Mutants: Genetic Gladiators Review

Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is a free-to-play title that doesn't shy away from the immediate money grab. Depending on your love of mutants, this is a flaw that you'll either deal with or completely skip altogether.

The good news is that for at least a full hour, you'll have a grand enough time with Mutants: Genetic Gladiators. Although its turn-based, trading card inspired mechanic is something we've all seen before, the developers give each fighter a distinct and intriguing look. Many of these mutants resemble castoffs from some Borderlands infested universe, and pummeling your enemies amidst this apocalyptic wasteland makes for an engaging enough experience.

During the game's initial stages, each of your mutants will only have one form of attack against their enemies, and the engagements don't require any semblance of strategy. If your mutants have more hit points than your competitor’s, then you should easily win the battle. This lack of difficulty isn't such a bad thing, as it enables your characters to upgrade their powers within the blink of an eye.

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Since you'll start off Mutants: Genetic Gladiators with a fair share of gold bars and currency, leveling up your warriors and moving from battle to battle is a completely seamless experience. If you get tired of warfare, you can head off to your laboratory and upgrade your mutant breeding equipment. Your home base even has a slot machine function which doles out various prizes depending on your spin results. Whether it's currency, gold bars or power ups, these slots offer up a solid payday.

Once your gold bars and earned currency gets depleted, in-app purchases become a necessity. Almost every facet of Mutants: Genetic Gladiators costs some manner of currency. The most annoying freemium decision is derived from healing your mutants. After each battle, the mutants will sustain a significant amount of damage, and if you want to jump immediately into another match, you'll need to replenish their constitutions with gold bars. Eventually your gold bar reserves will run out unless you purchase a bundle with your own cash.

Their health does regenerates over time, but who wants to wait a several minutes before entering another match with a fully replenished crew? You'll also need to upgrade your lab if you plan on leveling up your crew in an expedited fashion, and that will also cost currency.

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Even with the highly irritating in-app construct, Mutants: Genetic Gladiators offers up a solid variety of gameplay. Once you get bored of playing solo mode, you can enter play versus player tournaments and win rewards. Achievements, characters and missions are also unlocked on a frequent basis, so nothing ever gets stagnant in this universe.

Part of giving us a ton of options obviously comes from the developer’s goal to draw us in and shell out a few bucks for the privilege. While that's completely understandable, their decision to not give gamers hours of free action without paying a dime isn't an option, and that totally sucks. For a solid PVP experience which won't demand your bucks up front, check out Marvels: Avengers Alliance.

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Mutants: Genetic Gladiators is actually a pretty fun app to play before all that free to play madness kicks in. There are PVP style experiences which offers tons of action without asking for your money within the first hour of action. Unfortunately, these mutants are high maintenance, and unless you're in the mood for burning a hole through your wallet, I'd find another group of warriors to battle with.

This review is based on a downloaded copy of Mutants: Genetic Gladiators for iOS.