Mall Mutation Madness: Hardcore 4 Game Report

I’m a bit late posting this (as well as being late in filling out the game feedback form), but let’s get this game covered!

Mall Mutation Madness, if you didn’t already know, is a giant, overnight Humans v Zombies event that takes place in St Peters, Missouri. Humans attempt to complete various objectives through the night while trying to survive encounters with zombies, as well as (potentially) each other. This year, the players were part of a mining expedition to Antarctica, trying to gather resources, complete tasks, and uncover a puzzle to escape before the zombies took them.

The game itself was great, with plenty of opportunities for both combat and new styles of play. Unfortunately, it was also bogged down by the data tracking and leveling up mechanisms required for the game. Let’s dive into the game!

Credit for photography on this page goes to Amelia Granthon and David James. Thanks for the event photos!

SO MANY SQUADS

As with last year’s game, the humans were formed into squads, each attempting to check off the various objectives while avoiding both zombies and opposing humans. Also like last year, our group (Zombie Corpse of Engineers), along with squads full of friends, worked to unite the humans in meeting the various objectives, Really, as much as PvP is technically a thing in this game, there was every reason to NOT fire on other humans. Resources were plentiful, and zombies started with extra perks (an exciting change from last year).

This year’s game saw an expansion in classes, as well as a change in class abilities per level. Previous classes had their abilities made more incremental (Medics revived slower initially, and couldn’t self-heal from wounds, for example). All classes got max-level abilities, from Medics uber-charging other players to Scouts gaining invincibility as long as they had their arms crossed above their heads, holding nothing.

I was a Scout. Starting with a free sidearm (a Dart Zone Max Outlaw, which was a VERY popular choice this game), I leveled up in my class before upgrading my blaster and ammo capacity. The initial steps in class meant I could retreat a certain number of steps upon being wounded. Once I got to the highest level to unlock Stealth, that’s when fun options began to appear. Unfortunately, I forgot about it in the heat of combat and ended up dying anyway!

ZOMBIE TIME

Being a zombie, of course, is a lot more fun than people think. It takes time to make an impact on the humans (I eventually got a large succession of assists to level up my zombie perks), and after experimenting with different perks, settled on being a Burster (can throw large numbers of darts to stun humans). It took some time, as well as strategic placement, but eventually I was wounding humans in the right circumstances, allowing other zombies to complete the kills.

There were plenty of options for zombies: claws for melee, noodles and tentacles for reaching or throwing, Rooters that could place rings on the ground to make zombies standing in them immune to darts, and more. And when zombies worked together to use their various skills, it became deadly for the remaining human players.

Eventually, humans and zombies reached a stalemate; humans lacked numbers and hid in safe zones, while zombies waited outside, daring them to try and break free. After what seemed like an eternity, humans were forced to abandon the safe zone and have a glorious death. Alternatively, I think they simply joined the winning team!

Criticisms

The core mechanics work well in this game; if you’re in any way familiar with various RPG mechanics, the rules for combat, class abilities, and general interaction make a ton of sense. Occasionally the rules needed condensing or simplified, but for people like me that have attended all four games, they were easy to understand.

The main criticism, for many of us who played there, was the data tracking system. Squads turning in objectives had to all get in line to get their player cards marked – this was later reduced to squad captains carrying our cards. Nevertheless, until that action was completed, you were stuck waiting in the safe area instead of playing. Individual players had to turn in XP and get their personal extra levels marked. If a human was turned, forms had to be filled out by the tagging zombie, assisting zombie, AND the former human. All this paperwork, complexity, and waiting slowed down the game a lot. Half an hour at a time kinds of “a lot”. In addition, the staff doing the “shop” area for data/passing out perks/general administration was limited. Last year, the game had some growing pains due to a combination of several factors (hard-to-complete objectives, humans focusing on turning in XP, and limited staff). This year, with even more players and data to track…we still had limited staff, as well as forms to fill out. None of which, mind you, had been explained or demonstrated ahead of time.

With this event being a cross of standard HvZ and an intensive LARP, there’s certainly a need to track things. HOW you track them seems to need work, because this year made for long periods of sheer boredom. After last year, we expected things to be fixed, as opposed to being more of the same/similar.

There are plenty of options for simplifying the process. Granted, many of them rely on players reading the rules and following them (a hard ask for lots of games). But there are things like the old feed code system (human passes card to zombies that get them, and the zombies turn that in), or having the squad leader truly in charge of the squad’s data – the rest of the squad can continue play while they take care of the data, instead of needing to sit down while everyone’s player card gets taken into the shop and marked.

Finally, there’s a use for volunteers, especially among players. Granted, the ideal is having the players just playing. But if help is needed to make things run smoother, plenty of us (and a lot of out-of-towners would be up for this) would be willing to spend an hour manning a station to make the process smoother. If the rules get set in stone ahead of time, plenty of us understand the rules enough to be able to assist in data logging or some other role.

The game itself was fun, but overall there were several factors that kept it from being as good as it could have been. We’ll have to see how things change for next year.