Biomutant test: great ideas, but not always well thought out

Usually enough, the pre-calculated cinematic that has been used to promote Biomutant in recent weeks (the one where the hero faces a good big monster and ends up slicing his weapon in two) is displayed in the introduction of the adventure. But the game has the good idea to recreate it identically in real time and interactively during the tutorial phase. This is a good way to ensure a smooth transition between fantasy graphics and concrete display. This nice introduction is coupled with a complete and well done character creation phase. We can choose from several fictitious animal species (which all seem to be rodent) and several classes (sniper, commando, psionik, saboteur, sentinel), while customizing our secondary and primary colors, as well as the pattern of our fur.

But the most pleasant comes from the genetic mutation, which allows us to vary our statistics of strength, agility, vitality, charisma and intelligence in a circle. This process is more intuitive than a simple distribution of numbers, and is also accompanied by a real-time modification of the size and build of our hero according to the position of the cursor. All this bodes well for the best, especially since the universe does not lack charm. Certainly, this is a classic post-apocalyptic story where humans have ruined nature through chemical and nuclear pollution. But Biomutant intelligently and effectively bounces off these usual premises to offer us a world populated by mutant and anthropomorphic animals. Seeing pseudo-rodents fighting with swords and guns, or urinating on signposts to unlock Fast Travel Points, it does! And that makes it all the more so as the artistic direction turns out to be rather attractive. Lively and colorful, it brilliantly transcribes a world that was once urban and now overgrown with vegetation. The presence of contaminated, irradiated, asphyxiating or polar zones also offers pretty panoramas. We also appreciated the effect of onomatopoeias that appear on the screen during combat, like a comic book. If ever these ka-boom, slam, blaf, pof, krosh and other whoomf annoy you, know that it is possible to deactivate them in the options.

CLIP, CRAP, BANG, VLOP AND ZIP

The scenario turns out to be relatively classic since it asks us to save a dying tree of life and to defeat four big bosses. But the vocabulary used is out of the ordinary. Thus, it will be necessary to use a Mekton, an Octopod, a Chioval and a Glop-ski to overcome a Gigapouf, a Tortipouf, a Lapipouf and a Porkipouf! Periclavardeurs, reflexitron, mokagloub, goulgoul-raoul, parkatchou, morks, grongeurs, puttlepops, salinades, chanvrecrêpes, pépindomptés, boustikoko, scouipes and many more are also in the game. Some of these terms are fun and well thought out, while others are too obscure and cause some confusion. In the end, we are willing to bet that some players will enjoy this fictitious language while others will be annoyed. The narration also leaves the beaten track since it is done in a completely indirect way. Understand by this that a narrator comments on your actions and “tells” the dialogues (way “he says he is happy to see you”). Initially, this process charmed us with its originality and the quality of the French voice, whose intonations sound perfectly right. But in the long run, it all turns out to be the wrong idea. This way of doing things weighs down the flow of the dialogues, complicates their understanding, and even proves to be regularly inconsistent. Sometimes the narrator introduces his “translation” with a “he says that” and other times he begins his sentence directly with “says that”, the name of the concerned character being displayed on the screen but not spoken. We still feel that it starts from a good will on the part of the developers, even if the sauce does not take. The studio has also spared no efforts in terms of the gameplay, which is particularly rich.

The fights combine melee, ranged weapons, magic powers, dodge, parry, jump, double jump, general combos, combos according to weapons and many other subtleties. Like a Fable or a Black & White, the game also offers us an aura score according to our choices. Leaning towards the light or dark side, which are represented as they should by an angel and an imp, then gives access to certain abilities and blocks others. A whole pan “loot and craft” is also present, thanks to which one can improve and create different weapons and pieces of equipment. Biomutant also offers us an automaton to improve, the latter taking the form of a multi-function electronic grasshopper, outposts to capture, tribes to rally, small puzzles to solve, mechanical and animal mounts, and a whole system of “wung-fu”, which mixes martial arts and mastery of weapons. Special attacks, traits, skills, mutations and other resistances are unlocked with improvement points, biopoints and other psi points.

A TOO RICH MENU

In return for this richness, we sometimes find ourselves lost in the different concepts. Besides, the game floods us with tutorial messages for hours and hours! Another problem: the open world is generally poorly mastered, the different quests often walking on each other’s flowerbeds. Moreover, some quests labeled as main are literally solved in 5 seconds and boil down to pressing a button, while side missions artificially lug us around the country to activate twenty repetitive objectives. In addition, the game sometimes abandons narration to make certain missions fall from the sky, like a bad MMORPG. Everything turns out to be all the more clutter as the quest log is lost in far too many menus. Overwhelmed by their own ideas, the developers have not succeeded in simplifying the interface sufficiently and therefore impose too long and too regular “menuing” sessions on us. The technical assessment is also mixed. While some racing and combat animations lack neither flexibility nor class, others are much less successful.

During the dialogue phases, the camera also seems to land haphazardly, and so it happens that everyone turns their backs on us, or that a character is hidden by another. More sporadic bugs are also part of the game, such as a boss who finds himself blocked by a piece of scenery, or badly managed collisions which display a character halfway into a mountain. We even got the dodge button which suddenly stopped working for no reason (reloading the last save fortunately solved the problem). Finally, the game uses the technique of level scaling, which is not to everyone’s taste … This way of raising the levels of enemies according to that of the hero certainly allows you to travel where you want when you want , but it greatly reduces the very interest of the ramp-up. What is the point of getting stronger if the opponents also get stronger at the same time? This system also allows you to skip the majority of quests and get straight to the point, even if it means missing a good part of the universe and the game mechanics concocted by the developers. Thus, the adventure will occupy you a dozen or sixty hours, depending on whether you travel it in a straight line or try to make the most of it.

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