PlayStation 2

Dr. Muto

All right, so I’ve always wanted to say that, at least now I’m doing it in the proper setting. Dr. Muto, for those of you who haven’t seen a gaming magazine in the past five months, is Midway’s most recent foray into the intense and cutthroat crucible of platform games. You take on Professor Burnitall, head of Burnitall Industries, and his henchmen in order to rebuild your home planet, "Midway" (oddly enough), which was blown up in an unfortunate accident when they fired up a machine designed to end their energy crisis. Muto of course created the device.

Developers know it, just like gamers do. The platform world, replete with its head-bonking, punching and jumping ways, is in the middle of a strange new transition period. Games such as Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter are on the clue-path to something new, and certainly their technology is impressive, but they don't altogether push beyond the steadfast formula. Whereas the rest of this year's platformers simply repeat and polish the same old paradigm.

This certainly has been quite a busy year for fans of platform games, with the release of some delightful titles such as Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus and the highly enjoyable Ratchet and Clank. Joining their ranks is Midway’s Dr. Muto--a game where a truly twisted mad scientist is the planet’s only hope.

Midway has been publishing sequels this year.. Like there's no more time. We saw updates to Blitz and Hitz. Defender and Spy Hunter both received 3D makeovers. Midway recently broke that trend with the published (expect a review shortly) Haven and is trying to do the same with Dr. Muto. Poor Dr. Muto comes along in a time where there is too many plat formers already out there. Mario has his sunshine, and Jak & Daxter come from the folks responsible for the PS One Crash. Other infamous characters include Sonic, Ratcher, Clank and Klonoa. Since platform games are a dime a dozen, Midway has tried to create a different game and in most parts they succeeded. They don't want to be labeled as a typical run, jump, collect repeat game and breathe new life into a repetitive genre.

The ever-present camera problems and redundant item gathering prevent Dr. Muto from truly excelling. However, the sharp dialogue, excellent voice acting and constantly evolving gameplay help it stand out in the genre.

Sans tapage ni grosse publicité, Dr. Muto arrive sur consoles et nous révèle un jeu de plates-formes vraiment sympa mais endeuillé par de gros soucis de caméra. Vraiment dommage.

Dr. Muto isn't exactly the most inspiring platforming character ever created--this mad scientist of small stature relies on a remote control device to attack enemies and wears a pair of small rocket shoes to jump around in the gameworld. Indeed, the game Dr. Muto is least exciting and shows most of its weaknesses when it focuses on its main character, but as you progress through the game, the doctor will gain the ability to change into different types of animals. It's these animal transformations that instill life into Dr. Muto's otherwise irritating combination of platforming and collection elements, and they do so by simply making the gameplay experience for each creature different. However, the game still has quite a few other problems, namely a horrible camera and a general lack of polish.

While 2002 was a pretty solid year for games all-around, the strongest genre of last year was easily the action/platformer genre. Thanks to excellent PS2 platformers like Sly Cooper and Ratchet & Clank, along with the return of Mario on the GameCube, platform games took center stage as high-quality entertainment. Unfortunately, this also means there was a glut of uninspired games of this vein hoping to capitalize on the success of the quality titles.

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.