Attack of the Mutant Penguins

"Mindless gameplay clogged with malted hops and bong resin."

In the grand scheme of things, you have to wonder just what programmers are smoking when they create games for certain systems. You know the types of games that I’m talking about. The games that seem to have no real baring on anything, plenty of mayhem and destruction in a weird sense and just plain silliness that is expanded across several different stages of difficulty. As with some of the games that I’ve played on the Atari Jaguar, I’ve played some real strange games that just don’t seem to make any sense, and Attack of the Mutant Penguins is one of those games.

The story that you have here is something that you would find in an old B horror movie in which you undertake the role of one of two friends who are out to stop an alien invasion. Now, the aliens seem to see the Earth as some sort of zoo and in their plans to invade and take over, they pick a strange way to do so. Taking on the form of penguins, they plan on circumventing everything and everyone in a non-chalant way of invasion and simply overrunning the Earth. However, our two heroes, Bernard and Rodney, are well informed and have seen this coming, so armed with a frying pan and a baseball bat, they head out to stop the invasion.

-The Game Play-

The game play that you find here is something strange that you would find in a game such as Zombies Ate My Neighbors. You run around with your characters and bash the alien penguins as they come flying out of machines based throughout the different stages. Now, in order for you to get the weapons, you have to chase down these little creatures, pick them up and doss them onto boxes, which will release a letter such as P or B. Once you’ve spelled out pan or bat, then your respective character will get the weapon and you’ll be able to run through the stage and start bashing the enemies.

On the flip side, the more you do and the faster you are, the more power-ups you can find through the stages to help you on your way. However, if you happen to get hit too many times by the incoming enemies, you’ll start to lose your power-ups and then life until you’re tossed back to the beginning of the stage. Now, in order to destroy the enemy penguins, you’ll have to keep the power-ups, otherwise, you’ll just stun them when you start bashing them over the head. Other weapons will come into play such as dynamite and lawnmowers, all of which lead to the mass destruction of the alien force.

Control really isn’t an issue in which you have a simple attack button which will allow you to bash all of your enemies with little or no practice. Beginners to a type of game like this will be in heaven, while veterans will probably want to have a little more to go along with their mindless bashing of alien penguins. The further you get into the game however, the more intricate you have to be with the movements of your character, or you’ll end up becoming field fodder for the invasion. All in all, there isn’t much here but repetitive motion of your character and constant button mashing.

-The Visuals-

The visuals are bright and detailed, with plenty of places to smash and bash your opponents into submission. Most of the animations that you have in the game are humorous and you’ll see that there is so much mindless violence involved that you’ll be drawn to it. The enemies themselves ooze with green slime and waddle your way, though the good penguins tend to wobble in place. Your characters look as though they spent the night before drinking booze and smoking out of a huge water bong, which is pretty cool to see all in its own!

-The Audio-

If you’re looking for some music to go along with your bashing pleasure, then you’ll have to use your CD player, because somewhere along the way, they forgot the in-game music. The audio effects have plenty of laughs, but those can only carry the game so far before you want some bashing music to go along with the penguin extermination. When you compile these two factors, you end up with a game that just doesn’t seem to have too much going for it and you’ll find that the game just doesn’t have enough audio to keep you involved after the first thirty minutes of play.

-The Verdict-

Attack of the Mutant Penguins is one of those games that allows you to go about your penguin bashing and animal cruelty while feeling good about yourself. With the humorous visuals and the mindless game play, some gamers might find the constant repeating of the game play function to be a little too much to handle. The audio isn’t there, which makes for a disappointment and could cause you to go nuts after listening to a frying pan smack on some alien’s head. If you’re into the mindless action games, then you’ll find that this title has more than enough for you, though if you want some depth, you might want to look elsewhere!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/29/02, Updated 09/29/02