Dr. Muto
- December 03, 2002 00:00 AM PST
If you�ve ever wanted to play a game about a guy who looks like MST3K�s Clayton Forrester and likes to fart, your wish has been granted!
So�what�s the deal with this Dr. Muto fella? Is he meant to be delightful? Gross? Ironic? Is the fact that he�s unappealing what�s supposed to make him appealing? Just as Muto�s role in the mascot universe is vague and nebulous, so are the goals in his mostly generic Mario-modeled 3D platformer. This is a decently constructed game that suffers from item glut, with too many icons too collect and not enough distinction made between what they do and why exactly you�d want them. Repetitive looking, too-big-for-their-own-good areas with none-too-helpful maps don�t help, either; you�ll spend a lot of time just sorta wandering, looking at your daunting list of missions and gadgets, wondering what exactly you�re supposed to do next. The whole game design feels vague and mushy.Still, some goodness has come out of the lab�many of Muto�s morphs are creative (in both form and function), the controls and camera are pretty tight, and the game benefits from its absurd, off-color (and often juvenile) sense of humor. The sound effects are unique, too, with odd noises that would make some of history�s greatest black-and-white mad scientists proud. Ultimately, however, Muto�s a slave to the laws and formulas of 3D platformer science�even if it doesn�t necessarily know how to solidly apply them.
