Mushroom Wars 2 (Switch) – Review

RTS games are normally not that viable on consoles. We still have our memories of playing Command and Conquer on the Xbox 360, and losing a lot because the control scheme was too difficult to work with. RTS games usually require the granular control that only a keyboard and mouse can offer. Direct control over small groups of units can turn the tide of battle greatly if controlled properly, and that doesn’t translate well to controllers. They simply do not have enough buttons to provide the, well, control that is needed. However, if it is thought through, it is possible to make a (somewhat) traditional RTS that has controller gameplay in mind. Mushroom Wars is one of those games, where they traded out the unit control out for a form of ground control through the buildings rather than units. How does it work? Lets walk through Mushroom Wars 2.

Story

Other than a simple introduction there isn’t a lot of story in Mushroom Wars 2. The player gets some cutscenes setting up the four main, unnamed, factions. the orange mushroom people you’ll be playing with, the green cult-like enemy faction of warlock people, the red faction with no defining characteristics other than their color, and the crashed, blue, alien people. The campaign doesn’t offer much of a story either, with a only a handful of cut scenes in-between the fights. It’s not a real bother, as you’re thrown into fights left and right distracting you the lack of a plot, but even we did start to notice that after a while.

Graphics

For a game that is intended as a follow up to a game with a distinct comic book like look and feel to it, Mushroom Wars 2 takes quite a departure from that kind of visual. This title in the series takes a more CGI-like appearance, with more semi-realistic mushrooms, and natural looking mushroompeople. The map that serves to introduce the fights also had an overhaul, looking more like a war campaign map with parchment marks which again looks more realistic than its predecessor. This new visual style is fun to look at though, the cut scenes have a lot of personality and it makes for good visual clarity, which is also important for games where split second decisions can make a difference.

Sound

With a game with a cutesy aesthetic, it comes with equally cutesy little sound effects. There are only a handful of situations that have their own sound effects, but it is all the game needs. You’ll hear the adorable rally cries of your troops when you attack, and the hammers hitting wood when you upgrade your bases, that sort of stuff. Some energetic, mystical music is present, though it is only one track per fight. If a player is good enough, you’ll most likely not notice it a lot as encounters can be over quite quick, though if you like to turtle and make sure you’ll have enough resources to take down the enemy bases it may become more obvious. Now we agree that it is quite difficult to find triggers in RTS games that may change the music, but a simple setup, mid-game vs late game would have leveled up the music quite a bit.

Gameplay

Mushroom Wars is a variation on the RTS genre. While that label usually conjures up the clicks per second that may be required in the giants like Starcraft, that is not the case for Mushroom Wars. Where RTS may remind a player of collecting resources and directing units, Mushroom Wars may make one think of a more ground control style of gameplay. As we started this review out with, the game is more of a sort of ground war deal, with a set amount of mushrooms or control points, that in turn spawn – for a lack of a better word – mushroom warriors, which the player can direct to attack the enemy’s bases. Players take over enemy bases by sending their units until the base is at zero enemies, and the next warrior will take it over. You can do this by selecting the building you want your units to come from, and point them to their target, either your buildings, neutral ones, or enemy ones. On mobile devices, this is done with a flick, but on the switch you point with the cursor and the thumbsticks. Unfortunately you don’t have the option to do both, which would have made it more in line with the game’s mobile counterparts, and would have made more use of the Switch’s hardware capabilities.

Depending on which gamemode the mission or encounter is, you have different objectives. Usually it is a normal conquer mission, where the goal is to make sure no enemies are left alive to retaliate your attacks. Some other gamemodes include Domination where there are one or more towers on the map that serve as control points, which finishes the game if the player captures all of them. Within most of the maps there are a couple of special buildings as well, such as archer towers that attack passing enemies, forges that empower your units when captured, and so on. Players will also have four abilities. These abilities are tied to the champion you chose before the fight starts, and are different for each hero. Abilities get charged through the unfortunate means of the death of your units, but are usually a worthy sacrifice to make. Outside of the maps however, there is very little progression. There’s no skill tree, experience or no buffs to be had, which makes it all about playing the short bursts of the actual gameplay, and the only real replay value comes from just mindlessly finishing all the levels on all difficulties.

Conclusion

Mushroom Wars works really well with a controller, which makes it a little bit of a unique experience on a mobile system like the Switch. There are some minor nitpicks we’ve had, such as the lack of a progression other than brainless replaying on higher difficulties but otherwise they’re all insignificant enough to not notice in normal gameplay, and that’s a great thing for a game. “There is nothing majorly wrong with this game”, is a great note to end a review on, especially with the barrage of half-assed mobile ports bombarding the Nintendo store every day.

Giftedbryan

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Bryan, Dutch, gamer, metalhead. 26, and been playing games for as long as I can remember. Pokemon gold for life!

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