|
|
|
BIOMUTANT (XONE)
|
Publisher: THQ Nordic.
Developer: Experiment 101. Released: May 2021. Genre: Open world. Other versions: XSX; PS5; PS4; PC; SWI. Posted 27th November 2024. By Shane Battams © 2024 |
|
Biomutant feels like the type of game that could have been a fan favourite earlier in the generation, but with the open-world sandbox becoming a tentpole of AAA gaming, its late arrival on the Xbox One leaves Experiment 101’s debut game stuck in the very crowded shadow of the genre’s best as more games and genres adopt a similar approach. That being said, this unique kung-fu fable offers a competent and mostly enjoyable experience that just doesn’t quite stick the landing. Moments of fun and addictive exploration clash with technical issues, a lack of polish and a general disconnect from your actions to the story and the world around you. Still, fans of expansive worlds will nevertheless find plenty to enjoy.
The world of Biomutant is governed by the Tree of Life, a source of energy that keeps the land thriving. However, we find it in peril, as a combination of a natural disaster poisoning the tree and a quartet of powerful monsters gnawing at the roots could spell the end of the world. Not only that, but the tribes of each land are divided due to their differing alignments and how they want to heal the tree. That is where your user-created character comes in, a mutated warrior shaped by grief and life-changing events as a youngling. It’s then up to the player how they approach the tasks at hand, as while eliminating the World Eaters is mandatory, choosing a tribe alters how you approach rivals and take over the land, allowing for pacifism or domination. Everything is narrated in the third-person by David Shaw Parker, who proves game for the role. That said, it does leave you feeling disconnected from the story, and even muting the narration leaves you listening to gibberish. While the thread offers a clear sense of progression, it often feels like your actions have little impact on the world or the story, and it lacks a truly memorable moment.
You can customise your character to your heart's content, though the darkness-and-light story feels somewhat disconnected from your actions
The core loop here is perfectly palatable, thought its components will feel very familiar. The world is expansive and attractive, divided into several key biomes, which range from the inhospitable Dead Zone rife with oil spills to the more tropical Surfipelago. Some areas within these feature hazards that require protection against, whether it is radiation, toxicity or heat, and finding unique suits can provide instant protection from one element along with your gear offering resistance to each. There’s a ton of activities and collectables to seek out here. NPCs offer dozens of side quests which often require item-fetching, secondary characters give you unique services including changing your fur and Old-World Objects each comes with their own puzzle to solve and rewards to gain. However, like the story, partaking in these can feel closer to busywork than impactful action. While helping locals can offer you alignment points for being good/evil, turning the buttons on a washing machine feels a little meaningless, and a lot of the side content sadly falls into this category.
Just as how the narrative focuses on the destiny of the hero, much of Biomutant’s strengths derive from building your warrior. Wung-fu governs your stats, attacks and actions while mutations build your repertoire of magic attacks. When you enter a combat stance, you can effortlessly swap between melee and firearms, letting you chain those attacks with dodging beautifully. It feels like a seamless mesh that rewards Super Wung-Fu moves if you perform a chain of unique finishing abilities, including potent melee attacks and slow-mo gunfire. Building your armoury is also a key part, literally. You can craft weapons and firearms, using a base while adding stat-boosting components. This is where the addictive traits come into play, as the loop of exploration rewards gear and resources to build even better equipment, thus making this exploration easier as you progress. While you do grow a touch overpowered a little too quickly, the game definitely incentivises you to open every chest, loot any and all containers and scrap weaker gear to get more resources.
Just as how the narrative focuses on the destiny of the hero, much of Biomutant’s strengths derive from building your warrior. Wung-fu governs your stats, attacks and actions while mutations build your repertoire of magic attacks. When you enter a combat stance, you can effortlessly swap between melee and firearms, letting you chain those attacks with dodging beautifully. It feels like a seamless mesh that rewards Super Wung-Fu moves if you perform a chain of unique finishing abilities, including potent melee attacks and slow-mo gunfire. Building your armoury is also a key part, literally. You can craft weapons and firearms, using a base while adding stat-boosting components. This is where the addictive traits come into play, as the loop of exploration rewards gear and resources to build even better equipment, thus making this exploration easier as you progress. While you do grow a touch overpowered a little too quickly, the game definitely incentivises you to open every chest, loot any and all containers and scrap weaker gear to get more resources.
