GAME REVIEW | "Mullet MadJack" Delivers OVA-Era Violence in Abundance
Ten seconds is all you have to live. The only way to stay alive is to appease your streamers. And the best way to keep them entertained is to keep on killing. A hint of what the future holds? Who knows, but if Mullet MadJack is any indication, it’ll be a gory and eye-catching future!
Inspired by anime from the 80s/90s, Mullet MadJack has you playing a vigilante who only survives on dopamine. The only way to get more is to take on jobs, make plenty of kills, and have enough viewers hit those like and subscribe buttons. Your mission is to save an influencer from a plethora of cyborg boss men known as Robillionaires, and the more floors you climb, the higher the difficulty gets.
You’re not alone in this mission, as the snarky-yet-helpful Peace Corp. is there to offer some assistance. New guns, fiery swords, laser guns, and some killer abilities will help you to climb to the top of the intimidating skyscraper. But sometimes the more powerful a weapon is, the more time it takes to reload it. The name of the game isn’t just to kill, but also to do it quickly and efficiently. Lose your focus, and you’ll watch your timer reach zero in a rather frustrating fashion.
Although Mullet MadJack is inspired by the most hardcore anime of the Showa era, I can’t help but be reminded of the final episode of Excel Saga as I play it. The amount of violence that’s on display is on a hilarious level, to the point where it’s pretty damn ridiculous. Our hero has the trigger finger of Nabeshin (the famed director who self-inserts himself any chance he gets), albeit with less of the wacky humor he’s been known for. Instead, it’s all carnage all the time, and it never slows down for a second.
Whether you are gunning down cyborgs, turrets, drones, and bosses, every moment of violence that happens on-screen is cranked hard enough to break the dial! Headshots, nut shots, explosive barrels, and katana throws are showcased with gratuitous glee. Even melee attacks — which often show an enemy getting stabbed in the head — are presented with the right amount of blood spray and agony from the villainous victims. One can’t help but be in awe of every moment that happens in this game, as its aim to constantly entertains succeeds with flying (mostly red) colors.
But does that make Mullet MadJack a perfect game? Honestly, not quite. There are a couple of flaws that can’t be ignored, no matter how entertaining it is. Even though it’s easy to get your kill score up, the aiming can be a little off when you’re running at full speed down these massive corridors. Because of this, MadJack can sometimes hit a wall, take the steam out of the gameplay, and even cause you to lose precious time that — quite frankly — you don’t have.
The game is also unabashedly difficult. Keeping those ten seconds up seems easy at first, but as you dive deeper into the skyscraper, it becomes pretty frustrating. Worse, if you die, you have to go all the way back to the last checkpoint, which is the start of every ten floors. (Thankfully, there’s an easier mode that’ll give you either fifteen seconds or infinite time, but the game suggests the former over the latter to keep the excitement level high.)
Thankfully, these flaws are easy to overlook due to how stylish the game is. Every second feels like a violent polished anime, down to the taunting Peace Corps. girl that helps and monitors your likes. It combines the character designs of Kenichi Sonoda (Gunsmith Cats) with the action of Tony Takezaki (Genocyber). Add in a hero that’s akin to one of Go Nagai’s more gruesome series, and it’s a recipe for delightful blood-soaked madness!
PROS:
- Fantastic anime aesthetics
- Nonstop heart-racing action
- Cool weapons and kill animations
CONS:
- Aiming controls are rough
- Hardcore difficult
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Mullet MadJack is insanely hard, but it’s also one of the most unique first-person shooters to come around in years. Never once does it put on the brakes, only allowing gamers to catch their breath at the end of each floor. Cool, slick, and violent in every way, Mullet MadJack is the kind of game made for people who spent their childhood buying R-rated anime VHS tapes at their local Suncoast.
FINAL GRADE:
Promotional consideration provided by JF Games Agency. Reviewed on the PC via Steam.
