Grass Cutter: Mutated Lawns review

Now the sun is shining, it’s time to get that garden looking great and usually the first job for most of us is to mow the lawn, trim back those hedges and get rid of those nasty weeds that are ruining your pristine green surface. It’s a tough job managing the garden, and that grass seems to grow double quick this time of year.

Some of us enjoy mowing the lawn, that smell of fresh grass, really does something to those senses, good and bad, but it certainly is a sign of decent weather. Like most things, it’s not for everyone, not all of us love tending to the garden ripping up those horrible green prickly things from our lawn, it’s hard work, often resulting in mega back ache.

There have been countless management titles, involving daily tasks, but never in a million years would I have imagined a game could be made from mowing the lawn. I swear the people over at USANIK STD, makers of Grass Cutter: Mutated Lawns must have been smoking something when they dreamed up the the idea for this game.

“Every level is designed to promote logical thinking within a challenging puzzle.”

Maybe they were cutting their lawn, and thinking about gaming at the same time, maybe they were trying to make things fun whilst cutting the lawn imagining that the weeds were zombie-like, after all it does get a bit tedious cutting the same patch over and over again.

Management games appear to be very popular at present, we have seen countless farm and garden games recently, but not a game involving managing the lawn specifically. Grass Cutter: Mutated Lawns changes this, and I applaud the developers for thinking outside the box, trying something new in this genre. Grass Cutter: Mutated lawns is all about…. yes, you guessed it cutting grass, but this game requires quick thinking mixed with a lighting response. Every level is designed to promote logical thinking within a challenging puzzle. The Puzzle to cut the grass efficiently.

Now, I wouldn’t blame you for rolling your eyes at this point. I mean come on how challenging can it be, after all the concept behind the game appears to be very simple at first glance? However, stick with it and this little beauty of a game will call for commitment and your upmost concentration, blink for just one second and it’s all over.

Grass Cutter: Mutated Lawns has been produced in a cubic retro-style format, a simple bright colourful game, with cute visuals and a easy to use, yet very effective control system, perfect for this quirky stylish game. The game has introductory levels to get you up to speed, but sooner or later you will be presented with some high complexity at advanced levels, providing a real test to your reaction speeds.

The idea behind Grass Cutter is the stuff of b-movies. I for one remember the attack of the killer tomatoes, so to have a game based around mowing the many lawns around you to stop the killer weeds and saving the world appeals and is an interesting concept. Grass Cutter offers a real challenge packed with loads of levels, and 10 types of lawn mutations to fend off and keep at bay.

The level design behind the game is expertly crafted, with dozens of obstacles that get in your way, from bypassing security systems and laser fences, to escaping the fire of security guns and flame throwers, not to mention water never mixes with lawn mowers, so keep away from those dreaded pockets of water.

Grass Cutter also has a unique upgrade system which goes hand in hand with the games scoring system. The scoring is like the game, simple but very effective, offering a star level for completion based on speed, damage. Your reward other then stars…. Gears.

Gears are your currency in this beautifully designed game, but what can you spend them on? New mowers of course! These new mower’s have more durability, and have more efficient rotating blades, and will prove vital in your quest to rid your green carpet from those pesky weed-like zombies in double quick time. Not interested in a new grass cutting machine? Then why not trade your currency in for an animal, after all animals love to eat grass. So why not put a cow or a sheep to work, or better still a unicorn, after all everyone knows unicorns love the green stuff?

Overall, this game is a breath of fresh air, an awesome game to challenge yourself within a unique care free way. The idea to produce a retro style feel game and merge it with modern mechanics and visuals has resulted in a win win. The visuals are quirky, the gameplay on the money, and a scoring system which promotes replayability. Grass Cutter: Mutated Lawns is easy to pick up, yet very hard to master, one things for sure you’ll want to cut your grass over and over again!