Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble is supposedly a follow-up to 2008’s Wii game Spore Wars, seeing the series’ hero Pax in another platforming escapade. Contrary to what that may suggest, however, Truffle Trouble bears little comparison to the Wii game – the earlier game being a much more varied action platformer (similar in ways to Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter), with the new entry being a sort of 2.5D puzzle platformer. The premise sees Pax investigate a love letter left at his house. This clearly unnerves Pax, so he burns it and goes to bed. However, Pax then awakes (or doesn’t) to a nightmare where he is being pursued by this obsessive admirer…the truffle princess, a hideous blob.
Throughout the levels Pax must run and jump his way away from the ever pursuing princess, moving objects to clear or make ways for him to proceed. Each stage has its own theme, such as a kitchen or garage, and each level has its own course of obstacles to overcome. These obstacles, or puzzles if you prefer, often present themselves as fixable dead-ends. There is a sheer wall that is too high to jump, however there are a few boxes nearby that can be stacked in order to make a staircase. Most of the objects are just ordinary boxes that can be moved, ‘ground-slammed’ (which lowers boxes in the air) and stacked; however, there are also canons that fire Pax a long way, and bouncy boxes that allow Pax to reach a greater height.
It all sounds fairly simple really, because it is. In isolation the puzzles aren’t very difficult, and could easily be solved with a little time to think…but that’s just the problem – you don’t have much time to think. As the levels progress, the puzzles get a little more complex, and the princess gets a little faster. It creates a very hectic challenge that can see you panicking, desperately moving boxes and stacking them as you hear the truffle princess getting closer.
There’s a reasonable variety of obstacles and challenges throughout the four main stages (each stage contains ten levels and a bonus level), with new enemies and block types being added as you progress – for example, in the kitchen stage you have to contend with ice, which is not only slippery but also can’t be jumped on, meaning you may need to make some sort of platform. Additionally, Pax will unlock a selection of abilities such as invincibility, being able to climb across walls, as well as the ability to fly across chasms. In the more hectic moments, these are a god send; however, you will need to collect spores that are littered around the levels, or kill enemies (by jumping on them) in order to use the abilities – if your meter isn’t full and you meet a particularly challenging puzzle, it could spell failure.
And on the subject of failure, I did it quite a bit. It’s safe to say that Truffle Trouble is a very challenging game. The puzzles combined with the pursuing princess make a deadly mix, and can provide a heap of satisfaction when you manage to have a decent run; however, in some ways the game is also highly frustrating. It’s generally mechanically solid, but the controls do feel a tad loose. Perhaps this wouldn’t be such an issue on its own, but in combination with the 2.5D presentation it can make some sections a bit dodgy. And while I maintain some praise for the game in keeping you on your toes, it does have a tendency to just turn into trial and error – you get a puzzle wrong, lose and repeat until you eventually work it out – and unfortunately this takes away from the creativity of the puzzles and the satisfaction garnered from solving them. Thankfully, the frustrations are alleviated somewhat by the length of the levels – they are presented in short (maybe 3-4 minutes) levels, awarding you with a score out of three at the end, and your overall time – and the abilities do genuinely come in handy. Having said that, there is a sense that the abilities are just being used to get out of those annoying situations, instead of adding any new dynamics to the experience.
Not counting for challenge, Truffle Trouble is a fairly short game – as I’ve already mentioned, there are four main stages, each with ten levels and a bonus – but despite its annoyances I do see some potential for replayability. Gathering all of the spores, and attempting to beat your own time, are options that you can consider if you so wish.
The game’s overall presentation is charming as well – it’s not the best in terms of graphics, but it is colourful, yet dark, realising this quirky nightmare adequately – but there is a noticeable lack of variety in its graphics, with essentially the only difference in visuals being when you move on to the next stage (so each of the ten levels of a stage look pretty much the same). I did find the dialogue from the princess to be very amusing, though (as she’s pursuing you, she’s spouting all kinds of obsessive gibberish like “we could have such beautiful babies”).
Truffle Trouble has its quirks, and there is some good content here; but it’s held back by frustrating trial and error gameplay, and doesn’t effectively balance the controls with its 2.5D presentation. Apart from being somewhat endearing with its aesthetic, the game doesn’t really stand out much either, and particularly when you look back at its predecessor in Spore Wars the game is a little disappointing.