Review: Operation: Mutant Strike 3

Details
Title: Operation: Mutant Strike - The Last Mutation
Creator: Monkeeworks (Majik Monkee)
Released: 26/10/2011
Length: 10 Levels (0 Secrets)
Level Format: Continuous
Story: New
Graphics: All new
Sound: All New
Special Features: New weapons, damaging sprites, Increased ammo limit.
Dos/SDL: SDL & Dos

Initial impressions: The opening level is well designed and sets up nicely the continuing storyline of the series. The wall set is nicely chosen and sprites fit well. The first level is a very good challenge, in fact it can be quite difficult in spots, but it sets the tone nicely for the rest of the mod.

Gameplay: Being majority mutants in most levels the action is fast paced and the little buggers seem to appear from no where consistantly. The maps can be a little mazey in times but with a lot of the action taking place in 'mutant-y' type areas this is to be expected.
There is a good supply of ammo and health and finding the secrets wll certainly help ones progress throughout the mod.
Mini Bosses are rampant throughout but they help develop your skill at beating them before the final levels where there is many of them that need to be dispatched.

Mapping: As I made one of the levels for this, I'll be reviewing the quality of the other 9 levels. The mapping is a bit of a mixed bag to be completely honest in this but for me what makes this of a very good quality it the fact that RonWolf mapped half of the levels. Ron's ability to consistently produce high quality maps that are creatively designed, well thought out and challenging is one of the main factors why he has become one of the best mappers in the community. The other levels aren't bad, except for a VERY rare poor map from Thomas but the maps in the set do all seem to work together well enough to produce a nice standard throughout the mod.
There are ample secrets used and at times the challenges are tough enough to keep the player consistently low on health and ammo, which makes for a far better challenge than just easily blasting through everything barely taking a scratch.
There is plenty of treasure, although this seems to have very little to do with the mod, except for the pieces of paperwork which contribute to the developing story in the intermission screens.
The final level however I found was much easier than in the previous 2 installments because of the imbalance of the weapons and the weakness of the bosses.

Likes: The storyline is one of the best parts of this and we are constantly updated as to what is going on and why we are meeting newer enemies. We get a full back story into Jill and whats happening with BJ and the US Governement. This for me, helps emerse you even more into the mod and what you are fighting to achieve.
The enemy set in this is well used and fits in nicely with the walls and sprites.
Ron's mapping in this is fantastic and keeps the gameplay interesting and at a good challenge level, I look forward to playing more of his levels in the future.

Dislikes: The Chaingun is just way to powerful, it kills almost everything way to quickly and makes the going a little too easy through levels 8 - 10. In saying that I would have preferred to have seen an additional weapon be introduced prior to Level 8, something in between the machinegun and the chaingun in power and have the 5th weapon be tha main 'Final Boss' fighting power weapon. Speaking of the bosses, they are just way too weak and can be killed very easily, I'm not sure if it's that they were too weak or the weapons were just too powerful but regretably they don't put up much of a fight.
As with the other mods in the series the radius of the damaging sprites is way too strong and will easily and quickly kill you if you get anywhere near them. This becomes a little annoying in Levels 9 & 10 where they are used in large quantites.


Ratings
Dean's Score: 7.5/10
Difficulty: Harder then the original due to mutant levels.
Best Level: 4
Worst Level: 8

Wrap-up: A decent wrap up to the series that has some familiarity with it's predecessing 2 parts and works together nicely as a trilogy. Each is close enough to remain a connection but different enough to be a stand out mod on their own.
If you enjoy the challenge of mutant mods, like well put together mods or have enjoyed the mods of Majik Monkee over the years then you certainly won't be disappointed with this.

Where Can I get it?: You can download the mod HERE or by clicking on the screenshot at the top of this post.

You can read the review to Operation: Mutant Strike 1 HERE
You can read the review to Operation: Mutant Strike 2 HERE

Disclaimer: All reviews are only my opinion when playing the mod and are not intended to discredit anyone or the hard work they have put into creating their mod.