Max Mustard may be a bit of a curveball when it comes to names, but this traditional 3D platformer reimagined for VR delivers in nearly every other way, serving up some very Astro Bot Rescue Mission (2018) and Lucky’s Tale (2016) vibes in the process.
Max Mustard Details:
Available On: Quest 2/3/Pro (coming later to Steam & PSVR 2)
Reviewed On: Quest 3
Release Date: March 21st, 2024
Price: $30
Developer: Toast Interactive
Gameplay
Max Mustard isn’t reinventing the wheel here: it’s a solid, extremely well-built 3D platformer that, for all its positives, is a pretty standard experience overall if you’ve played any 3D platformer in the past 30 years, flatscreen or otherwise.
That’s probably the most negative thing I’ll say about this plucky little adventure, which tasks you with guiding the eponymous rocket-boot-clad companion through a world of fairly easy enemies, less easy environmental stuff, and four boss encounters that follow the strict orthodoxy of a ‘hurt it three times and it dies’ variety.
While the story is fairly forgettable–delivered almost entirely through letters that pop up at the end of levels–the action rarely disappoints, as you’re served up straight shots through 40 bespoke levels, many of which harken back to the Super Mario titles from the late ’80s and early ’90s.
That said, there isn’t a ton of enemy variety, as all baddies regardless of movement or attack style only take a single bonk on the head to kill, making enemies less interesting than the admittedly very cool environmental gadgets that you start encountering around the second (of four) worlds. The You satisfyingly puts together all of the skills you learned throughout the game.
Overworld map | Image captured by Road to VRAlong the way you’ll find minigames and the occasional shop too where you can spend coins on abilities, such as extra hearts, coin bonuses, and new combat moves. You’ll want (but probably not really need) those new moves too, as levels start to ramp in difficulty around world three, which introduces some challenging environmental obstacles, like boxes that disappear and reappear to the beat of the game’s soundtrack, torrents of cannonballs, one-use jump pads, and more. You The The That said, it’s hard not to smile at just how well Max Mustard nails the whole aesthetic and feel of basically everything.Max Mustard took me around five hours to complete, although I took it pretty slow due to wanting to collecting all three mudpups found in each level. You don’t need to be a completionist to get through the game with ease though, which could take you three to four hours overall.ImmersionMax Mustard is stupid cute, and offers a lots of level variation in both functional design and overall feel. Here’s me using the fan gun to suck up enemies and errant coins after having splashed down into the water–the sort of totally unexpected one-off level transitions you’ll experience throughout.That said, first-person interactions are comparatively rare in Max Mustard
, so you’ll be bopping around as Max most of the time instead of dealing with enemies like you see in the clip above. That puts an increased importance on the visual and functional aspects of levels, which are thankfully so rock solid that it’s easy to snap into your new ‘floating head’ POV and enjoying the game’s bright and colorful art style.Again, I wish there were more first-person gadgets, although you have to give it to Max Mustard
Astro Bot-y mix of first and third-person gameplay.Comfort
The game’s camera necessary follows around Max, but does so in a way that’s gentle and comfortable. Snap Granted, this feature is unlocked with in-game coins, although it should be a standard movement scheme out of the box.There are a few moments of forced motion in one-off events, although nothing that should set off alarm bells in motion sick-prone users, making Max Mustard pretty much perfect for anyone, including VR first-timers.Max Mustard’ Comfort Settings – March 21st, 2024TurningArtificial turning
Snap-turn
Quick-turnSmooth-turn
MovementArtificial movement
Teleport-move
Dash-moveSmooth-move
Blinders
Head-basedController-basedSwappable movement hand
Posture
Standing modeSeated mode
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Artificial crouch |
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| Real crouch | |
| Accessibility | Subtitles |
| Interface language | |
Languages |
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| English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean | |
| Dialogue audio | Languages |
| English | Adjustable difficulty |
| Two hands required | |
| Real crouch required | |
| Hearing required | |
| Adjustable player height | |