Also On: SteamVR
Publisher: Toast Interactive
Developer: Toast Interactive
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E10+
Max Mustard is not a name that will make you think you are about to play a 3D platformer in Virtual Reality. When I first heard the name, it made me think of a little chef, running around distributing the right amount of condiments for your hamburgers. After playing for a while, I can say there are no hamburgers, condiments, or even chefs, but there is some interesting VR platforming, a whole bunch of coin collecting and a ton of nagging issues that can really ruin a potential good time.
Upon starting Max Mustard, you are given no story, no introduction and no reason why you are where you are. Just some strange looking creatures getting kidnapped by a giant robot octopus. Suddenly, a truck crashes into the robot and it flees, then out of nowhere Max Mustard appears and now you can control him. Like I said, no intro, you just go and be Max Mustard. As you move Max through the world, you take on various strange enemies, and of course, collect every single coin and jump on every strange icon you see.
Occasionally you will encounter a flying robot that resembles a computer monitor and when you strike it, it will give you (not Max) some kind of weapon to use. These weapons are needed to get Max through certain areas, but the game will not give you any instructions on what they do, you just have to figure them out. Weapons like the Plunger Gun are easy to figure out, while others, like the vacuum / air gun take practice to use. Using the guns, while trying to control Max though certain areas can get difficult as Max can sometimes get hidden behind your onscreen controls (and the gun you are holding), and you can fall off unseen cliffs or run into enemies.
Your main goal in each level is to make it to the end of each stage while rescuing the kidnapped “Mudpups” that are in cages throughout the level. Once you reach the end of the stage, you move on to the next. You have to rescue a set number of Mudpups to unlock some of the later areas on your world map and make it to that world’s boss. Defeating the Boss will open the next world. There is also a shop on each world map where max can buy new attack moves, and control options. I was having a hard time keeping track of where Max was on screen at times, until I purchased the “Look Spring Power Up” at the shop. This is the first VR game where I actually had to BUY my control options using the in-game currency I’ve collected. What’s even more strange is that the “Story” of this game is told through text messages that pop up on the world map screens as you play. Most of this information is rather useless, but at least it tries to offer some exposition as to who everyone is and why everything is happening. Spoiler Alert … it’s largely nonsense.
The longer you play Max Mustard, the more issues and annoyances you will run into. First, the biggest issue I need to address are the completely random crashes and soft locking I constantly encountered. I would be walking along, with everything going fine, just to have Max completely vanish from the world and the game freeze, what was weird was I was still able to use the equipped weapon if I was holding one. I’ve also encountered switches that refused to work one time, forcing me to restart a level, only to have the same switch work normally after for no reason. The many crashes and issues throughout my playtime really saddened me, as I really wanted to enjoy my experience but it was becoming difficult as I was afraid doing anything would lead to another crash. These issues aside, the scarce amount of checkpoints in a level can really make certain areas a pain. I would spend too long trying to pass a certain area only to die and be returned to a checkpoint far back in the level. This really can take you out of the game and make you want to quit. I am all for a good challenge, but not when it’s artificial.
Gameplay and control is very good, when the game wants it to work. There were some instances where Max would just run in a circle and not respond to me at all. Fortunately, I did not experience this often, but some button presses (especially Max’s Double Jump) will go ignored causing an unfair fall. Visually, the game is cute and colorful with a lot of great animation while the music and sound effects keep you entertained as you jump around the vibrant worlds.
I really wanted to get into Max Mustard as the PlayStation VR2 does not have a cool 3D platformer. It really reminds you of the fantastic Astro Bot Rescue for the original PS4 VR, and I absolutely loved that game. In it’s current form, Max Mustard feels more like a tech demo, or a largely unfinished game. Most of the game was entertaining, but too many technical issues and in-game inconsistencies really destroy what could be an awesome game. I sincerely hope that Toast Interactive sends out some updates and bug fixes so I can give this one another go. Keep in mind that I’ve only played the PlayStation VR 2 version and cannot speak for the Steam VR PC version, but as it stands, I cannot fully recommend Max Mustard until it receives some much needed patching.
Note: Toast Interactive provided us with a Max Mustard code for review purposes.
