EIEIO 08: Mushroom Men for Wii/DS
Another title I had the pleasure of sitting in on was Mushroom Men: The Spore War for the Wii and Mushroom Men: Rise of the Fungi. As you may or may not remember, a comet has passed and sprinkled green dust that turned all sorts of fungi and small plants into sentient beings. Sadly, a war is brewing and is now being waged between plant and fungi nations. As a Bolete Mushroom, you set out on the DS game seeking out other Fungi Nations.
On the DS level that was demoed, the player encountered puzzles every so often and was able to assemble things found in the environment to pass certain areas. For example, he put a straw in a soda can and was able to bounce to a higher platform. The DS game, Rise of the Fungi, is a prequel taking place before The Spore War. It will offer 10 levels and greater than 10 hours of gameplay. Rise of the Fungi looked like it was coming along nicely, but I would have liked to have seen more of it or given it a spin myself.
As for The Spore War on the Wii, it was looking mighty fine. This level seemed to take place both in and outside of someone's garage. Our Bolete Mushroom hero, using his spore powers, launched items into enemies and healed himself when need be. He could even use his "cap" to glide from one area to the other. Upon entering the garage, some plants pretty much force him to kill the evil (and fugly) rabbits that are eating them. You can use things found in the environment to fashion weapons and items. In this case, the player put a nail/tack and attached it to the end of a match to create a deadly weapon. When you kill your first rabbit, you are presented with a poster that shows you that there are ten rabbits in total. Each time you kill a rabbit by pushing a heavy item onto it, beating it to death or by letting loose a bundle of logs on it, a rabbit fills a space on the poster until it is done.
At the end of the demonstration, we were shown a battle against a really nasty and super ugly Jackalope. There was no sound for the Jackalope, but the designer was more than happy to make the effects himself...to great effect.
In the end, both games looked great and gave you a sense of nostalgia for Oddworld. Indeed, when asked about that specifically, they were heavily influenced by the design of Oddworld. That is a good thing, trust me. The music was great and the controls looked fun. Of course there is only one way to know for sure, but perhaps some hands on time will come along soon. Mushroom Men for the DS and Wii will be due out around fourth quarter 2008 with the DS title coming out one month before the Wii. Stay tuned for a gallery coming up really soon.
Super Timsy
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 12 March 2008
Other stuff like this: ds, eieio 08, gamecock media group, mushroom men, red fly studio, rise of the fungi, the spore wars, wii
Name: Dave