FOCAL POINT: THE WORLD EATERS
|
|
One of the coolest parts of Biomutant is the series of boss fights against the tree-chomping World Eaters. While plenty of larger foes make their presence felt and often come with bigger health bars, these boss fights dwarf them all in size, challenge and creativity. Often coming with three phases, each tests your dodging capabilities as well as one of your newly discovered mechanical elements. Whether it’s duelling with the Jumbo Puff in the Mekton suit, dodging splash attacks from the Porky Puff in the hovercraft-esque Googlider or throwing certain creatures you capture to distract each of the monstrous beasts, it feels like a distinctive encounter compared to the rest of the game’s tamer roster of foes you encounter through general exploration.
Biomutant benefits from a generally cool aesthetic, but one which is diminished slightly by a lack of polish. The anthropomorphised creatures which now rule this world mixed with traditional kung-fu principles and the varying biome types you explore prove an appealing combination, such as the factions you meet which range from tranquil to aggressive. Some wear more flamboyant clothing, while others scrape on by using recycled clothing like old football helmets as their armour. Scarcely used but excellent music heightens the tension and the emotion of exploration equally well, and combat hits quite hard audibly during both melee and shooting fracas. But often these highs can be spoiled by a myriad of bugs. Textures not popping in, audio cutting out completely, hard crashes and stuttering all hamper these presentational highs.
|
|
Biomutant is one of those games that doesn’t slip up with any notable flaws, but also doesn’t break barriers with relatively safe gameplay. The unique setting is hampered by underwhelming and disconnected storytelling, the deep list of content can feel like busywork rather than impactful objectives and presentational highs can be undermined by technical issues. However, those with a keen interest in open-world games may still find some enjoyment here, especially with a solid mechanical base powering much of the game. Perhaps with better mission design and a bit more polish, this could have been a strong eighth generation swansong for the genre. Instead, it ends up a modestly captivating missed opportunity.
|
|
VERDICT
"Biomutant is modestly captivating, but disconnected storytelling, busywork mission design and technical issues mean it’s also a bit of a missed opportunity." OVERALL: 6/10 |
PIXEL SECONDS: BIOMUTANT (PS5)
Biomutant possesses all the ingredients for an exciting open world adventure, its only crime is it never quite manages to connect the gamer to the story it’s trying to tell. Its post-apocalypse is a colourful hell representing all the ecological disasters wrought by man: radioactive plants, toxic waste, unbearably hot and cold micro-climates and the deadzone ravaged by oil. It backs this up with strong combat, solid platforming and sharp gunplay. Where Biomutant falters is in the details. It’s a classic case of quantity over quality, as the developers have crammed hundreds of bunkers, caves and villages on to the map, leaving plenty to explore but a great deal of duplicate layouts. An at-times impersonal nature is compounded by a larger number of locations being named after their coordinates, a mostly enigmatic narration that irritates through an indulgence of empty speculation, and NPCs whose dialogue feels intensely repetitive and of tertiary importance. There are plenty of fun side-quests, though the vast majority merely deliver loot-style rewards and wearable items, which quickly becomes demotivating. It’s a shame, as the four World Eater bosses are varied and fun to battle, and the world harbours all sorts of interesting locations. The PlayStation 5 version runs nicely, but for some noticeable hitching in shadow transitions as day turns to night, and it benefits from quick loading times. With a bit more variety and greater focus to the environment and scenario design, Biomutant could have been awesome. There’s plenty of potential for future ventures. [6] – Tom Clare © 2024
Biomutant possesses all the ingredients for an exciting open world adventure, its only crime is it never quite manages to connect the gamer to the story it’s trying to tell. Its post-apocalypse is a colourful hell representing all the ecological disasters wrought by man: radioactive plants, toxic waste, unbearably hot and cold micro-climates and the deadzone ravaged by oil. It backs this up with strong combat, solid platforming and sharp gunplay. Where Biomutant falters is in the details. It’s a classic case of quantity over quality, as the developers have crammed hundreds of bunkers, caves and villages on to the map, leaving plenty to explore but a great deal of duplicate layouts. An at-times impersonal nature is compounded by a larger number of locations being named after their coordinates, a mostly enigmatic narration that irritates through an indulgence of empty speculation, and NPCs whose dialogue feels intensely repetitive and of tertiary importance. There are plenty of fun side-quests, though the vast majority merely deliver loot-style rewards and wearable items, which quickly becomes demotivating. It’s a shame, as the four World Eater bosses are varied and fun to battle, and the world harbours all sorts of interesting locations. The PlayStation 5 version runs nicely, but for some noticeable hitching in shadow transitions as day turns to night, and it benefits from quick loading times. With a bit more variety and greater focus to the environment and scenario design, Biomutant could have been awesome. There’s plenty of potential for future ventures. [6] – Tom Clare © 2024
OTHER GAMES WITH BIOLOGICAL SUPERPOWERS REVIEWED
Prototype (2009, PlayStation 3)
|
BioShock Infinite (2013, Xbox 360)
|