The Mosquito Gang Review (PC)

Desperate times calls for desperate measures. And by that I mean, anything goes, and everything is above board, even if it involves setting an apartment alight with a black market flamethrower. If this was another situation, and should this have been little more than a textbook extermination, then I wouldn’t have any quarrel with adopting the traditional method—a good old-fashioned fly swatter and a can of  bug repellent. But things aren’t quite the same here. The Mosquito Gang, as they’ve come to describe themselves, aren’t just blood-sucking parasites; they’re products of an unimaginable breed. Here, mosquitos don’t just bite — they also teleport, manifest shields, generate cloaks of invisibility, and evolve with each passing droplet. It’s one against four, and I’m beginning to question whether or not I have what it takes to complete what should, in all honesty, be a simple clean-up job.

The Mosquito Gang is a one-versus-four multiplayer game in which one human—a player who happens to have control over a deadly repellent that can eradicate the outbreak—and four mosquitos—a team that must exchange blood for various upgrades and passive buffs —thrash it out to defeat their opposing foe(s) over a series of fast-paced sandbox battles. The human, oddly, has the objective of completing generic chores in order to earn greater weapons, tools, and more efficient ways to counter the invading mosquitos, whereas the mosquitos have the task of squeezing blood from their target to acquire evolutionary advantages mid-conquest. To that end, both parties share a similar goal: onboard enough buffs, and squash the opposition.

Having spent a concerning amount of time batting for both sides, I think I’m in a comfortable position to critique these unruly shenanigans. Care to join me as I squeeze the life out of it? Then let’s jump in.

Blood & Bravery

The Mosquito Gang isn’t so much about calculated strategizing as it is about mindless, nonsensical action that the average person would soon describe as unfair and tedious. That said, it often boils down to a few things—which side of the fence you’re playing on, and who you happen to find yourself on the saddle with. There isn’t a structure to these feuds, per se, but more of a ‘wing it and hope for the best’ mentality that soon transitions into reckless behavior, irrational thinking, and two sworn enemies flailing their arms and wings about in a Benny Hill-like fashion. It’s comical, yet as equally absurd in all the ways that you would expect from a multiplayer game about overpowered insects and rocket launcher-wielding pedestrians.

The element that propels The Mosquito Gang to a new level is its objective-based progression system. Here, points aren’t necessarily scored by attacking enemies, as such, but completing odd jobs around the map. For example, if you choose to play the human, then you have to carry out chores—taking out the trash, defrosting frozen foods at a specific temperature, or combining certain ingredients to make cocktails, for example. Similarly, the team playing as mosquitos must subject themselves to a series of reckless actions, which involves breaking furniture, tampering with key equipment, and generally wreaking havoc on the world. Simply put, the more objectives that you fulfill, the greater the reward, as well as the upgrades and tools that bolt onto each node in the evolution system.

More Bite than Bark

There are three maps to work with in The Mosquito Gang: The Scientist’s House, Toxor Labs, and Flagship, all of which feature their own destructible environments and thematic set pieces. Regardless of the map that you choose, the gameplay itself still rolls out in a similar manner, with both teams thrashing it out to check a list of boxes and meet the requirements of a quota of some kind. I’ll admit, there’s a lot to take in at first, more so given that you have to think on the spot and both evolve and perform simultaneously as other players continue to enact their own plans. But that’s part of the fun, I think — rolling with the punches and coming to terms with the fact that, win or lose, nobody really knows what it is that they’re doing.

The Mosquito Gang is, more often than not, a game of chance, and one that commemorates dumb luck and perseverance than cold-blooded tactics and competitive play. It isn’t always fair, and you might even argue that one side of the opposition has the short end of the stick. That said, I came to find that both the humans and the mosquitos had their own share of strengths, weaknesses, and bite-sized traits that were diverse enough to warrant extended play in each session. The mosquitos are a little tougher to control, but like all games that adopt multiple perspectives, both first-person and third-person, a learning curve is to be expected. And even then, The Mosquito Gang makes it abundantly clear right from the get-go that, regardless of where you draw your experience from, it’s laughter and tomfoolery that power this blood sport, not vigorous effort and rage.

Verdict

The Mosquito Gang paves the way for a frustratingly addictive one-versus-four multiplayer game that has all of the potential to become an active candidate in its chosen field. It’s quick, witty, and laughably sloppy in all the ways that you might expect from such an unusual concept. I suppose, it’s almost like a love letter to Kill It With Fire, only without the eight-legged arachnids and more, well, chaotic blood sports and illogical violence and what have you.

While the current state of The Mosquito Gang could do with the addition of a few more maps, modes, and objectives, there’s nothing to say that there won’t be anything of the sort implemented in the near future. It’s still early days yet, and so, while I’ve got my hopes set on squeezing more blood out of this vessel, I still believe that there’s a good amount of content to bite into here.

To state the obvious, if you enjoy competitive games that don’t take themselves too seriously, then you ought to consider donning the pincers and repellent in this bloodbath of blood-stained wings.