 Review By: Siou Choy |
Developer: | Red Fly Studio |
| Publisher: | Gamecock Media Group | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Everyone 10+ | |
| # Of Players: | 1-2 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Nunchuk | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars puts the gamer in the role of “Pax”, a mushroom brought to anthropomorphic “life” (as if plant life weren’t by definition “alive” in the first place) by a meteorite that has crashed to the Earth. It seems that he’s the only member of his patch of transformed fungi to survive this mutation. In addition to gaining mobility and vaguely humanoid characteristics, Pax finds himself encumbered with telekinetic powers which can be used to move objects or to throw things with which to defend himself.
OK, even if you can get past all the usual improbable sci-fi gobbledygook involved in the above scenario, you’re still faced with a conundrum. Namely, that it’s quite surprising, if not impossible in this day and age that a meteorite (or for that matter, almost anything) could make its way through all the satellites (spy, weather, telecommunications, television and otherwise), space junk and man-made debris from various aborted spacelabs, rocket parts and colliding satellites surrounding our planet to actually land on Earth in the first place!
While the arrival of said meteorite has done the genus fungi a good turn, other species such as fauna have not fared quite so well by its influence. By some unknown and unexplained rationale which presumably only made sense to the developers, you’re forced to do battle with these other species. In all honesty, I didn’t find it particularly heroic to be placed in the situation of having to beat up on such horrible enemies as sickly moles covered in spores, lying on their backs and unable to move. In fact, I’d question the general mental health of any gamer who would find something admirable in this…
Your adventure, such as it is, starts off with Pax meeting another mushroom race which takes him in. Ignoring how bizarre and improbable this is as an opening conceit, it provides an excuse to acclimatize the gamer to the controls and procedures of the game. At the end of training, Pax “accidentally” absorbs a chunk of meteorite that this second mushroom race worshipped. This forces you to journey out into the rest of the world to find a new chunk of meteorite to replace it. Uh…yeah, sure. I’ll get right on that.
Despite the credulity straining permutations of its amazingly outlandish premise, Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is a decent 3D platformer that most seasoned gamers should have no trouble picking up. The controls are easy and the plot is simple. The only trick is with the cameras – if you move too close to a wall or object, the camera shifts to a lousy and inappropriate angle. Needless to say, this can present somewhat of a hassle when in the middle of a jump or while in a difficult battle situation.
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars sports a creepy atmosphere reminiscent of cheesy old 50’s giant monster/sci-fi films. The music is genre-appropriate and helps set the mood.
Battle in Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars consists of swinging your weapon wildly at any and all enemies within range. You can also use “sporekinesis” to launch objects at enemies. And that’s about the size of it. As you can tell, the game doesn’t require any skill or deep thought – it’s somewhere around the level of a hack and slash in terms of combat, but with a simplified, almost child-friendly storyline attached. You can tell the difficulty level by the fact that even if you were to incur damage during battle, soon thereafter you’re given sufficient health to restore yourself to full fighting capacity. Even death is no obstacle - you’re miraculously brought back to life should your health ever fall too low.
Bottom Line:
Fans of old school platformers should find something new for their collection in Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars. While the storyline makes no sense whatsoever, it’s a solid game with decent controls, and better, it’s easy to get the hang of things right off the bat, no fuss no muss. The cheap 50’s sci-fi feel helps enliven the proceedings a bit, and while it’s nothing to write home about in the larger scheme of things, it’s a pleasant enough diversion for the committed platform gaming fan.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 6.5 |
Posted: 2009-04-10 13:20:29 PST