Imagine a game where you don’t fight for a noble cause, like saving a princess, redeeming a lost world, or just punching through a bunch of hellish villains for the sheer gory fun of it. Flip the whole script, turn it into something silly, like collecting mustaches, and then cast Hollywood superstar Henry Cavill as the lead. That’s broadly the premise of a new game called Mustache Protocol, which Cavill built with Google to promote its new Googlebook laptops.
In case you’re unaware, Googlebook is Google’s new category of AI-first laptops, a spiritual successor to Chromebooks, but with more powerful hardware and a premium build to go with it. Gemini AI leads the charge, and as part of its latest marketing push to show off the AI chops of these devices, Google had the former Superman build a game on one. Cavill used AI tools on a Googlebook to turn his ideas into working 16-bit game mechanics. And for every play, Google is donating to the men’s health charity Movember.
If the name rings a bell, that’s because it’s a nod to the Mission: Impossible franchise, the Tom Cruise-led series in which Cavill made a memorable villainous appearance in Fallout. And true to that character, Cavill brought his signature arm-reload move into the game.
Fighting for the mustache? Now, that’s one helluva mission
The game is pretty fun, I have to say. I went in expecting just a few minutes of button-mashing and sigh-quitting. After all, this is a game Google says was built with a healthy amount of help from AI, so my expectations weren’t very high. But it won me over. It has a distinct retro design that reminds me of the hours I sank into titles like Castlevania on Nintendo consoles.
It’s a side-scroller where you only move and jump, without any fancy move sets like sliding or sprinting. You move ahead collecting mustaches as zombies come your way. When it comes to dispatching them, you can simply jump on them to collect the mustache bounty, or swing a sword that’s intentionally shaped like a comb. It’s yet another silly joke, this time about grooming the glorious mustache that Cavill is rocking these days as part of his Movember push.
But the more fun part is the power-ups. As soon as you get your hands on some juicy steaks, the Cavill-inspired character bulks up, does his arm-reload move, and ditches the sword for some good old punching and bulldozing through enemies. Now, I’m not a game critic. I play games mostly to let off some steam and immerse myself in another world. Mustache Protocol isn’t one of those games with plenty of levels and a deep storyline to dive into.
The story itself is pretty silly and straightforward. An alien species has invaded, and with their laser weapons, they are wiping the world clean of mustaches. And here’s the big threat from the purple-skinned, bald-headed villain:
“Say goodbye to your precious lip rugs. Haha”
Oof. That sent a chill down my spine. Cavill’s character sets out to save the world from the mustache apocalypse, restoring order in a world where men can grow thick mustaches without living under the tyranny of a mustache-hating alien species.
And you know where the character takes the pledge to save the world? A barbershop. Of course. As I said, it’s silly. But to my utter surprise, the game mechanics are easy to learn and master, and despite my initial skepticism, this AI-developed game didn’t crash and burn as I made my way past a few levels. Instead of focusing on the bare-bones game mechanics, trying to get past levels by simply jumping on zombies rather than swinging my sword, or feeling a dash of frustration after losing to the first boss, I found myself chuckling at the cheesy dialogue and clichéd villain motivations.
Also, if you look closely at the character design, it’s clear that Cavill had a lot of fun with it. For example, the character wears Custodes-style armor from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and instead of Superman’s House of El sigil on the chest plate, there’s a glorious red mustache. It’s almost as if Cavill blended all of his iconic roles and gaming-nerd dreams into one hybrid hero, while keeping his chiseled jawline and bulging biceps intact.
