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I first saw Mushroom Men last July at EIEIO 2007, taking place during E3. Back then, it was not much more than concept art, but already it had me intrigued. The look of the characters and their world was very reminiscent of Abe’s Odyssey and just had a really cool and wacky vibe to it. Well, fast-forward to EIEIO 2008 and we got to see actual gameplay this time and I was not disappointed.
There are two versions of the Mushroom Men title, one for DS and one for Wii, but they are not the same experience at all. Instead, Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi for the DS tells the background of how the Mushroom Men came to be and is a prequel of sorts to Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars for the Wii. The good thing is you don’t have to play one to enjoy the other.
We got to see a good bit of gameplay for the Wii version and when watching it, I felt an excitement for an upcoming game that I haven’t felt in a long, long time. I guess I am jaded because I’ve played and seen so many games over the years, but not much seems to really intrigue me lately. Mushroom Men just takes a novel approach to things and stands out.
Both games explore the world we humans don’t see – the tiny world that goes on under our noses. After a comet passes the earth, a strange green dust covers the land. Humans see no adverse affects, but maybe they just aren’t paying much attention because the foliage is surely different. Things like mere mushrooms, kudzu and flowers have all become sentient beings and are waging war to gain control.
As one of three characters in the DS version and playing as the tiny hero in the Wii version, players will go about the creepy, larger-than-life areas picking up debris that can be combined to make fantastic weapons that have multiple upgrades. I really liked the clean interface of the Wii version because things are far more cinematic as you play. Instead of having things like a health bar, your health is your mushroom cap. As you get blasted, chunks of your cap will fly off. Once it is all gone, exposing your tiny mushroom brain, you’ll die. But there’s no blood shown, which is going to make this a pretty kid-friendly title. One encounter we saw was our mushroom hero going up against some insane rabbits who were eating all of the food. You have to find clever ways of altering the environment because the rabbits are much stronger than you. Use your radioactive spore dust to bring life back to the kudzu and they might just repay you by pushing over some equipment to eliminate the crazed rabbit. You’ll navigate your way through the environment, climbing up vines and using your “sticky hand” as a grapple to jump across vast spaces. There’s a lot of platforming to be found here and some pretty nifty puzzles as well. Along the way, you’ll battle spiders, rabbits, paying mantises and other shrooms!
Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi is due out this Summer for the DS to be followed this Fall by Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars for the Wii. If you are looking for something new and different, keep your eyes out for Mushroom Men. |
