Mutants: Genetic Gladiators (Video Game Review)

Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is a new free-to-play title from Kobojo that combines elements of trading card games with familiar monster training RPG elements seen in many classic games. The game is a pretty solid experience that is fun while it lasts, but free-to-play mechanics make it difficult to enjoy for long stretches of time without paying out a little cash to continue enjoying the game. The game has a few different modes and features interesting monster breeding equipment that allows unique monstrosities to be born into the world and fight for the player. All of this adds up to be a quite entertaining release, especially for players willing to throw out a bit of cash to keep playing.

Players take the role of Psy Captain in Mutants: Genetic Gladiators. As such, the player has powerful psychic abilities that allows them to control powerful mutant gladiators to battle in the world's popular arena sport. There isn't much of a storyline to the game, but a helpful tutorial eases players in to the main gameplay components of the game, while some other friendly characters assist in learning the other basics of the game.

The early portions of Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is incredibly easy and only really asks players to continue mashing the attack button to progress. Eventually, the game opens up and allows players to begin experimenting with their own monsters and training them for the battles to come. Battles play out in turn-based combat not unlike several RPG games players have no doubt played in the past. The game also uses trading card like mechanics to perform attacks and other moves in combat. Battles feature three monsters facing off with three enemies from the opposing team, and new moves and statistical boosts can be obtained to increase chances that human players will win the match.

Players can experiment and breed all sorts of mutant monsters to use in the game. There are over 100 unique mutants included in the game, and 6 mutant genes divide those monsters among the classes of Sabre, Undead, Cyber, Zoomorph, Galactic and Mythic. Players will have their own favorite monsters, and it's incredibly fun to experiment and see what type of mutant comes out next. Players can then play the game with friends and compare the monsters they received and share recipes to get the same creations.

Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is definitely a fun experience, but the free-to-play model ruins the experience for players not willing to pay any money into the game. Minions do not automatically recover health after battles, so players will need to wait a long time between matches or invest a bit of gold to instantly refill life bars. Additionally, it takes real world currency to upgrade lab equipment and other items outside of combat that is necessary to progress further in the game. Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is nice enough to start players off with a bit of in-game gold and coins, so players can enjoy the game for a little while before the fun nearly comes to a complete stop.

Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is a good enough looking game with colorful characters and some decent animations. Players will find some charm to the monsters in the game, and once they've been leveled enough, mutants can be cross bred to make the strongest monsters in the game and showcase some of the best designs in the game. Mutants: Genetic Gladiators also does a good job of making players want to come back to the game each day including a fun slot machine game that can offer gold, monsters and more as prizes. The game is also packed with unlocks, so there is a lot of content packed into the game, but being nearly required to pay to play a free-to-play game is pretty annoying. Look for Mutants: Genetic Gladiators on iOS, Android and PC for Facebook today.

Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is now available free-to-play on iOS, Android and PC via Facebook. For more information on the game, check out the official Mutants: Genetic Gladiators website.

Game Features:

• Single Player
• Featuring 3 vs 3 Combat
• Over 100 Monsters
• 6 Mutant Genes
• Free-to-Play

Game Information:
Developer & Publisher: Kobojo
Platforms: iOS (reviewed), Android & PC
Release Date: May 5, 2014

Score: 6.5 out of 10