 |
| Ahhhh check out those cutting-edge CGA graphics! |
| Quick Info | |
|---|---|
| Reviewed by: | Mark Goninon |
| Developer: | Ozark Softscape |
| Publisher: | Electronic Arts |
| Release Date: | 1983 (C64, Atari 8-bit), 1985 (IBM PC) |
| Time played: | 1 hour |
A Revered Hybrid
As part of my initiative to get through my older Pile of Shame games, I'm now reviewing a game that I've heard mentioned many times due to its influence on game designers, including Shigeru Miyamoto. It's also one of the first games to have been published by a fledgling Electronic Arts, back in 1983. I'm pretty sure M.U.L.E. had some influence on Soren Johnson as well, considering Offworld Trading Company (a game I've played but haven't got around to reviewing yet) has similar gameplay, even including a unit with the same name.
The game was originally released for the Atari 8-bit computers (the Atari 400 and Atari 800) but would eventually be ported to other platforms including the IBM PC in 1985. M.U.L.E. sold only 30,000 copies but it was critically acclaimed for its time. So, what exactly do you do in M.U.L.E.?
 |
| On the planet development screen you tend to your plots that generate food, energy and Smithore |
Not Knowing the Key to Success
Well, M.U.L.E. plays a lot like a board game. If you could imagine a capitalist board game like "Monopoly" but with aliens on a faraway planet, you wouldn't be far off. First you select how many human players you're going to play with: the maximum is four and any slots not filled by a human player, is filled by a computer player. After picking the game difficulty you then select which race to play as. While picking a race is mainly for aesthetic purposes, a couple of them give you a boost in funds while the Humanoid species actually starts off with less funds.
You're then taken to the map screen where you have an alien planet broken up into a grid containing a colony in the middle, a river and some mountains. This game was made in the early 80s mind you so all of this is represented by very blocky graphics with a whopping 4 colours! Here you play a real-time sequence where the game will highlight each of the plots of land on the planet for a second before moving onto the next in the grid. During this sequence each of the four players have to hit a key to indicate which plot of land they'd like.
This is where I encountered the first and biggest issue I have with the game: its controls. GOG's documentation is again somewhat lacking. While they do provide a manual with lots of tips and a tutorial, which is better than nothing, there's no indication of which keys to press (which seems to be a problem with a lot of these older games on GOG, such as Ultima). Searching the Internet revealed very few results too, although I eventually figured out a control scheme I could work with which involved the arrow keys and the "Enter" key. However, when playing the game, it's not clear whether you have to hit the arrow key or the "Enter" key to select things. Logic would suggest the "Enter" key is the correct choice but during the plot selection sequence at the beginning of the game I would rarely get a plot I wanted by pressing the key which resulted in me formulating a whole bunch of reasons why: (1) I could be pressing the incorrect key and I'm meant to hit one of the arrow keys instead, (2) I'm not holding the key long enough, (3) I'm not hitting the key fast enough since you're only given a second to hit it at the correct time or (4) the game did register my keypress but the computer player beat me to the punch. All seem like plausible scenarios but thanks to this being a game of the early 80s, useful feedback is non-existent and thanks to a lack of information on GOG and even the Internet, I'm not really sure what is the correct way to play the game in the first place.
So, the first major hurdle for this game is not really knowing what to press and this is kind of critical during the time-sensitive real-time sequences that feature in this game. This results in me sometimes picking less than optimal plots as it's usually good to get a river plot in order to grow food or a mountain plot in order to mine Smithore. The rest of the planet consists of flat desert or plains which is ideal for setting up energy collectors. Each player then gets about a minute (in real-time) to take their turn. Usually the first thing a player will do is direct their character to the colony to purchase an eponymous Multiple Use Labour Element (M.U.L.E.) - basically a machine that can do work on your plots of land. Once you have a M.U.L.E. you then equip it with gear suitable for producing food, energy or Smithore and then lead it outside towards your plot of land. Once you're over the hut on your plot of land, you can then deploy the M.U.L.E. If you have any spare time left during your turn you can earn some extra cash by hunting for an alien called the wampus or winning some money at the pub (which will immediately end your turn).
 |
| Your net worth is calculated as the total of your money, land and goods |
Want You Back for Goods
After everyone's had their turn, the game determines if the plots generate any resources and whether any disasters or boons occur. The game then transitions to a Player Status screen with a bunch of animated bar charts that ultimately show whether each player generated surplus resources or not. Following the Player Status screen, the players are given the opportunity to buy or sell resources with the colony store or other players. This involves moving your character up or down the screen in order to agree on a mutually beneficial price point. However, since the players are actually moving their characters on the screen, it also means you'll be literally racing against them to reach an ideal price first: there's also the potential for hijinks where you could rush towards a price only to stop just before reaching it, fooling other players into accepting the price.
After all auctions have taken place, a Status Summary screen is displayed which signifies the end of the first round. The Status Summary screen ranks players based on their net worth, i.e. how much money they have as well as the value of their land and goods. The goal of the game is to be at the top of the Status Summary screen after a number of rounds and each round plays similar to the first: pick another plot, purchase, equip and deploy M.U.L.E.s, and then trade resources.
This is the second issue I have with the game in that it's not entirely clear whether it's worth holding on to any goods or selling them for cash to increase your net worth. I guess the answer is "it depends" but by observing the computer players, I've noticed that just about every round in the game they attempt to sell their resources except for the final round where they don't perform any trades. This would imply that ultimately, you do want to hold onto some goods by the end of the game, although you also don't want to keep stockpiling them (but maybe that's because you actually need money to purchase M.U.L.E.s and equipment I suppose).
 |
| You actually set your requested price on auction screens by moving your alien up or down |
Something to Mule Over
So, is the game any fun? What's good about the game? Well besides the funky PC Beeper tune that the aliens dance to at the beginning (which admittedly can get annoying after a while but must've been pretty impressive for its day - did you know there's a remix of it in ROBLOX?) yeah, it's about as much fun as you'd expect from a bite-sized version of a capitalist board game like Monopoly. Obviously, M.U.L.E.'s very dated graphics holds the game back when compared to modern games and the lack of information or feedback with respect to controls, is an issue. There are definitely better options nowadays including the aforementioned Offworld Trading Company which captures the same vibe as this game (i.e. a real-time economic strategy game set on an alien world) with modern graphics, a mouse-driven interface and a great soundtrack by Christopher Tin.
|
5
|
While M.U.L.E. was critically acclaimed in 1983 for its non-violent, multiplayer gameplay, funky PC Beeper tune, and cute alien animations, nowadays, it feels like a dated version of "Monopoly"... in SPAAAACE! If you want to try something more modern yet with a similar vibe, I highly recommend playing Offworld Trading Company. |
If you like this game, you might like…
Comments
Post a Comment