MULE Returns App Reviews

One of the great games of my youth brought back to life. 4 stars just for that. But it really is pretty buggy and the AI isnt very competitive, even when going humanoid on the tournament level. Some are pretty easy to fix, like stopping the npcs from selling during the last month

MULE has a great deal of potential...sadly, all unrealized potential. Interface is awkward and poorly conceived, gameplay is uneven, and worst of all, the tutorial is so thin as to be useless. Much of gameplay is learned by trial and error. Graphics are subpar, even for a port (or semi-port) from an Amiga. I was hoping for a builder business competition game, and MULE failed to deliver.

Used to play this game in my Commidire-64. Brings back old memories. This latest update does a good job with setting prices based off of supply and demand. Sometimes Smithore doesnt seem to price properly when depleted (stays near $50). Overall I enjoy playing MULE.....again. :)

I am so glad that the classic (dare I say ancient?) computer game M.U.L.E. has successfully made transition to iOS devices in MULE Returns. Even without a joystick, it very much has the look, feel and game play of the original - one of the best computer games ever. Once they add a multiplayer version it will be pretty much perfect.

Overall, the game is fun and true to the original Atari version. However, one of the recent updates built in "spoilage" of Smithore when a player accumulates more than 50 units. (Im not really sure scientifically how a rock spoils, but o.k.). Yes, I am aware that was how the original game played. However, this severely limits the maximum price of Smithore. Previous versions, before the update, would allow prices to get as high as $984 per unit. A player could store up several hundred units over several turns and sell for major cash! It was easier to achieve much higher scores. Why doesnt crystite spoil above 50 units? I understand spoilage for energy and food, as these are naturally very perishable items. Game would be much more fun if you got rid of the Smithore spoilage issue or built in greater profit in crystite, say, a max price of $600-$700 per unit.

The game play is similar to the Commodore 64 version I spent dozens of hours playing as a kid. Some differences are that I dont recall Smithore ever going up so high after cornering the market in the original. Due to that I ended up with over $80,000 in my first game played. One bug that happened is that I won a land auction but it never took my money and never gave me the land. Another weird thing is that when all the land plots are taken up it still goes through the procedure to pick a land plot albeit quickly. All in, a faithful port of the original and was fun to play. My son has been playing it as well and likes it a lot. I hope it teaches him the lessons about economics it taught me as a child.

At this point the game is pretty solid and the major kinks have been fixed. It still has an exceptionally long loading time and will need multiplayer to stay fresh for much longer.

Are you ever going to add the multi-player feature?

I was thrilled to find this! Very faithful to the original and still lots of fun. My kid is also playing it and hopefully will get a good education in the economic concepts. Maybe a few bugs, but after decades without a MULE fix, Im as happy as a 1980s kid in an ATARI store.

They did a great job of recreating this game. I wouldnt mind having classic and an updated game modes. You guys did a great job with this classic, how about putting Lords of Conquest on the iPhone as well?

Skip this game! The economics at is very different than the original. The interface is horrible and you can not even sell a Mule back at the store. It lacks all of the spark of the original!!!!!

As a game theory, usability professional who loves the elegant economic balances of MULE, I must say that I am disappointed that there are so many metrics that are way off in this app that could have been copied from the original. You can play Planet Mule online, an evolved version of the original, and this has retained those economic balanced unlike this app. The AI is also too weak comparatively always dumping extra food and energy cheap. Why so few land auctions? (1 per game). Why dont store prices increase after I sell food for $200+? Why is Crystite rarely over $100? Why are items allowed to hit $900+ after a major shortage? I have 20 more issues. An options menu would drastically improve the game of Mule. 1. Option to make the game action-based. 2. Option to change process of land grant from moving box to clicking actual plot of choice. If 2 or more choose the same plot, auction. Auction loser chooses new plot. 3. Option to remove single player luck events like pest attacks. Make broad economic events that effect all, or no events, or 2 events. SO MANY improvements that need to be made. Very disappointing. After 3 months, I see no improvements.

This is as close as a faithful modern recreation of M.U.L.E. As you are gonna get! Gameplay is great and really brings me back to the original C64/Atari/Apple versions. Its a shame the developer/publisher has not marketed this better. I feel like there should be a huge market for people looking for retro games, and M.U.L.E. is by far one of the most asked about that Ive seen in my days of working in video games. I really hope the publisher can find its audience because it most certainly deserves one. Great game. Shame its been lost in the clutter.

Cute version of the original. One star for lying about a multiplayer version coming. Computer players are not very good. Resource balance is horrible.

When is the promised 8bit graphic skin going to be released?

I really really wanted to love this game. I loved the original on my Atari 800 back in the early 80s, and even in emulation now. But while the updated graphics are nice, the gameplay is far short of the original. The biggest problem is with the auctions. What the original did with one simple but elegant screen, this version does it with two. You get a summary you have to read on the first on which you have to choose to buy or sell, then you get the somewhat familiar auction screen. But it’s not quite right. First, there is a gap between the settlers and the transaction bar, making it difficult to see who is on the bar, and who is above (seller) or below (buyer). Sellers have the bar below their feet, while buyers have them above. Awkward! The old version had the settlers standing on the bar, and the active settlers changed colors, making the transactions more obvious. What’s more, once a transaction begun, it could only be interrupted by the platers. Not so now. Getting there first doesn’t lock you in. A lower-ranked player can interrupt the transaction, and start its own. These changes to the original’s elegant design make auctions a mess. Another issue is the pricing of M.U.L.E.s. The store price of a M.U.L.E. is supposed to be twice the store (buying) price of Smithore, not twice the selling price! When the store is buying Smithore for $50, M.U.L.E.s should be $100, not $170! There are other lesser issues: Where’s the expert humanoid? Multiplayer coming soon for 2 years? Tapping to install a M.U.L.E is flakey. Assaying results are a mixed-bag, better in some ways, but worse in others. Still, it’s nice to be able to play a version of my favorite all-time game on my iPad. The sound and graphics are generally nicer than what was available on 8-bit hardware. Also, game play is much faster. A full 12 month game doesn’t take a full hour like it used to, so that’s nice.

Come on guys I know that you know you need to fix the problems with the Mules auction prices. everything in the options and the transaction price line and all of what the people have said and this is obviously the reason why you havent made the multiplayer yet you have lots of little glitches to fix it can be done so please get back to work on this project before another year passes

Thank you for this wonderful game... M.U.L.E. originally came out in so many different early systems, but the gameplay and strategy and feel of this game is a true match to the original ones...

I am having a very hard time figuring out how to play

Why even release this without multi-player support??