Some Thoughts On A Mutant League Football Remake

It's that time again.  Football season, baby!  College football is just starting to heat up, the NFL is in full swing (thank you Anquan Boldin for the fantasy points last week!) and somewhere Donovan McNabb is throwing darts at an RGIII dartboard.  It's my favorite time of the year, and even my precious Hogs have started off 2-0.  However, the best bit of football related news came the other day, when Game Informer broke the news that a new Mutant League Football was in the works.

Holy mother of football, yes.

Fans of the Genesis classic have been clamoring for a release for seemingly ever now, but as far as most people knew there was never much of a chance it ever happening.  With new signs of life for the title, and the death of college football games looming large, the time is perfect for a great, new football experience, and Mutant League Football is just the game to do it.  As much as I love NCAA and Madden matches, every now and then you want something a little more...esoteric in your competition.  Ever since NFL Street (which I was a fan of) fell off the face of the planet, there hasn't been much in the way outside of EA Sports titles.  Not only could MLF help in that regard, it could be a legitimately good game.  Here are a few thoughts on it.

Strike a Balance 

The original Mutant League Football was hilarious fun, but it wasn't the most well-balanced game in the world.  Sweep plays would routinely go for 20+ yards, interceptions (of which there were plenty) almost always resulted in pick-sixes and the teams themselves weren't statistically even enough to make every one a viable selection.  In this day of competitive gaming, finding balance is key.  I should preface this by saying MLF better damn well have an online mode, but even couch payers don't want to play scrubs against a pack of killer aliens.  I would like to see each team have a unique race, all with specific and balanced stats.  And please, feel free to include the Forty Whiners again.  That's just good stuff.

Keep The Absurdity

This comes with the caveat "To a certain extent".  The sense of humor permeating Mutant League Football was one of its biggest selling points, so it is unlikely that will change with the new installment.  Plays like bribing, or killing, the ref are awesome, espeically if they can be implemented without completely breaking the game, something the original did well.  Going one step further, I loved the strategy of being able to kill you opponents off.  Look, just because its a football game doesn't mean it has to stick to the exact same standards of winning.  The original let you either win by points, or by killing off enough of your opponents players to where he physically couldn't continue.  While it was a little too easy to decimate the opposing team in the original, especially on the higher difficulties.  If done correctly, the dual paths to victory could lead to an interesting dynamic.

Home Field Advantage

Perhaps my favorite aspect of the original Mutant League Football was the interactive fields.  Each field was wildly different, and not just in aesthetic terms.  One field was littered with landmines, another one featured thin ice that could be broken and yet another had holes in the field and sidelines that lead to a big patch of empty space.  That's brilliant.  In a game that features jet packs, zombies and a pass that is literally a bomb, why not give the fields some character of their own.  It would be wise to make sure they aren't gamebreaking, and that there is a normal field or two for those that want it, but I for one would love to have some fun on some sort of crazy field.

Obviously, I'm excited about the thought of diving back into the Mutant League.  Do you have any thoughts on the franchise making a glorious return?  Leave a comment!

{Leviathyn}