The Mushroom Age HD by G5 Entertainment
If ever there was a spoiler proof game, this is it. Spoiler proof it is, my friends.
However, just in case...
CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!! :
You begin the game by visiting Dr. Einbock's laboratory. I think he is meant to come off like a mad scientist, but instead he comes off more like a half zombie nutcase because of the animations while he is talking. I don't think I will ever look at a portrait of Einstein the same way again. >.>
In fact, it is almost too easy with all the sparklies (which are sometimes nice, and at other times very irritating as the spots continue to sparkle regardless of whether or not you have already visited that area and done what needed to be done for the scene). Sparklies aside, there are times when the game is not as playable as it could be.
The first time this is the case is in the first chapter when one needs to combine two items. The task given is clear enough, "Wet the handkerchief with the ammonia chloride," and for anyone who has played this genre of game before they would instinctively know what to do in order to combine the items. For those who are new to this type of game, however, I can imagine how this part might have been very frustrating as it is never explained to click on one item and then on the other item in order to combine them.
One of the things that I really enjoyed about the hidden object part of the game was that there were cupboards and curtains to open and close as well as locked things that needed to be unlocked. It lent a more realistic take to the search aspect of the hidden object scenes with multiple layers and it ultimately made that part of the game more submersive than it otherwise might have been.
However, I wish they had set it so that when you did things in one scene, they would then stay done in the next part. For instance, when you first meet the dinosaur, you have to find a bunch of melons. But then you have to do a search right after that for a bunch of eggs. But the eggs weren't in the previous scene, and are often found in the exact same hiding spots that the melons were. Later in the game, there is a magical moving doughnut tower that moves around the room. It moves around between the mini games and storyline progression, even though there are no new people or events happening that would cause it to move. In the Stone Age when I could move an idol around freely the first two rounds but suddenly on the third round I couldn't anymore. This attribute becomes the most vexing when there are three or four layers of drawers and cabinets to unlock and you do that on round one, then again on round two... an then again on round three... -grumble-
In any case, when I first jumped into this game I found the story to be irritating and annoying... but somehow compelling. I'm not entirely sure why I kept playing... maybe it was that whole can't look away from a train wreck mentality. The terrible voice acting at the start didn't help either >.< (more on that later). As I continued playing the story just kept getting more and more ridiculous. It is obvious that there is offbeat humor in the game, like when the main character needs to gather up the tools Nostradamus needs to make his prediction because Dante Alighieri's ghost had an argument with him and scattered them all over his house.
Dead writers, -le sigh-, temperamental things...
Nostradamus also hits on the main character, which is only as lecherous and creepy as it is because of his creepy cannibal facial expressions.
Seriously. He looks like he'd eat you for dinner and enjoy every minute of it.
While gathering the "tools" (aka astrological symbols) from Nostradamus's house for him to do his predictions, I found myself annoyed that I could not pick up one of the symbols that was clearly visible to me (and appears to be sometimes and not others, depending on the contrast of what screen I'm looking at. It was very visible on my ipad and laptop, but isn't currently on my desktop) because I had not lit up the appropriate area properly yet.
It's nitpicky, yes, but I find it very vexing. If I can see it, I should be able to click on it. GAH. Anyway, Nostradamus does his predictions and his great powers see a lizard....
Your lizard is looking a bit limp... and floppy... and wet...
...and decides that is the reason we should go to the Dinosaur age next. Which is all fine and dandy as he ever so handily sends us on our way with a potion that will allow us to speak with intelligent creatures that we otherwise would not be able to speak with.... your still with me right? >.> So yeah, you time travel your way to the Dinosaur age and are given this task:
Glorious. Perhaps it wouldn't have been quite so shocking if this completely ambiguous task wasn't the third chapter of the game and well before when one would have had a chance to become more acclimated to the unique logics of how this game seems to function. It was at this point that I became very thankful to the makers of the game that there was no penalty for clicking too much as I found myself digitally stumbling around trying to figure things out. (For the record, there is also a hint button. However, the hints are not always particularly enlightening.)
I told myself the story couldn't possibly get any stranger...
But then you meet a talking Dinosaur. Who pops up and keeps saying Rwarrr... Rwarrr... in this pathetic voice that makes me think of very very flamey things while doing the potty dance. Bafflement over the rather curious dinosaur aside, I found myself wondering why the hell the main character isn't running away screaming. I'd like to think it's a right proper reaction to vocalize and flee when suddenly finding oneself in the dinosaur age facing a T-Rex... Maybe it's just me.
So our main character is vying for a spot as a Darwin Award candidate... until one realizes that the T-Rex (who himself admits he eats everything) is not trying to eat this woman for a lovely dinner snack. 0.o Hmmmmm. And even more perplexing... he just... waits while she gets 18 melons to feed him, instead of just chomping down and eating her. Nom, Nom, Nom....?
