-to-last fight, which was just a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It was charming, but nothing I’m racing to replay. The Boss Rush mode has the same issues but also includes an additional boss: V2 from ULTRAKILL. It’s still nothing particularly difficult, but it’s a near-identical remake of the V2 fight (including the music), which I enjoyed.

On top of the main campaign, there’s the previously mentioned Boss Rush and Endless Mode. These are exactly what they sound like, but Endless Mode is quite a nice way to add replayability to a relatively short game — I beat the game on “Challenging” difficulty in around 3 hours. You’re also able to replay the main story, with the higher difficulties being incredibly punishing, and will be quite the time investment.

The story didn’t blow my mind, but it was surprisingly deeper than I expected. It’s silly, playing out like a classic ‘80s/’90s anime, with all the over-the-top dialogue and bizarre plot points you’d expect. Beyond that, though, it points a comically large finger at the obsession with technology, streaming, and social media. There’s a point to be made about how robotic society has become, falling into the same dopamine feedback loops we find from the internet and easy access to entertainment. It doesn’t take this point too far, keeping the tone pretty light-hearted and comedic, but I enjoyed the extra depth here. It’s helped further by the characters and the voice acting. Jack has some goofy one-liners, and the Streamer for PEACE Corp is consistently hyping you up, along with the Villain Mr. Bullet, who manages the classic comically evil trope incredibly well.

Of all things in MULLET MADJACK, though, the presentation might be the best. It matches the vibe it was going for effortlessly. The retrofuture/vaporwave aesthetic looks fantastic, and combined with the music, it makes for a very pleasing style. There are also some gorgeous animated cutscenes, which are incredibly good. Within the main menu, there’s also an additional option: Unboxing. Here, you get to unbox a digital recreation of the game in the classic PC Big Box format — which I’m incredibly fond of, so this was a treat.
MULLET MADJACK is utterly fantastic, and a game I couldn’t recommend more. While the boss fights are sadly a touch underwhelming, they feel like an addition to an already fantastic game, rather than a core aspect.