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[h1]The Game[/h1]
[i]Mind Over Mushroom[/i] is a turn-based strategy game developed as a single-person project. the game features "free-form, non-grid based movement," to stand out from other similar games.
[h1]Story[/h1]
After an expedition group to locate the ruins of an ancient city disappeared, strange mushrooms began to grown in nearby villages. These nearby villagers who came into contact with the mushrooms began to lose their minds. In time, they became violent to other people.
You lead a new team of individuals who are trying to find the source of this spreading infestation.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
You start out on a map with 3 characters initially. You have a mage, a fighter, and a guard. You unlock more characters later on.
Initially in each map, you deploy your troops, and you can choose up to 6 characters on each map.
Because of the removal of grid-based movement, each character is given movement points, and your movement around the map is completely open for each character. This gets rid of the square/hex grid in most TBS games. Otherwise, you and your opponent takes turns moving, attacking, etc. as usual.
Also unlike in most other games, there is no waiting. You either attack now or end your turn.
The characters do not level up, and each new map you choose new team members. There is no loot to be found, and your characters also have no equipment to use.
Similarly there is no option to use any items. This makes it tough because you can get poisoned, etc.
There is no tutorial, it would be nice if the developer could add one.
There is also only 1 difficulty level.
The game features 25+ levels/maps, and you just jump from battle to battle.
[h1]Controls[/h1]
The game is played with a mouse. You can use the keyboard to move and to rotate the camera.
[h1]Graphics and Music[/h1]
Graphics for this game are nice and colourful.
The music and sounds are fine too.
[h1]Pricing[/h1]
The asking price is a bit high, because comparing with some other TBS games that are available, other games seem to have deeper stories and more extended gameplay. Yes, this game is different, because of the movement changes, but that really is not enough to completely justify the price.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
[i]Mind Over Mushroom[/i] is quite a nice project that was developed by one person. You have freedom in your characters' movements, which is a different concept from usual. But there is little story and you just jump from one map/battle to another. For people who are fans of the TBS genre, this might get a little boring. It is also missing some elements found in other similar games, such as character leveling up, equipment, and loot. I would like to see it offer more story and gameplay. The price is perhaps a bit too steep, so I would wait for a sale.
Overall, decent but with flaws. Wait for a sale due to steep price.
[quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]
