I’m not a fan of sports games at all. You may find me playing a wrestling game every so often, but even then, my enjoyment of those have dwindled quite a bit. Nowadays, the only sports games I actually do play when I have friends over are over-the-top sports games like NBA Jam, NFL Blitz and one of my personally favorites from my childhood, Mutant League Football.
Back in 2013, Digital Dreams Entertainment launched a Kickstarter campaign for a title called Mutant Football League, led by Michael Mendheim, designer of the original Mutant League Football video game. While the campaign failed to meet its original $750,000 goal, rather than giving up, Mendheim went back to the drawing board and launched another campaign last year which raised over $138,000 of its $60,000 goal.
While the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game were released back in January, I’ve actually not yet had a chance to play the game. That was until E3, where I was able to play the Nintendo Switch version of the new game ,which is set to release later this year. I never thought my first time playing the game would actually be versus Michael Mendheim.
This isn’t your typical football game. Instead it’s wacky, silly and straight to the point; something I loved about the original. For the demo, we quickly jumped into a match, where I was somehow able to win thanks to my opponent taking it easy on me as he taught me about the game’s mechanics.
Mutant Football League is easy to get into. There isn’t an abundance of plays to overwhelm you, and the controls are very basic. It’s not the most visually impressive game. but that’s not a bad thing. The cartoonish look and feel of the game actually make it more enjoyable, especially with all the action and mayhem yet to come. There are various football fields to select from. While we played on a regular football field, I saw one that featured lava pits scattered around the stage, which adds a nice change of pace and makes you move accordingly.
While the goal of the game is to score more touchdowns than your opponent, that is only a nice little reward as you also destroy each other along the way. Simply put, anything is fair game unless you get caught! One of the game’s interesting mechanics is “Dirty Tricks,” which are overpowered techniques that can be used a limited amount of times per half. One of them involves your character pulling out a shotgun while running with the ball. Then you can just unload on your opponent, helping you take some of the opposing team’s characters out of action for a little while. There are various Dirty Tricks you can use. Another one tosses a football that explodes and takes out everyone in the area, so these are very useful in the right setting.
Overall, with just one match, Mutant Football League already has me excited to play this game with friends. There is just so much personality with this game, including the addition of Tim Kitzrow (NBA Jam announcer) as the in-game commentator. It’s the perfect addition to the Nintendo Switch library, since you can play it anywhere. I look forward to picking up Mutant League Football when it releases for the Switch.