Format: Floppy
Genre: Strategy
Developer: Ozark Softscape
Publisher: Electronic Arts

M.U.L.E. opens with a, well, mule walking across the screen, followed by the myriad, colorful, selectable player characters, many of which are hilarious-- picture an alien with a super long neck, or one which looks like a smiley face with legs. For being so few pixels, they exude tremendous personality and charm, and their animations are quirky and fun. The gameplay takes place on a white background, with super evocative, cleverly-drawn icon representations of food, energy, and mining. The trade interface is astonishing, with the characters setting the "supply and demand" intersection by walking up and down the screen, dragging dashed lines with them. Lots of funny events happen, like lightning bolt-filled clouds, or screen-shaking Earthquakes. Overall, M.U.L.E. is a top-notch representation of the best aspects of early 80's graphics.

Unlike most very early 80's games, M.U.L.E. actually has real music, and apparently it's a notable release on the Commodore 64 for that reason! The main theme is absolutely unforgettable with its white noise drum opening, to its bouncy bass backdrop to its higher-pitched melody. This song plays at the beginning of every turn, and it alone helps with the game's pacing and positive feedback loop. Another catchy song is the short "gambling" jingle, which also plays pretty often. The auction-style chimes work perfectly to help demonstrate to the players what is going on. There are also sound simple sound effects for the shop taking off and landing, plus for the various random game events which occur.

Each turn is broken into several phases. First the players have to react quickly to grab a plot of land-- one allotment permitted per turn, be careful to time your button press right! Next, the players can auction for any other open plots of land. After that, there is a real-time action sequence where players move their "mules" around, controlling which lots of land perform which actions. Then the commodity trading begins: the players move their characters up and down the screen to determine the auction price, before time runs out. The game's pacing is so absolutely perfect that hours can be spent doing the whole "just one more turn!" dance.

M.U.L.E. is absolutely ingenius. Its aesthetic is ultra memorable; it has a wonderful and very clever presentation; and the various gameplay mechanics work to make this a timeless release, like a classic board game of land domination and economic principles brought to life. It does have some Mario Kart-style rubber banding, where the number one player on any given turn gets hit more often with negative random events-- but it's balanced pretty well, and the title still rewards superior player decision making. M.U.L.E. might feel a little simple by today's standards, but in an increasing complex and dystopian real world, maybe that's more of a blessing than a curse.