Previous Next

Computers are a rum old bunch. No sooner have you spend a billion dollars developing them and sending them out into the big, wide world, then they cock it up on you. Just like that. It's a bummer. Hal did it in 2001, closer to home Cybercon III did it in, erm, Cybercon III, and now Arod 7's sniffing up the same tree - he started off okay, looking after lots of colonies like he was told to, but then all the power got to his circuit boards, he did a bit of a Maggie, and now he's pitching for universal domination and all that.

So something's got to be done. Cue Mr. Mutant, who's a much nicer chap. Except he's not actually just one chap, but three. One minute he's a cyborg, the next moment - ping! - he's turned into a dinosaur, and the next moment after that double ping! - he's a tank. It's a bloody good trick with the chicks.

Armed with different weapons, limbs, body armours, varying levels of intelligence, you-name-it-this-guy's-got-it, Metal Mutant seems like the complete solution, adaptable to every conceivable situation, and completely rust-free to boot.

Silarils' latest title is a kick-blaster arcade puzzler, set on a green planet called Kronox. There are three levels, kicking off on the surface, then moving through a sort of factory level into a space complex. Arod's siutting at the end of 130 screens. On each of these you'll have specific tasks to attend to - killing baddies, picking up weapons, and squidging your grey matter around a trillion indy-dinky puzzles (basically).

It's a simple concept, but it works well. After the first few screens (each with its own reptilian monster), you're wondering if it's ever going to pick up, when it does exactly that, and you suddenly realise you've actually just learnt quite a bit about which of the three 'mutants' to use in which situation, and how to juggle their skills. The learning curve reaches its dizzy peak at the end when you're up against Arod - he has access to any one of 27 weapons, which you must answer quickly playability-wise. Metal Mutant comes up trumps. It's also helped by some excellent presentation.

The baddies are given enough space to really come alive and take on their own identities. But overall, it's charm is its simplicity. Structurally, it's dead straightforward. But it's so jam-packed with good ideas that it becomes terribly hard to resist.

Dainty arcade puzzler, with some very neat presentation. Straightforward, but innovative at the same time.