The game that proves that weightlifting makes you unstable

Mr. Muscle has you helping a classic strong man show off his skills. Holding the barbell above his head, the mustachioed muscle-man balances on stage while you slice up blocks to add to his weight.

Your goal is to divide the shapes equally so the weight is evenly distributed, allowing him to keep his act going longer. He can survive a little too much on either side, but add too many and he will topple over bringing his act to an unceremonious end.

Real men wear Lycra

At heart, all Mr. Muscle demands is lightning fast reactions. A block moves left and right and you make a single swipe as it passes through the dotted line in the center of the screen to slice it. Each half of the block is then added to either side of the barbell that is lifted above the unstable powerlifter’s head. Once one is done another pops straight up, with your goal being to try and keep the size of blocks evenly distributed for the wobbly star.

The blocks quickly speed up, and wrong cuts will have you trying to compensate for previous errors. Send too much of a block to the left, and next cut will have you trying to do the same for the right. It demands exact timing, and returning to an upright position after a near fall feels like a huge achievement.

The bigger you are

Even trying to get your score into the high twenties is a huge challenge, especially on smaller screens. This is because, in a game so reliant on precision, the size of the display can really make a difference.

Watching Mr. Muscle teeter back and forth becomes quite fraught, but on larger screens the visual cues are far clearer. With its clear illustrative style, bigger devices make checking the key indicators of his angle of his lean and redness of face much easier to track. Even the bouncing block you cut feels slower, or at least more manageable.

Keep training

Mr. Muscle is a fun distraction that looks and feel great. We especially enjoy the Vaudeville comic look that pairs well with the light-hearted audio. On small devices it certainly gets frustrating if you are chasing friends’ high-scores but, as a free ad supported game, it is certainly worth a try.