Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars
An attempt at a new platform franchise on the Wii, can it escape Mario’s long shadow?
Tags: Mushroom Men Categories: Reviews, Wii Reviews
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Mar 25th, 2009
Trying to invent a new franchise is difficult in any medium. Ambition can be a terrible bedfellow, and drag your work down. In video games that thought has led to more abortive endings, and halfhearted installments all in the name of telling us a story. We all know there is only one game worth of story, and that by the next everything that distinguished the game will be watered down and reused like a pot of coffee at the end of an AA meeting.
So when a new development studio like Red Fly announces they are helming a new franchise, and it’s on the Wii, where Third Parties are not well known for success, skepticism is the only responsible reaction you can have. Then you find out that it’s a platformer; the ghetto of licensed characters living in the shadow of the big M’s tower. Even his ex-rival, Sonic scampers around in mediocrity.
Surprisingly, this isn’t terrible. Mushroom Men inhabits an odd world with lots and lots of texture and atmosphere. In fact, the world is so detailed the characters seem to suffer. I thought that the story had potential, but between text-based cut scenes, and disposable characters, I really didn’t feel compelled to pay attention. I want to buttress that statement with some details; I love stories in game. I thought that MGS4 gave the detail required for the characters and story to wrap them up, convoluted as they may have been. I tend to give developers a long breadth and respect the narrative, but in this case it just felt in the way. Why am I still reading cut scenes? If the PS2 and the Gamecube could have voice-overs, you can just as easily have them for this title. I think it would have gone a long way to help the game’s story evolve beyond a distraction.
Like all platformers there is a lot for you to find every level. While some of these are linked to unlocking concept art, the main thrust of these scavenger hunts is to build better weapons. These are built out of pencils, pens, and a host of other small items in the pint size world. There are four types with different attack types, and there is a light amount of strategy. The waggle combat gets a bit tiresome in alter levels, and they should have toned back at least for sake of carpal tunnel sufferers. I was also irritated they included some pointless mini games; a Donkey Kong clone and a cannon shooter didn’t add anything to the experience.
With music by Les Claypool, this game really gets its atmosphere right. Crawling around the detritus of a ruined garage, or the intricate machines of the mushroom tribes, I was consistently engrossed by the scenery. With levels full of jumping and switch puzzles, the designers did a great job making it all look new. Fans of platformers are a dying breed, but I’m telling you this is a good entry in the genre.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
|
+Excellent level design +Great music |
8.5 |
| What Doesn't | |
|
-Pointless minigames -Repetitive Combat -Throw away story |
|
| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| There is not many great platformers out there, and Mushroom Men isn't going to rekindle the interest. This is still a fun game with an unbeliveable amount of eye candy. | |
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Tags: Mushroom Men
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Mar 25th, 2009 and is filed under Reviews, Wii Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
