[Sinzer]

I purchased this game over the weekend and thought I would post up some comments.

Imagine the graphics of Pixeljunk Monsters combined with the music from Pixeljunk Monsters combined into gameplay that has nothing to do with Pixeljunk Monsters! From screenshots, the games seem a little similar, however, this is not a tower defense game but more a tower attack game.

I have seen a demo for a similar concept for one of the new prototype handhelds, this game basically revolves around having bases, which slowly generate mushroom men. You then send these mushroom men out to capture other bases, it starts off pretty simple, for example, send 15 men at a base with 10 inhabitants and you will win by 5. Then slowly grows in complexity as other factors come into play. For instance, base upgrades, having towers that shoot your men in the way, having morale for successful attacks and defence and capturing forges which improve your weapons.

The game is fairly fast paced and you have to react fairly quickly. Part of the strategy is realising where you can attack and where you have to defend. You can start off thinking that you will amass an army of 150 mushrooms and throw them at the base next door, however, this can be countered by piling in reinforcements to that base. A better tactic could be to attack from multiple sources or feint an attack from one source then attack another as the reinforcements pile into the wrong base.

Against the CPU the budget of the game possibly shows, it is not particuarly clever and a lot of the levels seem to be just working out the best order to attack. This is OK for tower defense games, as that is the point. However, this game should be a little more dynamic. It can be frustrating reaching a stalemate, where the first person to attack will essentially lose and you can guarantee the CPU has more patience than you.

The game is pretty enjoyable and the similarity in look and sounds to PJ Monsters is not really wasted, it does make for a relaxed strategy affair.

I have not tried out local multiplayer as my local opponent is more into Singstar, the Sims and Little Big Planet, eschewing combat games as a pure infantile pastime, even if the men are cute.

Overall I would give this an 8, it could do with being a little lower in price, but overall is a cool little game. It has already given me more enjoyment than many full price releases.