The explanation is quite simple. Apparently he has a toothache from being a naughty naughty dinosaur and eating all the poor innocent any and everything living it runs across. (Soooo... apparently our Darwin Award candidate just got lucky that the dinosaur ended up with a bunch of cavities when she ran across him....) It can't possibly get any weirder right? Then the dinosaur opens his mouth and lets this woman clean out his teeth. Not so weird for the dinosaur I suppose. But again, our Darwin Award candidate goes at it, fearlessly cleaning out a T-Rex's mouth. WTF.
But what I really want to know is why there is a PSA in my game....brush your teeth kiddies!
It was at about this point that I was getting over the shock of the train wreck and more or less getting on board with the whole... wtf aspect of this incredibly absurd adventure. Which is good, because I assure you, the game only gets more and more bizarre.
You've been warned about the spoilers, so I'm going to share some of the more interesting... QQF moments with you.
At some point you meet Socrates. And GIVE HIM A MASSAGE.
Nice tattoo there buddy...
Actually, I must say, aside from the sheer ridiculousness of it... I thought it was an incredibly clever way to incorporate what might have been a very boring puzzle mechanic otherwise. Later on you also rescue the city from a tyrant forcing a rule of nakedness upon it's hapless citizens.
...and you also get to play pinball with god (another rather clever use of game mechanic within story imho) reminiscent of that episode of Futurama where Bender ends up in space.
The geek in me was quite impressed with this ludicrous tour de force. The feminist in me, not so much. I'm not actually sure where the creators intent lies and how much was intentional versus a byproduct of those invisible things we do in our cultures that are perceived as lame and sexist. Whatever the case, it came out all wrong for me.
I think it was awesome that the main character is female. However, the voice acting at the start was absolutely atrocious. Most of the voices are fine, but the woman's voice (the character you are playing) is just.... awful. Her intonations are too controlled and there isn't enough inflection, leaving the lines sounding flat and lacking emotion. For example: "Some crazy deadline" - sounded more like an impatient person; and "He must've passed out" - is said like an airhead, not someone who should have been surprised and creeped out that a zombiesque loon was sniffing her then just fell to the floor. I imagine her body language as the lines are being read to have been more a wink, shrug, and a "teehee" than anything resembling concern or worry that Einbock passed out. When she says, "Are you kidding? I demand you take me to his desk" - it was demanded in a near monotone, and comes across as very uncommanding. When she is "commanding" the voice is more like some adult speaking to a child in a patronizing and condescending tone. I don't believe that she has any concern, worry, fear, or even bridezilla panic that her fiance has been missing, "for a few days". "You are obviously hiding something" is said more like a playboy bunny that wants to do dirty dirty things rather than someone who is angry that she is being kept from her finance right before their wedding. -Sigh- "Oh wow, look at this prehistoric forest. How Interesting" sounds like a teacher tyring to hard to make the subject interesting to those who find it anything but.
All my gripes aside about the early voice acting aside, I found that the farther I got into the game the less it bothered me. My mind seemed to just shuffle it into the WTF part of the game and accept it for what it was without being totally thrown off by it. That isn't to say though that I'm still baffled why they had her voice acting that way. The only thing I can imagine is that they were attempting to have the character not be threatening. The main character is an obviously intelligent woman (as evidenced by various bits of dialog about things like physics... don't be fooled by her early onset stupidity in the early chapters of the game) but she has this singular focus on finding her fiancee before their wedding despite the obviously MIND BLOWING things happening. She's really smart, but has no apparent curiosity about the fact she suddenly finds herself time traveling. It makes me wonder if they went with the everything but the kitchen sink method of planning. (Which, in truth, worked really well for the overall story, but not so much for the creation of the main character.)
I can imagine the planners trying to figure out how to have the main character outlined: "Let's make a female character for women, but make her have a sexy voice for men...oh! and we need to have a motivation these women gamers can relate to - how about a romance book cover boyfriend and she's obsessing about her wedding? Yeah! But what would motivate a guy to play... oh! Lets make her super smart for the geeks...." -Headdesk-
Harlequin novel escapee Tom
All it ended up doing for me was taking every stereotype and amplifying it in the worst way possible.
I want to say that the art and music were totally cohesive in some sort of insane way, but they weren't for me. I haven't entirely put my finger on why exactly that is. Perhaps it's because of the "cut out" nature of the characters being too different in styling... but all the same that unique styling lends extra personality to the characters. Not entirely cohesive, but somehow, it still works. The music is the same way. Not cohesive, but somehow oddly functional.
Over all the game is glorious. If you you can get on board with the sheer preposterousness of it all, it's a fantastic game.
Rubber Duckie... Your the one...
WHO'S GOING TO ANNIHILATE THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE!!!
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