Animals vs Mutants Review

Animals are at war with mutants (the ugly, radiation-scarred kind, not the teenage turtle kind) in Animals vs Mutants, a strategy/tower defense game by Netmarble Games. It's very cute - a war between animals and mutants might conjure up mental images of a bloody gore-fest that's all teeth and claws - but it's also very straightforward. It works better as a collecting game than a strategy game.

Animals vs Mutants begins as a rescue mission. Mutants have kidnapped the forest's animals, and the player must lead the fuzzy-wuzzy critters into battle. As animals are freed, they join up with the player's army and its forces gradually build. Players can also score mounts that tack on extra hit points and sometimes execute hard-hitting attacks, which is pretty fun.

The action in Animals vs Mutants takes place on a 2D plane with the player's headquarters at one end, and the mutants' headquarters on the other. Using mana, which accumulates over time, players summon animals to push back enemy forces and attack the mutants' domain. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While animals have different skills that certainly come in handy during battle (turtles can defend against attacks, pandas can roll downhill, squirrels can throw nuts uphill), most of the bad guys' assaults in Animals vs Mutants can be fended off by throwing a whole lot of animals - any animals - at the onslaught. Battles aren't overly exciting, and the small fields make them feel a bit cramped.

It also helps a great deal to equip the animal warriors well, though doing so takes a great deal of coins. Coins can be earned in-battle, though unsurprisingly they can also be bought via an in-app purchase.

Regardless, Animals vs Mutants is still kind of fun to play thanks to all the collectables on-hand. Let's face it, winning a dragon mount in a random lottery and riding it into battle is just really cool.

Newcomers to strategy games will enjoy Animals vs Mutants, as will anyone who's a fan of anything cute, fuzzy, and collectable. Serious strategists need not apply, though.