Multi Task Master

A few months ago, I reviewed a game called Super Multitasking, which was a clever little time-waster that had you trying to keep track of a bunch of radically different mini-games at the same time. I gave it a good score when I reviewed it and liked how unique it was. Little did I know at the time that this kind of game would become trendy, because here we are with Multi Task Master, the debut release from British developer WyvernWare. Where other multitasking titles are content with just throwing a bunch of mini-games at you, this one adds story elements and crazy themes that elevates it above the rest.

The name says it all; this is a game about juggling a bunch of tasks at the same time. The idea is to keep track of four separate screens full of action, with each mapped to different buttons. For example, in an early level that involves a bank robbery, you'll need to use the mouse to target the hostages, hold the space bar to break into the vault, use the left and right arrows to grab bags of money, and press the up and down buttons to avoid incoming fire from the police. These mini-games are incredibly easy on their own, but can quickly spiral out of control when everything is being thrown at you at once and at full speed.

What sets this apart from something like Super Multitasking is that it actually has a story. Granted, the narrative is a little scattershot and you have to fill in a lot of the gaps on your own, but there's a through line here that involves everything from crime to zombies to space travel. Multi Task Master is constantly opening up new levels and scenarios for you to play, each letting you see the different pockets of life around the city. This is a great hook that opens up this kind of game in a big way.

A lot of the reason why this game works is because of the charming and often silly scenarios. Even something as dangerous as a high-speed chase from the police is made delightfully cheeky with the cartoony characters and goofy mini-games. And even the mundane tasks, like working at a diner or exercising, suddenly become exciting when you're trying to tackle four different jobs at the same time. And if you think things get hectic at full speed, just try bumping up the difficulty to see a whole new level of chaos. It's glorious.

This game benefits from there being an impressive amount of stages and themes. The gameplay itself may start to grow repetitive over time, but Multi Task Master does a great job of keeping the scenarios fresh. There's just enough variation on the mini-games to keep it from getting boring, though I'm not sure how long you're going to want to spend with this in a single sitting. And every time you complete a level, it will unlock a few more things to do.

Unfortunately, it won't take long for the scripted scenarios to turn to mix-and-match stages. Multi Task Master will start to give you levels that group similar mini-games together, such as a stage with only sports, only crime or only games you can play with the mouse. This leads to stages starring certain townspeople and other shared themes. It's basically a way to recycle the content and stretch out the length of the game, which I found to be a bit disappointing. I'm much more of a fan of the story missions than I am the greatest hits packages, and I'll confess that I started to lose interest as I played these mini-games for the third or fourth time.

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It's also worth noting that it's not always clear what you're supposed to do in a mini-game. We'll get a brief description, but a few of the tasks require some trial and error to figure out. This is made considerably worse by a few of the bugs that prevent things from working properly. One example of this comes in the way of a fantasy-themed level where you're supposed to heal the allies by using the left and right keys. The problem is that the prompts wouldn't show up and the instructions were frustratingly vague. I kept knocking over the poor magician, only to later realize that it simply wasn't working properly. This is a rare occurrence, but one that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Visually, Multi Task Master looks fine. There are times when I like the polygonal characters, but other times it looks rough and unfinished. The one thing I really like is how the four different screens can overlap and show the same event from different points of view. When we save a survivor in the zombie level, we see them enter the compound from a different angle on a separate monitor. That's a cool effect that can give us an advantage in some stages.

Multi Task Master is a fun little time-waster with a surprising amount of stages and a whole lot of personality. I like the stories the game tells and how varied the mini-games are. What I don't like it how quickly the game recycles its events and how some of the tasks can grow repetitive. The graphics can also look a bit unpolished at times. Of course, you'll barely have time to worry about any of that when you're juggling four different games at the same time. This is a fun twist on the burgeoning multitask genre.