I feel like a dweeb (is dweeb still a word in common use?) when I tell someone just how cool it is to be a mushroom in Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars. I don't drink, yet everyone I know seems to have a breathalyzer on them and starts measuring my blood alcohol level when I mention the various factions: the Shiitake, the Morel, the Boletus... See, you're making that face!

Some among the four Mushroom Men tribes believe that the secret to winning the Spore War lays in uncovering the facts about the Mushroom's origins. As the myth states, the Mushroom who discovers the truth of this mystery is promised the power to change the entire course of evolution, putting the Mushroom species at the top of the evolutionary ladder. The tribe that claims this prize can reshape the world any way they see fit. The Amanitas Empire and The Lepiota Order see the myth as a chance to not only defeat the other nations (the Bolete Tribe and the Morel Brotherhood) but also wipe out all of their enemies and put their tribes at the forefront of terrestrial evolution. Even while the Spore War rages, a great quest amongst all four tribes begins: a race to uncover the truth and reshape the evolutionary course of the Earth...

The Spore Wars is actually a sequel to what will be an earlier released DS title, Mushroom Men - Rise of the Fungi, where it is explained how the Mushroom Men come to be. You see, a comet has passed over the Earth leaving in its wake an ethereal green luminescent dust that humans, in their wisdom, have determined to be harmless. Harmless to humans that is.

All manner of mushroom, cactus and kudzu (I had to look this up, too) have now become sentient and are bent on dominating the evolutionary food chain. Beware the peapod in your backyard! You know, I live in Phoenix, Arizona - this could be really bad for me. Having gone from yummy to destructive, the tale of Rise of the Fungi ends and brings us to The Spore Wars and the many breathalyzer tests I mentioned above.

This wasn't my first visit to the whacky underworld of the Mushroom Men but it was the first time I could control them myself and the universe is far more fleshed out this time around than the last. Have you ever stood from a great height or from an airplane and felt the world beneath you was made of miniatures? Mushroom Men has that same feeling - in reverse. The art direction is such that everything is quite charming without being cute; what once would have appeared to be an innocuous piece of environmental art like say a sparrow, is now the most terrifying creature to grace your video game screen.

Playing as Pax, a member of the Bolete tribe is off to find some of the magical substance that made your tribe self-aware, you'll bounce, cap-glide (yes, using your mushroom cap), run, use your spore powers (telekinesis, psychokinesis and a nifty sticky hand that looks startlingly like one of those sticky green hands you throw against a wall to make it stick only this one will pull you somewhere), and create some the coolest weapons ever out the materials lying around the room.

The game is told in chapters, also known as levels but they don't feel like levels. They feel like chapters. The environment changes, the story will have progressed - yeah, I know I've just described level progression but it is more subtle than that.

Most mushrooms are easily divided into two camps: the Edible vs. the Poisonous. There are a few that refuse to take sides in this unholy war of toadstools but the neutral Shiitake counts itself among them. As I entered the Showdown in Shiitake Town I had an odd feeling of watching an old Kung Fu film (as well I should have, that was the intent of the design). I have no idea what I, the hero Pax did to anger the mighty Shiitake but we began battle immediately!

Using the Wii-mote to swing and the nunchuck to move, it's time to see some of Pax's moves using his... Pencil with a Jack attached to the top. Oh, yes. I remember this from the last time I viewed this title. The developers call it the "scav" method of inventory - I call it "grab all the junk you see, we'll work it out later". By combining pretty much anything you can create your weapon of choice in one of four categories: slashing, piercing, bashing and radical. The DS Stylus with a thimble made for nice bludgeon damage.

As you beat on creatures - unless you're some super-fungus - you'll notice damage through pieces of missing cap. It's a little disconcerting to see mushroom brain. I can't explain why. Spore, plant that has been altered by the comet, peppers the world and is how you will regain health. Unfortunately, your enemies are aware of it as well and heal themselves frequently.

It would be easy to dismiss the chapters and acts as simple platform gaming with boss monsters but the world exists in 3-dimensions and the abilities of Pax open each area to multiple paths of completion. Using the sticky hand and Cap Glide chairs, vines (don't forget the kudzu), bookshelves, all of the places that appear to be large un-scalable landscapes - you are the size of a mushroom - become open to you. If you don't wish to fight the Shiitake minions before the boss you simply go over them.

When only the size of a mushroom, the common house spider becomes a serious threat! Run! Or, use your psychokinesis to turn one enemy upon another. Telekinesis comes in handy when you want to block an entranceway by willing said kudzu to grow more quickly: keep the enemies out (or in!). How you complete a chapter/act will change the behaviours of the creatures therein.

As the Shiitake boss was being pummelled by the stylus thimble I could hear different sounds within a chord. I asked and was told it was part of the dynamic combat system. No further explanation was given but a few years of music theory tells me that over time there is a subtle reward of consonance (pure or good sound) for consistent hits.

Having asked about the sound I was introduced to the metronome system. There are different themes for four of the clans, each penned by Primus legend Les Claypool. Using these tracks and variations on a theme, as you complete an area - be it a puzzle or event - further tracks will fill out the music. As I write this it reads as a rather underwhelming feature, but to play it fills out the world and rewards in a truly unique manner. This is one of those features that not every player will recognize but will "feel" as they complete an area; the sense of success is that much greater because it is internal - a completed song - in addition to any visual "level complete".

Though still a few months out, Mushroom Men - The Spore Wars looks promising. As a platform title, it doesn't break any new ground but it does cover old ground in new ways - some of them quite enjoyable. Multiple pathways through chapters in concert with the metronome feature - did I mention co-op? - give the title some longevity. If nothing else, once it launches, everyone will put away their breathalyzers.