Review: Mushroom Madness 3

Mushroom Madness 3	Mushroom Madness 3 Developer: SilenGames Sponsor: Kongregate Genre: Defense Shooter
Ridding your garden of pests has never been more fun.
	4 out of 5 (Great)
	System:	4
	Atmosphere:	3
	Storytelling:	1
	Replayability:	4
	Fun Factor:	4
Protip: Trying to get the 30 combo achievement? Play Swarm Assault Level 1, let all the bunnies onto the screen, then nuke 'em all at once.

The gist

There is something about taking a tennis racket to a poor rabbit trying to dig up a mushroom that's really satisfying. Mushroom Madness 3 takes the reasonably successful formula of Mushroom Madness 2 and adds significantly more of everything: more enemies, more upgrades, more game modes etc. This creates an experience that is lastingly satisfying and addictive. By the time I finished everything there was to do with the game, however, I found myself wishing that there was even more there. My biggest gripe with the game was that it is much too easy; I got 3 stars on almost every level on the first try, and money was never really any obstacle to overcome. All in all a great game that could really become top of its class with a bit of creative thinking and an appropriate difficulty curve.

The score

System: 4
The system seemed very robust and accessible. All of the objectives were very clear despite the chaos on the field. The weapons really felt comfortable to use, and I got down the proper timing on the bats very quickly. There seems to be some disparity on the usefulness and interest of some of the weapons, however, which created a jarring feeling that pushed me to preferentially upgrade my bat.

Atmosphere: 3
There is a very strong theme here, which is that you are some military guy trying to keep every critter on earth away from your mushrooms. You are basically Bill Murray from Caddy Shack. The problem is that this theme isn't very interesting or visually appealing. All of the characters feel kinda awkward and out of place, like they were made by an art student that had never used a 3d rendering program before. Regardless, the theme is at least extremely cohesive. Sounds were ok, but I was really unappreciative of the fact that my super-powerful hammer sounded like a golf club when I swung it.

Storytelling: 1
All we know is that you love mushrooms and you hate animals that want to eat them. Also for some reason killing a spider makes it rain. There is no context for the situation, but I do love imagining that I am Bill Murray blundering around to stop the critters with my dynamite and shovel.

Replayability: 4
There is far an away a vast improvement to the replayability of this game over its predecessor, but the creator didn't go quite far enough with the idea. Give me more open-ended modes where the difficulty scales with my current power level. I thought that survival was going to be it, but that mode is too hard early in the game and too easy late in the game. The achievements were fun to go after at least, and there are enough upgrades to make you feel like actually accomplishing something for a decent length of time. It's worth noting that this was my second playthrough of the game, and I had just as much fun with it as my first playthrough.

Fun Factor: 4
This game is extremely fun up until the point when you realize that it's gotten just too easy. I didn't even utilize half of the traps that the game presented to me in most of the levels. All I need is a decently powerful bat and I can take care of almost any situation. If the second half of the game was as compelling as the first half, this game would surely get a 5 for fun. The game right now is more like half a game experience with some extras thrown in instead. That half is a really good half though. Also I really liked the fact that game had a good variety for star requirements, because it meant that I could focus on different aspects of the game at different points.