In my mind, the most interesting third-party showing out of Wii's launch window lineup was far and away Konami's Elebits. It was a title clearly built from the ground up for Wii, taking advantage of the Remote's unique abilities to create a world where you literally reached out and grabbed parts of the environment on your mission. While quite playable, it lacked polish, owing mostly to its launch-window status
However, another title that producer Shingo Mukaitoge was also working on for Wii, started around the same time—Dewy's Adventure—is suffering from no such limitation. I had the opportunity to get solid time in on Dewy this past E3 thanks to the good folks at Konami; what I saw bolstered my faith that this is going to be a solid addition to Wii's slowly-growing library.
You both indirectly and directly control Dewy, a sentient water droplet issued by the Elder Tree to combat the Dark Water forces of Don Hedron. Dewy doesn't actually possess the locomotive abilities needed to get around the world on his own; instead, you tilt the Wii Remote—held sideways, NES-style—and the world tilts along with it, sending Dewy sliding along the ground.
Like the impressive Kororinpa: Marble Mania, which is also controlled by tilting the Remote, Dewy's Adventure sports a fixed-angle camera, meaning the tilt you apply one minute won't end up meaning something totally different the next when the camera swings around. Holding the remote sideways with both hands makes for a vast improvement in terms of control, over Kororinpa's one-handed play.
Pressing the 2 button makes Dewy execute a jump, and holding it will make him jump higher and longer. When in the air, pressing the 1 button sends Dewy down to the ground in his own version of the trademark Mario butt-stomp, referred to here as a "hip slam". This is used to press some switches and break treasure boxes containing powerups.
In addition to the tilting, two other special Remote moves were shown off. Waving the remote up and down will create wind, which can be used to power pinwheels and move features of the landscape, for example. Moving it from side to side will create an earthquake to let you temporarily disable enemies as well as trigger special "earthquake switches" when Dewy's seated atop them.
What you'll rapidly discover is that Dewy is a pretty weak little water drop; he falls prey to any enemy he comes across, and is unable to attack any of them. This is where his special power, and much of the game's hook, comes in: changing the world's temperature.
If you've looked at screenshots of the game, you'll notice a dual-ended thermometer off to the left. Normally, it's in the center, indicating Dewy is at water temperature and is in his normal form. Pressing up or down on the d-pad will change the world's temperature for a short time: up turns the heat on, and down deep-freezes everything.
How long the change lasts (or even if you can make the change at all) depends on the characteristics of the world Dewy is in; some worlds are too cold to engage the heat power at all, for example. The thermometer will slowly work its way back to its central position for as long as the temperature change lasts; when it ends up back in the center, Dewy and the world return to normal temperature.
Freezing Dewy will turn him into Ice Dewy, and gives him the ability to attack enemies—though it comes at the cost of his tremendous jumping ability, now limited to little hops. Pressing 2 will execute these jumps, and while in the air, pressing 1 up to three times in sequence will execute attacks on nearby enemies. While on the ground, the 1 button sets Dewy spinning like a top, which he can also use to attack.
In addition to giving Dewy these moves, freezing the world will also cause certain landscape changes, the most notable among them the freezing-over of bodies of water, which are normally fatal to Dewy.
Heating Dewy will turn him into Mist Dewy, who hovers high over the landscape but is unable to move. Mist Dewy can send lightning strikes down upon his enemies if you tap the 1 button, or hold it down to attack a wider area. (The area you'll strike in this mode is indicated by a large circular shadow on the ground; the tilt mechanic is used cleverly here to shift the attack point by tilting the world, moving the shadow.)
Lightning can kill some enemies, but merely stuns others. Stunned enemies are generally more vulnerable to Dewy's standard Ice attacks, though, so a good strategy for clearing out an area full of enemies is to heat up, send widespread lightning strikes down, then quickly ice up and start attacking.
The demo had levels across three worlds. In each of the levels, Dewy's objective is to rescue as many of his little friends, the Eau—of which there seem to be 100 per level—as possible. These guys are generally found stuck in little mud puddles; sliding into them will free them. In at least one world, there were cages full of Eau that could only be opened by Water Dewy; the cages didn't budge when I tried sliding Ice Dewy into them. Eau are also found sometimes trapped inside enemies; defeating said enemies will free the Eau. The number of Eau you liberate is recorded as your score.
I played levels set on a green forest floor, in a tropical-looking area, and in an icy world. The variations in locale change up the strategies needed, especially when concerning the heat and freeze powers; depending on the climate, they may not work as well or work at all.
