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There are, without doubt, some silly games on the Xbox. And then there is the subject of today’s review.
Going by the name of Smells Like a Mushroom, it comes from the crazy people over at Red Limb Studio, Fatal Error and Destructive Creations; running as a third person shooter with a variety of biomes, weapons and so on to choose from.
But that isn’t the silly part. Nope, that is saved for the story. With such a wacky premise, can Smells Like a Mushroom carve a niche in the busy world of third person shooters, or should it be left to wilt in the harsh light of an alien sun?
Let’s get straight into it with the narrative.
Picture the scene: the time is the far future, and humanity as an entity has died out. Now, whenever there is an evolutionary niche, something has to evolve to fill it, attempting to become the dominant life form. In this case the dominant life form is… vegetables. Yes, we play as a carrot soldier called Carrotado, left to join the “Aveggers” (sigh) aboard the starship Soil Trek and try to stop a host of parasitic mushrooms that have invaded not only Earth, but the other planets in the Solar System as well. Can we stop the fungi festival by finding the remnants of the human weapons, and then turn them to our use? Will anybody even care? Well, I do and so the scene is set, culminating in a fight with the chief mushroom on the sun!
With a story at least attempted (I mean, a carrot? Really?), it is time to cast an eye over the presentation of the game, and here the news is equally okay. This is basically a third person platformer with a lot of shooting in it, and so you’d like the camera to behave and show you a decent view of the action, right? Well, largely this is fine and works well, but when the screen gets busy, and you end up in a corner, the camera does the traditional thing and freaks out, showing you the inside of a wall, for example. Other than this, the visuals are fine, with some polygonal vegetables and enemies to shoot, and a varied list of places to jump around and shoot in. It all moves fairly quickly too, but the platforming is made tricky by the camera.
The voice over work is better, with some decent acting to be heard, even if it is on the hammy end of the spectrum. To say that the presentation is on a par with the storytelling seems like damning with faint praise, but there you are.
But the main aspect is the action. How does it feel to take control of a carrot with a gun and legs? Not to mention a jet pack, allowing for a double jump? Well, to stick with the theme that seems to be developing, it is all very silly indeed.
See, as we go through the game, new weapons pop up, based on what we find. Those weapons are also upgradable, as is Carrotado himself, giving extra health, which will come in handy. This is done by finding Scrap in the missions; the currency in the game, allowing us to get stronger. Having a mini RPG element to things, helps with matters.
One thing that needs tweaking is the in-game tutorial, mostly as I got stuck on the first major platforming section. It’s here where you’ll find out that LB is the dash button, and this works in the air as well as on the ground. So, to make longer jumps, where the game insists you only need to double jump, you can add a dash on the end to clear the gap easily. Once you get the hang of this, traversal becomes a lot easier and Smells Like a Mushroom becomes more fun, as constantly falling short does get annoying.
The shooting is the other main part of the game, and this is pretty competently handled overall. There is the choice of hip firing, which lets you move pretty fast, or aiming down the sights which is more accurate but makes you move slower. And in a game like this, keeping still usually means death. The flip side of this tactic is that you may well run out of ammo. And yep, the ammo you can carry for each weapon is limited as you go into battle, refilled at strategic points in each level. Luckily the enemies also drop ammo, and so the gods of shooting are on your side. One of the upgrades makes this more likely, so it is worth investing in – trying to beat a boss with harsh language usually doesn’t end well.
Smells Like a Mushroom achieves its goal of being a silly game, and it does so with aplomb. What is less successful is the whole “be a good game” thing, as the action is repetitive and the jokes begin to wear thin very quickly.
There is fun to be had here, but Smells Like a Mushroom is by no means an essential purchase. It works well as a nice little diversion from the norm though.
Smells Like a Mushroom: A Veggie-Fueled, Interplanetary Adventure to Save the Solar System – https://www.thexboxhub.com/smells-like-a-mushroom-a-veggie-fueled-interplanetary-adventure-to-save-the-solar-system/
Buy Smells Like a Mushroom on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/smells-like-a-mushroom/9NHBQ6QG4VHJ