E3 2018: Mutant Football League To Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch owners have limited options when it comes to gridiron games. At the time of writing, EA Sports Madden NFL franchise is nowhere to be seen on the Switch. In fact, there just aren’t many sports games on Nintendo’s console at all. Granted, Mario Tennis just arrived on the Switch; however, it is safe to say Switch owners don’t have many options for sports games. Which makes Mutant Football League’s (MFL) arrival very timely.
Now, if you are going in expecting a Madden experience, you will be disappointed. MFL doesn’t have expansive playbooks, a gazillion modes, pinpoint passing, smooth receiving mechanics or any of those ‘true-to-life’ visuals you’ll see in EA Sports NFL franchise. Mutant Football League is over-the-top, doesn’t take itself too seriously, it’s wacky as hell, but is simply a blast to play. MFL is a fabulous romp and I enjoyed my time with the game at E3 2018.
Mutant Football League Dynasty Edition, to be exact, is the version of the game that will arrive on the Nintendo Switch. There is no release date yet but based on the demo I played, it feels really close to the finished product.
Over-The-Top Mayhem
I didn’t get a chance to jump into the different modes at E3 as I understand MFL includes a slick Dynasty Mode, where you can compete in a series of Mayhem Bowls set across multiple seasons. However, I did play a full game with a member of the dev team, who clearly took it easy on me but just absolutely loved what I played.
The presentation itself is remarkably engaging. Before you launch into a game you are asked to select from a list of teams such as The Blitzburg Steelheads (Pittsburgh Steelers) and the Deadlanta Vultures (Atlanta Falcons). You get the idea, each team is represented with some crazy nickname and it’s awesome.
As you fire up a game, the field itself is massive. Seems larger than a typical NFL field as there is more than enough room to scramble around, run and do all sorts of nutty plays. It has an arcade feel but it is perfectly suitable for the game. Different fields come with different hazards that are designed to interfere with the players. They are nicely spaced out, so that it doesn’t interfere with the gameplay too much. In my demo, there was giant pools of lava scattered about. I only fell into these pits on a couple of occasions which was annoying but equally hilarious.
In MFL playing dirty is the name of the game, so if you can force your opponent into a lava pit or throw down a cheap shot after the whistle, anything is fair game. In fact, in the game you get to use “Dirty Tricks” which are unbeatable plays. You only get so many to use so use them when it counts! That is what makes MFL so enjoyable. It is ridiculous and fast-paced. It’s easy to pick up and play. Scoring doesn’t take much effort and playing defense isn’t overly complicated. To be perfectly honest, it was a nice break from Madden which has become a far more technical game over the years.
Mutant Football League isn’t the best looking game on the Switch by any means but it’s oozing with personality and it did run fairly smoothly. I never noticed any slowdowns or framerate issues during the demo.
At the end of the day, Mutant Football League is a nice wacky addition to the Nintendo Switch library of games. There aren’t that many sports games on the Switch, and virtually no other football games, so MFL’s arrival comes at a great time and I definitely look forward to playing the game when it is fully released.
