Attack of the Mutant Penguins

and premise Attack of the Mutant Penguins is an action - strategy game with puzzle elements played from a top-down perspective , described as a cross between Lemmings (1991) and a platform game. The premise of the game is that Earth is invaded by aliens, who disguise themselves as penguins after monitoring nature television shows. Believing that penguins were Earth's dominant species, the invading aliens quickly realize their mistake and try to fix their disguises to appear more human. As part of their domination plan, the aliens brought to Earth a weighing scale -like doomsday weapon called the Doomscale.

The penguins of Earth were unhappy once they found out about the plan, deciding to fight against the aliens with aid from Bernard and Rodney, two intergalactic freelance heroes sent out to stop the invasion. Controlling either Bernard or Rodney, the main objective of the game is to kill alien penguins before they reach and trigger the Doomscale. In some levels, the alien penguins will try to reach a transformation station and turn into their mutant form, weighing three times more than their alien form on the Doomscale. The helpful penguins of Earth also appear on the playfield to reach and counteract the aliens' weight on the Doomscale.

They can fight against alien penguins in real-time, however they can also be accidentally killed by traps or caught into the player's attack range. If the alien penguins outweigh the helpful penguins on the Doomscale, it will trigger the weapon and the game is over . The player is initially locked into a preview state where they can observe the locations of items and switches within the level. The player can pick up a "Gremlin" creature in the playfield and drop them on a treasure chest to open it, revealing letters that unlock the player-character's weapon once you spell the right word (a bat for Rodney and a pan for Bernard).

They can also be dropped into traps placed around the playfield to distract or kill alien penguins. The chests are opened and traps are built more quickly depending on the number of Gremlins, but they will scatter once their task is done and the player has to pick them up again. Traps and chests can also spawn bonus items for the player. Once the character's weapon is obtained, it can be energized via power orbs dropped when any penguin is stunned.

Grabbing five power orbs energizes the weapon for more damage, while each player-character has different special attacks that are unlocked by grabbing ten orbs or a samurai power-up. After the level is completed, one of three bonus rounds is randomly selected. Depending on the player's performance, they are rewarded with a number of helpful penguins on the Doomscale at the start of the next level. There are 20 stages (30 stages in the DOS version) in total.

There is also a game mode called "Pandemonium", where the player must endure against endlessly spawning alien penguins until the Doomscale is triggered.