M.U.L.E. only sold 30,000 copies but was lauded by reviewers.
Computer Gaming World described it as a "fascinating and very enjoyable game which comes to its very best point with four human players". Minor criticisms included too-weak computer opponents and the lack of a
save feature. Praising the "human engineering" that created the Atari 8-bit version's user interface, the magazine called it "All in all, a superior game".
Softline called
M.U.L.E. "what computer games should be like. It's a game, and it's a learning experience. It's also stimulating, fun, frustrating, thought provoking, fun, addictive, and fun". The magazine praised it as offering "valuable lessons" on economic topics, noting that "Most of them are learned the hard way", and concluded that "The game
feels good" and "virtually flawless" because of the human-computer and human-human competition.
John J. Anderson wrote in
Creative Computing, "I should also mention that there is no shooting to be found anywhere in the game. How positively refreshing ... Mule belongs on every Atari software shelf in the world: in every home and every school, near every Atari." Scott Mace of
InfoWorld called
M.U.L.E. unusual in the ease with which it allows multiplayer interaction through a single game computer console. He wrote that it would have "incredible lasting power, just like the best of the board games" and stated "I learned more about the economics of the marketplace from M.U.L.E. than I ever did in college".
Leo Laporte of
Hi-Res also said that he learned more economics from the game than during college. He predicted that
M.U.L.E. "may revitalize the [video game] industry. It ought to make them rich anyway", praised its
theme as "most captivating musical come-on I've ever heard", and concluded "If you ask me,
M.U.L.E. is the perfect game." Reporting in
BYTE that his children loved it,
Jerry Pournelle described
M.U.L.E. as "a cross between
Hammurabi,
Diplomacy, and an arcade game, with lots of strategic decisions—provided that you're skillful enough with a joystick to implement what you've decided to do". Another reviewer wrote in the magazine that "it is impossible to adequately describe all the interaction and economically realistic subtleties of M.U.L.E.", concluding that it was "an intriguing way to illustrate some of the triumphs and perils of free enterprise".
Orson Scott Card in
Compute! in 1983 gave
M.U.L.E. and two other EA games,
Archon: The Light and the Dark and
Worms?, complimentary reviews, writing that "they are original; they do what they set out to do very, very well; they allow the player to take part in the creativity; they do things that only computers can do". The magazine listed the game in May 1988 as one of "Our Favorite Games", stating that it "requires a sense of strategy as well as proficiency at joystick maneuvers". Steven A. List reviewed
M.U.L.E. in
Space Gamer No. 70. He commented that "
M.U.L.E. is simply a great game, a
tour de force in programming and design, good family entertainment, educational and exciting. If you don't have a computer and disk drive, it may be worth the investment just to be able to play this."
The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 gave the game an overall A rating, stating that it "combines some of the best features of
Monopoly with economic simulation games like [Hammurabi]" while teaching "valuable lessons in economies in a fun way". The book noted that "when several people play, the game becomes involved and interactive". ''InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari Computers
said the game "towers over the rest". The magazine regretted Atari discontinuing computers with four joystick ports: "Four-player M.U.L.E. is a unique entertainment experience for the whole family, and it gives us a glimpse of the true promise of the home computer to take us to simulated worlds. Even two-player M.U.L.E. is a delight". Two of Zzap!64s reviewers stated in 1985 that M.U.L.E.'' was "an excellent trading game" and "recommended for both novice and skilled", while the third complained that he "found little [excitement] ... nothing to keep me interested". In 1984
M.U.L.E. was awarded "1984 Best Multi-Player Video Game/Computer Game" at the 5th annual
Arkie Awards where judges described it as "a unique blend of boardgame strategy and computer-game pacing" and noted that "since its release, 'M.U.L.E.' has gained an intense cult following".
Softline readers named the game the third most-popular Atari program of 1983. With a score of 7.44 out of 10, in 1988
M.U.L.E. was among the first members of the
Computer Gaming World Hall of Fame, honoring those games rated highly over time by readers. In 1992 and 1994 surveys of science fiction games the magazine gave the title five of five stars, calling it "An all-time computer classic, this was one of the only games ever devised that was playable and entertaining for four humans. Economics made fun! ... it still holds up well over all these years and, by itself, provides justification for holding onto the 8-bit Atari". In 1996, the magazine named
M.U.L.E. as #3 on its Best Games of All Time list. In 2004,
M.U.L.E. was inducted into
GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time. It was named #5 of the "Ten Greatest PC Games Ever" by
PC World in 2009.
M.U.L.E. was listed as the 19th most important video game of all time by
1UP.com.
Chris Crawford said of the game that considering the platform the team had to deal with,
M.U.L.E. was "the greatest game design ever done." == Legacy ==