The Nintendo Switch is on fire! Nintendo’s new console is selling at an extremely high pace and that also means it’s getting more games each and every day. With a lot of incredible indie games in the eShop, there aren’t that many that cover the realtime strategy genre. Mushroom Wars 2 is here to fill that void.
The RTS genre is huge on PC and even mobile devices. Translating a successful RTS game to a console has always been a problem. Not a lot of developers manage to create an RTS game that really fits the console. Now that Mushroom Wars 2 finally landed on Nintendo Switch, it looks like things might actually change thanks to this one. First, let’s discuss the visuals. Just like the first one, there’s no real story narrative-wise. The story is told with the help of some paintings, explaining the ongoing war between the different factions. It’s not the most immersive way of telling a story but it does the job decently. Mushroom Wars 2 looks colorful and the paintings really fit the Nintendo Switch.
It’s a shame the actual battlefields aren’t as good looking. Most of the action happens on one screen. Meaning you won’t need to scout your environment or get rid of that annoying fog, something a lot of other RTS games like to do. Fitting the action on one screen also means a lot of details are missing. I really wish the actual gameplay had the same visuals as the paintings. It’s not an ugly go but it could use some more bright colors and details. When you’re playing with more than two on one map, you can easily lose track of your troops.
The goal of the game is to take over the houses of your enemy. In houses of your color, you’ll ‘grow’ your army. There’s no simple way to conquer the enemy as different maps demand different tactics. In our review of the original game we already discussed this, so let’s focus on this Switch version a bit more. Compared to other consoles, I like this version the most. Controlling your troops and taking over the houses of the enemies never was this easy, especially in handheld mode. You’ll never lose track of what’s going on and you can easily alter your plans since you’re this close to the actual handheld. It looks great in television mode too but I prefer the handheld mode a lot more.
Is Mushroom Wars 2 the RTS we’ve all been hoping for? Well, yes and no. It’s certainly a decent attempt to bring the genre to the hybrid console but it’s far from perfect. The single map style is simply a bit too simple and things can get very chaotic in a short time. Besides that, the levels all rather feel the same and even the bosses can’t save it from repeating itself a bit too much. It’s a shame really, the core mechanics are great, the developers now need to find out how to add a bit more variation to the deal.
Conclusion:
Mushroom Wars 2 isn’t a bad RTS game and it shows that the genre is a great fit on Nintendo Switch. Too bad it lacks variation and you’ll lose the overview too quickly while playing with others. It’s certainly worth giving a shot but don’t expect an exceptionally good game.
