When I then made a small mistake and tipped over just meters away from my destination… I lost it! It felt like I had washed hours down the drain and achieved nothing. Just on the very first map I spent two hours, first using my mobile vehicle to reach outposts so more of the map would be revealed to me and then slowly (I can’t emphasize this enough) moving towards one end of the map to pick up logs, to bring them all the way to the other end. The main missions however are a tad too long in my opinion. It adds some variety and you feel all the more accomplished when you beat a challenge with a 3 star ranking. You’ll get bonus stars for things like squashing a pumpkin, finding bioluminescent flowers or doing the entire challenge in cockpit mode. I did appreciate how these challenges were shorter in length and at the same time a lot more varied than the main tasks in the singe player missions. “Squash a pumpkin!” Now that gets me in Halloween mode! Every single element in the game has its own physics model from the vegetation and water to the tires and most importantly the mud itself.
It’s incredible that the developers managed to build their own engine instead of resorting to the most well-known ones like Unreal, Unity or Frostbite. It wasn’t just the over-used sound-effect that got me interested after watching the trailer, the game just looks amazing as well. It’s a showcase of a (very) potent physics engine more than anything. Princess Plow is kidnapped by Bogser and you have to traverse across the Mudroom Kingdom to save her… I’m obviously kidding and there is no story to be discovered here: The game is set purely around having you force your way through challenging environments with Soviet era vehicles. (Publishers take note: put this sound-effect in your trailer and I will just keep buying your game like the mindless sheep I am) If this doesn’t get you excited for the game, nothing I say will as the trailer showcases the best parts of the game (its graphics and physics engine) and combines it with an Inception-like soundtrack that still manages to enthral me after so many years.
I’ll choose Burnout or Split/Second over Forza Motorsport and Rune Factory over Farming Simulator any day, but something still managed to get me pulled in to play Mudrunner. I usually have an aversion for any games based on a realistic setting. When I was asked to review this game, I have to admit the title didn’t immediately get me excited.