Transformice

As humans, we’re only able to experience life from one perspective. We know what its like to live as a human and that’s about it. Luckily, most humans are also able to activate their empathetic side and at least try to experience what another creature and/or person does. Transformice provides the perfect opportunity for you to experience exactly what its like to be a mouse. Kind of. You’ll also be trying to choose whether you’re good or evil while you attempt to be the first mouse to get the cheese in an assortment of games. It has its issues here and there, especially since it was an MMO released in 2015 for the express purpose of being ‘stupidly fun’ (no really, that’s a self-descriptor on their part), but it has a lot of great moments that you can still experience today if you’ve got the patience.

The Good of Transformice

There are a couple of aspects that make Transformice a bit more memorable than other games. Most importantly, the gameplay is hardly in-depth but is incredibly easy to like, get into, and replay constantly. While you do want to get the cheese as a shaman mouse, you are can also be dedicated towards helping out other player mice in the same manner. The player interaction portion of this game is something I took a real shine to. You can have about 500 friends in the game and are able to become someone else’s soulmate. There’s little that this does in terms of functionality, though I’d argue it adds a lot of flavor to Transformice in that respect.

The game also doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is a huge asset to this type of game. Being able to make friends while playing fun variations of maps with card games, transformations, and even parkour (given it’s a 2D platformer) honestly makes it a nonstop source of fun. Its got a few elements that feel similar to Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (from the smaller gameplay aspects/cosmetics), but is also a bit like Dead Maze. If you’re looking for a game that can take your mind off the real world for a bit without totally removing it from you, this game can be the perfect casual experience.

What’s Okay About Transformice

A good deal of the problems with this game stem from the fact that it just isn’t as big as it used to be. In 2015, you’d constantly meet new people on new servers and see new things. Now, the game is often undergoing maintenance or entirely shut down for some periods. The game is also now hard to play if you weren’t there for the early days since many of the tutorials are inactive or missing – it’s a harder learning curve without others to guide you through the mess. Those are all forgivable given the passage of time, but I was also a bit underwhelmed with the game’s skill trees and their effects.

Bottom Line

For this type of game, it wasn’t a huge determining factor – after all, it was poised on being stupidly fun and not being incredibly detailed/gripping. Regardless, skills that you can receive (dashing, flying, etc.) are hardly diverse and some are absolutely better than others. This leads to minimal diversity in gameplay, meaning everyone’s kind of going for the same build. Ultimately, there are still a good deal of people that play, though it lacks the attention that it once had and little will be changed about the leveling system anymore.

Pros:

• Cute MMO with some fun games
• Easy to get addicted to
• Plenty of cosmetics options for a rat game

Cons:

• Servers can be hard to find
• Moderation is now minimal
• Little gameplay diversity