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There is a certain quality that the developers and publishers at Gamecock appear to have in abundance. Whether you call it moxie, chutzpah, or good old-fashioned testicular fortitude, this quality always seems to result in games with stand-out concepts and art direction. This is especially appreciated here in the Nintendo enthusiast's corner, where sometimes it feels like we see precious little that isn't a sequel, clone, or outright shovelware.
It's that maverick spirit that makes Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars notable. Few developers put serious effort into 3D platformers anymore, and the ones who that don't employ Shigeru Miyamoto frequently fail to bother with crafting quality stories, art direction, or sometimes even hit detection. What Red Fly Studios appears to have done with Mushroom Men is create an excitingly original and consistent world from the ground up, beautifully realized and fully integrated with its much-touted Les Claypool soundtrack.
While there are some fantastic abilities like your mushroom telekinesis, what's impressive about Mushroom Men is the way it uses the protagonist's diminutive scale. Most of the objects you find and use to construct weapons are convincingly rendered pieces of real-world junk. The object you use to grapple, a vital platforming mechanic, is nothing more than one of the "sticky hand" toys you could once get at any supermarket vending machine for a few quarters.
Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars brings a real sense of wonder back into platforming in much the same way Super Mario Galaxy did, by bothering to construct a world worth exploring and a character who's fun to explore it with. This is an impressive feat by itself, and even more impressive for a small developer like Red Fly Studios. I've expressed concerns about the game shipping in finished state, and, well, I do still have them. Polish is the question mark that hovers over virtually all indy games on virtually all platforms, even a humble one like the Wii. That said, I do believe that if Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars goes onto store shelves in truly finished state, as the game Red Fly envisioned when they started the project, it's going to be brilliant piece of work.