How can I explain the world that is Dr. Muto? Well, picture your average platformer, and add really twisted-looking creatures to inhabit it. Dr. Muto is graphically pretty good, but nothing you haven't seen before. The worlds you stroll through have rock, water, fire, etc., just as with every game of this genre ever made. Texture mapping is average, and creature models are fairly simple.

Most of the sound in Dr. Muto is also that of your typical 3D Adventure game, but there is one thing that stands out in my mind. Unlike most games of this type, Dr. Muto actually has real dialog in it. You see, Dr. Muto's talking computer appears through screens accessible within each level, and offers some 'wisdom' (well, if you can call it that). The game's dialog is extremely funny at times, and worth paying attention to because it makes fun of a lot of different things, including (and most obviously) a little computer named 'Hal.'

If you've played one platformer, then you've played them all, right? That may have been true until now. Midway has a little surprise in store for you, and it comes in the form of Dr. Muto. So who is Dr. Muto? He's a mad scientist who accidentally blew up his home planet. Now, in an effort to clear his name, the great Dr. Muto will use his crazy inventions in a way nobody has ever used them before. He will capture the DNA of various creatures of the 4 worlds he will visit, and use their DNA to transfuse with his own, changing him into a morphed adventurer. The result is a great platforming game that bumps up the variety of encounters you can have with each of the environments you face.

As Dr. Muto, you will have to work your way through numerous levels, collecting different pieces of junk that will all come together as one into your ultimate invention. Although this certainly sounds like your average platformer, your morphing techniques can sometimes make or break you. Of course, there will be some areas you can't access without morphing into a half man, half creature (there are 5 total morphs). This extra variety and the great comedic achievements in the game make Dr. Muto a present-day classic.

As you work your way through the each of the worlds, you'll be accompanied by your computer (at certain spots), who will provide you with useful information, and more often than not, some extremely non-useful information (but it sure is funny!). His name is Al. Anyone who's ever seen the movie 2001: A Space Oddysey, will immediately realize the correlation between its 'Hal' and Dr. Muto's Al. Funny Stuff. But everything in the game seems to have humor written all over it, from the creatures Dr. Muto can morph into to the crazy way he runs.

Okay... now for the bad news. Dr. Muto starts out all warm and fuzzy, but it won't take long until you find out just how frustrating it can be too. Although you do have unlimited lives, and you do have many 'checkpoints' throughout each level, it can get very tiresome redoing the same tasks over and over and over again, only to find yourself dying in the end.

Fortunately, everything you accomplished in the way of pick-up items will already be taken care of if you have to restart. But when you do restart, you will only have three hearts (which signify your lifeline). Collecting enough molecules to increase your hearts is very hard in some spots (due to a lack of enemies, etc.), which makes the game even harder at times.

Dr. Muto plays like a dream, for the most part. There is sometimes an issue with the camera sliding into a bad position on jumps, but the good news is that Dr. Muto is equipped with a boost pack that slows his descent on jumps, making it easier to land. It's just too bad that this game is so darn frustrating. Dr. Muto is best described as a 'love-hate' relationship. On one hand, it's easy to fall in love with Muto. But on the other hand, there may be times when you feel like throwing your controller through the television.

It is because of the difficulty (at times), that I'm afraid Dr. Muto is not a game for everyone. I can see that younger gamers may have a hard time with Dr. Muto and company. But for older gamers that are sick of the 'cutesy' games out there and who are looking for a good platformer, Dr. Muto is probably one of the best I have played in some time.