Mullet Madjack on Game Pass Deserves Your Attention
There’s no shortage of headlines to come across nowadays that will generate animosity. I don’t even need to dive into Nintendo during the month of April alone. The reason I bring it up at all is because these are trying times and it’s really easy to get lost in the vortex of it all. When you’re surrounded by nothing but negativity, it can be really easy to perceive everything as negative. However, it’s important to learn how to break out of that mold. Mullet Madjack is such a visceral assault on every sense that after playing for a mere 2 minutes, the only feeling left will be that of bloodlust. It’s an exhilarating, albeit short, experience that is perfect to just let loose and kick some serious robot ass. That was corny, I know, but given the game it works.
Mullet Madjack is an adrenaline-induced first person shooter stylized after 90s anime. Everything is bright and colorful, the art is inspired by older anime such as Ghost in the Shell for an easy target, but its style truly stands on its own. All of the characters have such a unique look to them from Jack himself to the Influencer to Mr. Bullet, it’s very easy to fall in love with how this game looks.
Every inch of this game radiates style from the indicator to what floor you’re on, to the livestream overlay of the upgrade shop, everything just feels crafted with love and intent and there is not a single aspect of the game that wasn’t visually crafted without passion poured into it.
In this world, A.I has taken over and before you roll your eyes that it’s yet another one of these stories, just hear me out. The internet quite literally has taken over the souls of men, where regular humans need regular doses of dopamine every 10 seconds before they die. The ones at the top of the food chain are Robillionaires, super rich A.I. Humans who kill these robots to stay alive are called Moderators. This is where you come in to rescue a pretty influencer in order to get yourself a new pair of shoes. It’s truly all the motivation you could ever need.
It’s enough to get you going, but unfortunately the story will be a setback for some. It is immensely entertaining from start to finish, the problem is you’ll manage to get through the entire story on a first play through in only about 2-3 hours. However, Mullet Madjack’s biggest strength comes from just how easily repeatable it is. It’s short on purpose to incentivize multiple playthroughs across various difficulties to improve high scores and times across the game’s 7 chapters.
So as the premise implies, you need to get a kill every 10 seconds to survive. Enemies are not hard to kill by any means, in fact they mostly stand around waiting to be killed. However, if they land a shot on you that costs time. Of course they stand in front of convenient sized industrial fans, electrical boards, next to fire extinguishers, it becomes more so about your reflex and how quickly you can clear the room in front of you to get to the next. Once you reach the next elevator, you select an upgrade which changes every run just like your typical rogue-like. At the end of a chapter, you’re ranked based on how fast you were but also your kills. How many did you kill as well as the statistics of those kills, both of which work in tandem for the game’s ranking system and it’s simply addicting trying to get better rankings.
This isn’t necessarily a review of Mullet Madjack per se, in fact The Geekly Grind reviewed it a year ago. The same levels of praise and critique still applies. The whole point here is to bring attention to a game that I think deserves it. This isn’t a game trying to create a new caliber of shooter nor it isn’t trying to redefine what it means to be an entertainment product. Mullet Madjack is a game that plays to its strengths and delivers such a unique experience by never loosening its grip on the player. From the second a menu loads you can just feel the passion and care poured in.
Mullet Madjack to me feels like a lightgun arcade machine that rests in my Steam library. Almost a year after its release I still load it up from time to time just to get that quick fix. Now I can do that from the comfort of my couch on my Xbox with Game Pass. The game is only $20 by default which is a steal if you ask me. However, if you have Game Pass and the game looks remotely interesting to you, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. There are plenty of difficulty options for an easier or more punishing experience, and after the main campaign is complete there’s the endless mode which is an entire mountain to climb on its own.
The most impressive part about Mullet Madjack to me is that it’s developed by a very small team based in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, known as Hammer95. This is also the debut title from their publisher, Epopeia Games. Unique games like this simply aren’t going to come from the big boys. I spent $70 to play 2023’s Modern Warfare III and its campaign left me with nothing but regret as it cost me so much of my hard earned money with the experience being simply lackluster at best. It was a game that felt like other games I had played before only with none of the soul. However Mullet Madjack does not feel like any other shooter, and because of that the entire experience has stuck with me.
Something doesn’t have to be ‘the best’ to be fully enjoyed, and I think there’s a heavy emphasis on being a critic over being a fan nowadays. The irony of which is said in an online article where analysis is more or less the whole point. Art doesn’t have to be perfect to any other standards aside from your own, but even so sometimes we just need to let go of those predispositions and inhibitions and just find something to enjoy just because it’s a good time. That’s why I encourage Mullet Madjack, it’s fast as hell and crazy on the eyes but I assure it looks crazier than it feels. Sometimes you just gotta blow up some robots and feel really cool doing it. Mullet Madjack is simply a game worthy of your time, and I urge you to give it a shot.
