In a fairly usual way, the pre-calculated cutscene 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 to the adventure. But the game has the good idea to then recreate it identically in real time and interactively during the tutorial phase. This is a good way to ensure a smooth transition between the fantasy graphics and the concrete display. This nice introduction is coupled with a complete and well-done character creation phase. We can choose from several fictional animal species (which all seem to be rodents) and several classes (maverick, 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 on a circle. This process is more intuitive than a simple distribution of numbers, and is accompanied in addition to a real-time modification of the size and corpulence of our hero according to the position of the cursor. All this bodes well, especially since the universe does not lack charm. Admittedly, this is a classic post-apocalyptic story where humans have ruined nature with chemical and nuclear pollution. But Biomutant cleverly 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 once urban world that is now overgrown with vegetation. The presence of contaminated, irradiated, asphyxiating or polar areas also offers beautiful panoramas. We also liked the onomatopoeia effect that appears on the screen during fights, like a comic strip. 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 withering tree of life and defeat four big bosses. But the vocabulary used is out of the ordinary. Thus, you will have to use a Mekton, an Octopod, a Chioval and a Glop-ski to overcome a Gigapouf, a Tortipouf, a Lapipouf and a Porkipoof! Périclavardeurs, reflexitron, mokagloub, goulgoul-raoul, parkatchou, morks, grunts, puttlepops, salinades, hempcrepes, pépintamtés, boustikoko, scouipes and many more are also in the game. Some of these terms are funny and well thought out, while others turn out to be too abstruse and lead to some confusion. In the end, we're willing to bet that some players will enjoy this fictional language while others will find it annoying. The narration also goes off the beaten track since it is done in a totally indirect way. Understand by this that a narrator comments on your actions and "tells" the dialogues (in a 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 in tune. But in the long run, it all quickly turns into a bad idea. This way of doing things makes the course of the dialogues more cumbersome, complicates their understanding, and even proves to be regularly incoherent. Sometimes the narrator introduces his "translation" with "he says that" and other times he begins his sentence directly with "says that", the name of the character concerned being displayed on the screen but not pronounced. We feel all the same 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 effort when it comes to gameplay, which is particularly rich.
The fights combine hand-to-hand combat, ranged weapons, magic powers, dodging, parrying, jumping, double jumping, general combos, weapon combos and many other subtleties. Like a Fable or a Black & White, the game also offers us an aura score based on our choices. Leaning on the light or dark side, which are represented as it should be by an angel and an imp, then gives access to certain skills and blocks others. A whole "loot and craft" section 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 join, small puzzles to solve, mechanical and animal mounts, and a whole system of "wung-fu", which mixes martial arts and weapon mastery. Special attacks, traits, skills, mutations and other resistances are unlocked with improvement points, biopoints and other psi points.
A MENU TOO RICH
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 quite poorly controlled, the different quests often walking on each other's toes. Moreover, some quests labeled as main are literally solved in 5 seconds and boil down to pressing a button, while side missions drag us artificially across the country to activate twenty repetitive objectives. In addition, the game sometimes neglects the narration to make certain missions fall from the sky, like a bad MMORPG. Everything is all the more messy 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 record is also mixed. While some running and fighting animations lack neither flexibility nor class, others prove to be much less successful.
During the dialogue phases, the camera also seems to arise haphazardly, and it therefore happens that everyone turns their backs on us, or that one character is hidden by another. More sporadic bugs are also in the game, such as a boss who finds himself blocked by a decorative element, or even poorly managed collisions which display a character halfway into a mountain. We even had the dodge button which suddenly stopped working for no reason (reloading the last save luckily solved the problem). Finally, the game uses the level scaling technique, 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 increase in power. What's the point of getting stronger if the opponents also get stronger in parallel? This system also allows you to skip most 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 for a dozen or sixty hours, depending on whether you travel it in a straight line or try to make the most of it.
