Developer: Falling State Inc.
Publisher: Falling State Inc.
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Earl vs. the Mutants – Review
We’re not going to lie: we’re big fans of Survivors-like games. We have had the opportunity to try out quite a few ones over the last few years, and some performed a lot better than others. We still play titles such as Nordic Ashes and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors almost weekly, even in our busy reviewing schedule. Even so, all of these games often have a fantasy-like theme, which does make some of these titles feel a bit similar after a while. This is probably why Earl vs. the Mutants immediately piqued our interest, as it looked totally different than any of the other games in the genre we had seen so far. This gritty vehicular-based Survivors title has been in our backlog for a while now, but we’re more than happy to present you with our review today.
Story
Throughout the short experience that is Earl vs. the Mutants, you’ll get to know Earl and Edna. Edna seems to be Earl’s boss, and you, for some reason, go out in the wilderness to mow down mutants with your vehicle of choice. The plot doesn’t get any deeper than this, and there will be the occasional speech bubble that pops up in the menus or at the start and end of a level. It’s a shame that the story wasn’t fleshed out, as the original theme did have some potential.
Graphics
Even though it was the somewhat Mad Max meets hillbilly-esque theme that drew us in, the graphics themselves failed to properly impress us. The game reminds us of early 3D animated PC games that are barely any better than traditional low-poly graphics. While Earl vs. the Mutants does get away with it, this title does pale in comparison to the aforementioned titles in the same genre. Nonetheless, it was extremely satisfying to run over mutants and the gory effects that came with doing so. The attack animations are also quite limited, but the different car models did have a bit of charm. Some additional polish in this department would have done a lot. The game also looks a lot cheaper due to the simplistic character portraits shown during dialogues, and the horrendous dialogue boxes don’t do the game any favors either.
Sound
The overall sound design isn’t too bad. The supporting soundtrack is suitable for the onscreen onslaught, and the SFX are decent as well. There is sadly no voice acting, and everything does feel rather basic. Some more track variety or a bit of voice acting would have gone a long way here. Again, things are functional and that’s what’s most important.
Gameplay
It’s mainly in the gameplay that Earl vs. the Mutants shines as a Survivors-like experience. In this case, you’ll get behind the wheel of your post-apocalyptic vehicles in order to run over mutants while your weapons take care of the rest. It’s a straightforward experience with only three different levels, which can be replayed on three different difficulty settings. You can opt to have traditional controls that just require one stick, such as other Survivors-like titles, or you can actually choose to have racing controls. While the latter is a nice addition, we opted for the traditional controls, which felt a bit easier to work with.
In total, there are four different vehicle types that Earl can use to take down the neverending horde of mutants. These four vehicle types have further subdivisions that change the starting weapon of said vehicles. It’s a simple system, but it works. The cars all have different base stats, where one might be a lot faster and more agile than others that favor armor over speed. There was also a lack of balance because of this, as the so-called short bus basically blew all the other cars out of the water. Nonetheless, it’s still a lot of fun trying out all the vehicles to beat the different stages.
All in all, the game has a fun gameplay loop. The constant action makes Earl vs. the Mutants a very fun title to pick up in between bigger releases. Every round only takes ten minutes, give or take a minute or two when you’re choosing what upgrade to pick when you level up. The level-up system works like any other Survivors-like title out there, as you’re presented with a few random options to choose from when you level up. You have the option to reroll these options with the coins you have collected in the stage you’re in, and then you’ll get new random options. Every time you do this, however, you’ll need to pay more coins. Aside from the normal level-up rewards, you’ll find drones and weapons at fixed intervals. The drones can provide you with healing effects or additional attacks, while the weapon will always change your base weapon to something else.
The problem with Earl vs. the Mutants is that there is barely any content. In slightly under three hours we were able to beat the game’s three levels on all difficulty levels. We managed to unlock all the cars and almost all variations. One of our vehicles was also almost fully upgraded in this timespan. There is little point in upgrading all of them, as you can always refund the upgrades on one vehicle to then upgrade another with the money you get back. It would have been nice to have a few additional levels and a bit more weapon and enemy variation. Even so, the price reflects the lack of content, as Earl vs. the Mutants will only set you back a measly 3 Euros.
Conclusion
Earl vs. the Mutants is a fun bite-sized Survivors-like experience that is most certainly worth the price of entry. That being said, we do hope that some additional content is added in the future, as well as some additional difficulty levels or challenges. If you’re looking for a game that you can finish over the course of a single evening, this one is certainly worth looking into. If you’re looking for another meaty experience such as Nordic Ashes, we suggest looking elsewhere.
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