Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars

It'd have a Gold Award but for the camera. That aside, it's pretty wonderful. [Dec 2008, p.75]

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is a solid platformer, and while it may not offer a great deal of new ideas, the addition of motion control and dozens of weapons to construct make this a title worth playing, if one can overlook the camera issues.

If you're hungry for some classic 3-D platforming, Mushroom men is definitely worth checking out. [Holiday 2008, p.84]

The game is not perfect, nor will it appeal to everyone. However, Red Fly and Gamecock have done a great job of bringing a compelling adventure to the Wii that uses craftsmanship and care in its creation.

It’s got a reasonably complex telekinesis mechanic, along the lines of The Force Unleashed, and much of the platforming uses one of Pax the protagonist’s special abilities. So it’s far from boring, but if you’ve got a phobia about mushrooms, this will make your skin crawl.

As far as completely original ground-up third party titles made for the Wii, Mushroom Men is one of the few good titles available.

Mushroom Men uses modern presentation values and wonderful artistry to present what is essentially an old-school N64 era platformer. The result? A game you can’t help but fall in love with.

It’s excellent to see an action platformer on the Wii that is an original concept, and doesn’t fall prey to many of the routine mistakes of the innumerable other shoddy efforts that have been pushed out onto store shelves. However, I fear that Mushroom Men will fail to find its target audience and be overlooked, as the fact that it failed to make it into the Wii’s top 40 games in its first two weeks on sale appears to prove.

Mushroom Men is notable for its presentation and art style alone. But while it is visually and aurally unique, the gameplay is pretty generic platforming. And this motion-controlled combat has to go. Still, you could do a lot worse than invest some time in a solid, if commonplace, adventure.

If linearity is not an issue for you, Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is a rewarding action/adventure. And even if it is an issue, those who enjoy the genre will find a lot to like about this game.

The world itself is actually incredibly cool – it’s a giant representation of the “real” world, from a tiny mushroom’s perspective.

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars is a cute and well-designed, if not particularly unique, title. The visuals are a bit weak, but the superb art direction does a lot to make up for that.

Mushroom Men’s charm and character make it much more than the sum of its parts. In spite of its flaws, I highly recommend it.

Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars threatens to be a classic, an interesting, and frequently clever third-person platformer that oozes character. With a bit more polish and direction, it could have been one of the best Wii games of 2008, especially for gamers looking for classic third-person action gaming in an original universe. Regrettably, monotonous combat and occasionally baffling goals keep it from greatness.