Mullet MadJack - Switch Review

When I was a younger, much less cynical man, before the weight of reality crushed my spirit and I could still hope for a future that was cool instead of horrifying – anime was a beacon for that hope. Specifically the anime of the 80s and early 90s; I’m talking things like Gunsmith Cats, Bubblegum Crisis, and Martian Successor Nadesico. You know, when the civilisation-warping dystopia was fun, outlandish villains were doing tropey shenanigans, rather than the soberingly real headlines you wake up to every morning. Don’t you wish you could go back to a time before all that? Well, thanks to Mullet MadJack on the Nintendo Switch, that escapism is now always at hand! It’s pretty good, is what I’m saying.

The Good

Let’s quickly establish what Mullet MadJack is - a fast-paced run-and-gun rogue-like shooter, with your life only ever being ten seconds (with exceptions) away from giving out. It’s also nostalgia bait. But it’s fun nostalgia bait that caters properly to fan service and for that it's forgiven many overused tropes. It’s all in service to evoking the feeling of a particular time, not by using its trappings per se but by what we thought about during that time. 

What do I mean? Well, Mullet MadJack features the kind of ultraspeed hyperviolence that 90s games were supposed to be “infamous” for but never really achieved due to technical limitations and sensibilities. It features character archetypes, scenarios, and an animation style that any fan of anime from that era would be familiar with, without actually showing any specific, existing character or moment. This sort of approach to things like what we had, while creating something unique for itself, is prevalent throughout the whole game. It offers a fantasy of a bygone era, made manifest by modern technology, and I think that’s just magic. Also, you’re killing a lot of robot billionaires in this game and that’s very cathartic in a way I can’t quite put into words. For obvious reasons.

With that in mind, this is a port of a game that was originally released on PC – so how does it hold up on the Switch? Pretty well, it turns out. There’s no real difference between the two versions in terms of features, and that’s a point in the port’s favour. It’s as full an experience as what you’ll get from the PC version and without sacrificing any of the visual fidelity or run speeds (with exceptions that I’ll touch on later.) 

As an ABS game – Always Be Shooting (and dashing; just constantly spamming input while your brain is assaulted with endorphin-inducing rewards, really), the Joy-Cons are surprisingly up to the task. When playing effectively, you’re going to be spamming the hell out of the triggers, and for this reason I preferred to play in docked mode. As I’ll get into later, the jiggling effect that playing in handheld mode can cause… problems.

While I wouldn’t describe the gameplay as “slower” than the PC version, it is more "thoughtful". In those times where I was playing in handheld mode and had to slow my roll for the sake of my eyes and stomach, the decisions I made moment to moment felt more critical. Sub-optimal barging through a room on PC is fine when the controls allow you to easily fix the mistake by sprinting into the next room and killing everything in it. Whatever aim assist might be present for console controls isn’t so extreme, however, that you can easily get away with the same. Suddenly, you’re actually taking proper stock of the environment and what’s in it before charging towards a target. It changes how you play the game, is what I’m saying, and I feel like in a way that’s refreshing. Of course, you can also just play in docked mode or power through the vomit fest if you want a faster experience. Okay, let’s get into the bad parts now.

TL;DR

• 80s/90s nostalgia bait aesthetic
• A solid port with next-to-no problems
• Switch gameplay can feel more thoughtful
• Mostly smooth technical experience

The Bad

To be clear, I have very few problems with Mullet MadJack overall. If I filter out anything that could be explained as heat-of-the-moment frustrations because of a good run ending early by poor decision-making, then that issue really only becomes one thing. 

The game isn’t kidding about the photosensitivity warning. Though there are ways of turning the visuals down a touch in the settings, the game is often visually a lot. There’s a part of me that feels like this shouldn’t strictly be a negative against the game since that is also part of the point of the game’s presentation. But it is what it is, and while I’m not photosensitive, even for me it can be a little much at times.

I found that the effect was so much worse in handheld mode. Trying to keep track of everything in a game that moves as fast as Mullet MadJack can already make you feel a bit queasy after a while but that’s exacerbated when you’re also flailing around in relative sync to it. In general, if you’re prone to motion sickness, you’re going to have a bad time trying to play this game. If you’re genuinely photosensitive, it would be a genuine hazard to even try. 

My only other gripe with the port is the loading times, and this is going to sound petty and almost silly but bear with me here. On PC the load times between levels are almost non-existent. By the time the announcer NPC has finished speaking, you’re already into the next floor. On Switch, there’s a short but clearly present loading delay between floors; we’re talking a whole screen freeze for less than a second. I know that sounds dumb, but when it’s a game that relies on the non-stop, high-speed flow of things, even little bumps like this are noticeable. I noticed it. It bugged me, and this is my review.

TL;DR

• High photosensitivity
• Potential motion sickness issues
• Slight load time increase from PC version

Final Score: 9/10

Mullet MadJack is a game about vibes, which I can only describe as being immaculate. It’s such a simple gameplay loop with a constant forward momentum that helps it overcome problems shooters traditionally have on consoles, especially the Switch. It’s hard to miss things when they’re right in front of you and you’re only ever running forward. Despite the motion sickness and photosensitivity problems that handheld mode can exacerbate, at least in my experience, and despite the irritating micro-bump in load times, it’s still a smooth and enjoyable experience on the Switch. Now, whenever the dark, corporate future-now is getting you down, you can easily whip out a dark, corporate future-past – and kick shoot it in the face!

Thank you for checking out our Mullet MadJack Switch review, thank you to Epopeia Games for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
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