M.U.L.E. reborn online

08.12.2009
M.U.L.E., released in 1983 by the fledgling Electronic Arts, and designed by Dani Bunten of Ozark Softscape, is one of the original multiplayer strategy games. Originally released for the Atari 400/800, and later the Commodore 64, IBM PC Jr, and Nintendo Entertainment System, M.U.L.E. was a four-player strategy game that relied heavily on its simulation of an economic system. Set on the fictional planet of Irata (that's Atari backwards) players were tasked with balancing the supply and demand of an assortment of different resources; food, energy, smithore, and crystite by buying and selling them with other players. The M.U.L.E.s of the title were "Multi Use Labor Elements" - mechanical beasts of burden that were used to develop and harvest resources on Irata.

Not only was the game unique for its reliance on economic systems, rather than combat for its strategic gameplay, it was also unusual in that it was always a four-player game, whether other human players were present or not. In this regard, it paved the way for numerous other multi-faction strategy games, including spiritual successors like Sid Meier's Civilization. According to lead designer Bunten the game was somewhat inspired by Monopoly, and the setting of Irata themed on Robert A. Heinlein's Time Enough for Love.

Why the quick history lesson? Well, after years of fans saying "someone should remake M.U.L.E. and make it an online game," someone finally has. Developed by Swedish studio Turborilla with the blessings of the Bunten family, the free-to-play . is a faithful reproduction of the original (albeit with slightly updated visuals) that works either online, or over a local network. Currently there are (free) clients for both the PC and the Mac with a Linux version pending. Given that the game only launched yesterday, and it is, to all intents and purposes a labor of love, it's not without some quirks. As a multiplayer game, it relies on community involvement, obviously, but it should also be noted that any kind of matchmaking is done the old-fashioned way; you show up in the game's and find some buddies to play with. Also, we've noticed that some folks are having some issues with this initial release. Mac owners, in particular, have noted that they've had some troubles getting the game to run. Bizarrely the game is a downloadable Java application. Nope, not a web app and not a Flash app - Java. Also, it's not exactly the friendliest game in the world to set up. Players wishing to host a game are informed that they must change settings to their firewall in order to do so. If you can't affect the settings on your home network, you're not going to be able to host a game and control the people that come into it. You'll still be able to join other games, just not start your own.

While all of this is more exciting to those of us of an... ahem... older persuasion, newbies are welcome in the Planet M.U.L.E. community, and there's a full tutorial on how to play the game that you can find . It should probably be noted that the game is an incredibly faithful revival of the original game. While the gameplay stands the test of time remarkably well, some of the quirky content that made the original so amusing back in 1983 seems a little weird now. References to joysticks notwithstanding, there are also some comments that may seem a little off-color in today's society. Things like "Space Gypsy Cousins" may prompt the occasional wince.

If you want to try the game out, you can download it for free at the Planet M.U.L.E. website.