Murtop | Switch Review

Flynn's Arcade is at it again porting a new fangled retro/modern arcade experience to the Nintendo Switch. This time around their developer mashes up two well known retro gameplay gimmicks. Using the bomb blasting of 'Bomberman', and the mining mechanics of 'Dig Dug' they have created the perfect quarter munching challenge. Instead of inflating baddies you'll take control of a white rabbit named Murti with bomb dropping abilities who is hellbent on blasting the fool out of carrot thieving moles who are busy digging holes. Perhaps as a metaphor of the dangers of going down a rabbit hole, but I wouldn't dig too deeply into it ...

Gameplay in 'Murtop', as it were, is simple yet challenging. You plop in a simulated arcade token to play a simulated arcade game. The game has you, in turn, controlling Murti the rabbit who can drop and detonate bombs as well as dig tunnels. In the layers of soil that you are digging away at there are moles of varying types who are, themselves, busy tunneling their way through the dirt for the same carrots you are seeking. 

Your job, as Murti, is to eliminate these moles using bombs, or falling rocks while collecting all the carrots. Bombs can be placed with the press of a button, and detonated with the follow-up pressing of another button. The blast when the bomb detonates will follow the surrounding excavated paths in all cardinal directions. Not only will these blasts kill the moles, but they can also kill the rabbit if it isn't moved out of harms way in time. Alternatively the rocks can be loosened by tunneling underneath, and if timed right can kill the moles if it falls atop their head.

Depending on the method of the kill, be it bomb or a falling rock, score will be given accordingly. Rocks gifting the higher point value whereas bombs give the least. At the end of a stage when the side objective of collecting all the carrots, and killing all the moles is done there will be additional bonus points rewarded for kills, carrots, and lives remaining. In total one credit equals three lives within a single Murtop run. After that it's a GAME OVER if you don't choose to deposit another credit, and continue.

Aside from the gameplay mechanics, 'Murtop' does have it's visual and audio settings. It has a few different styles of border art or Bezels, a Tate Mode for turning the screen in all four cardinal directions, a pixel perfect mode, and scanlines for a more retro look. You can even adjust the audio level to your liking. 

The Verdict ...

I don't think the developer could have found a better mashup of mechanics. The 'Bomberman', and 'Dig Dug' features really worked well together. While they are super close to mimicking the source material the game still has a personality all it's own. Things like the ghostly rabbit death animation, and the death animations of the moles really make this game shine. Giving it a true to retro appearance with a comedic twist. Even the gameplay feels like it belongs in the arcade cabinets of old. The fact that the game itself could be interpreted as a rabbit hole reference is pure icing on the cake! If you fancy a highscore opportunity in the vein of retro classics like 'Bomberman' or 'Dig Dug' then look no further than 'Murtop' on the 18th of this month!!!