A handful of other mechanics showed their face as well, like windmills powered by waving the Remote (to create wind), an "earthquake switch" that was activated by sitting Dewy atop it and doing the side-to-side earthquake motions with the Remote, a "lightning switch" that Dewy could strike on the opposite side of a barrier, and others. None were really mindblowing, but if the gameplay trailers are to be believed, the full game has significantly more complicated trials—hopefully pointing to a deeper experience.
I've had my eye on Dewy's Adventure since its announcement. The Elebits pedigree piqued my interest, but the game itself has held it. It was one of my favorite games to play at the show (second primarily to Super Mario Galaxy); despite my professed love for all sorts of crazy concepts, it's nice to see a solid Wii take on the platformer packed full of all the expected accouterments, technically solid as well—and have it turn out to be a joy to play.
I'm currently looking forward to the game's release, currently slated for September 4 in North America (though the lucky Japanese get it this week). Wii owners may have a big-name holiday season ahead of them that would normally put lesser-known games like Dewy on the sidelines; hopefully, this won't mean a quality effort like Dewy gets ignored.
However, another title that producer Shingo Mukaitoge was also working on for Wii, started around the same time—Dewy's Adventure—is suffering from no such limitation. I had the opportunity to get solid time in on Dewy this past E3 thanks to the good folks at Konami; what I saw bolstered my faith that this is going to be a solid addition to Wii's slowly-growing library.
The Basics of Being a Water Drop
You both indirectly and directly control Dewy, a sentient water droplet issued by the Elder Tree to combat the Dark Water forces of Don Hedron. Dewy doesn't actually possess the locomotive abilities needed to get around the world on his own; instead, you tilt the Wii Remote—held sideways, NES-style—and the world tilts along with it, sending Dewy sliding along the ground.
Like the impressive Kororinpa: Marble Mania, which is also controlled by tilting the Remote, Dewy's Adventure sports a fixed-angle camera, meaning the tilt you apply one minute won't end up meaning something totally different the next when the camera swings around. Holding the remote sideways with both hands makes for a vast improvement in terms of control, over Kororinpa's one-handed play.
Pressing the 2 button makes Dewy execute a jump, and holding it will make him jump higher and longer. When in the air, pressing the 1 button sends Dewy down to the ground in his own version of the trademark Mario butt-stomp, referred to here as a "hip slam". This is used to press some switches and break treasure boxes containing powerups.
In addition to the tilting, two other special Remote moves were shown off. Waving the remote up and down will create wind, which can be used to power pinwheels and move features of the landscape, for example. Moving it from side to side will create an earthquake to let you temporarily disable enemies as well as trigger special "earthquake switches" when Dewy's seated atop them.
What you'll rapidly discover is that Dewy is a pretty weak little water drop; he falls prey to any enemy he comes across, and is unable to attack any of them. This is where his special power, and much of the game's hook, comes in: changing the world's temperature.
Ice & Fire
If you've looked at screenshots of the game, you'll notice a dual-ended thermometer off to the left. Normally, it's in the center, indicating Dewy is at water temperature and is in his normal form. Pressing up or down on the d-pad will change the world's temperature for a short time: up turns the heat on, and down deep-freezes everything.
How long the change lasts (or even if you can make the change at all) depends on the characteristics of the world Dewy is in; some worlds are too cold to engage the heat power at all, for example. The thermometer will slowly work its way back to its central position for as long as the temperature change lasts; when it ends up back in the center, Dewy and the world return to normal temperature.
Freezing Dewy will turn him into Ice Dewy, and gives him the ability to attack enemies—though it comes at the cost of his tremendous jumping ability, now limited to little hops. Pressing 2 will execute these jumps, and while in the air, pressing 1 up to three times in sequence will execute attacks on nearby enemies. While on the ground, the 1 button sets Dewy spinning like a top, which he can also use to attack.
In addition to giving Dewy these moves, freezing the world will also cause certain landscape changes, the most notable among them the freezing-over of bodies of water, which are normally fatal to Dewy.
Heating Dewy will turn him into Mist Dewy, who hovers high over the landscape but is unable to move. Mist Dewy can send lightning strikes down upon his enemies if you tap the 1 button, or hold it down to attack a wider area. (The area you'll strike in this mode is indicated by a large circular shadow on the ground; the tilt mechanic is used cleverly here to shift the attack point by tilting the world, moving the shadow.)
Lightning can kill some enemies, but merely stuns others. Stunned enemies are generally more vulnerable to Dewy's standard Ice attacks, though, so a good strategy for clearing out an area full of enemies is to heat up, send widespread lightning strikes down, then quickly ice up and start attacking.
Rescue Mission
The demo had levels across three worlds. In each of the levels, Dewy's objective is to rescue as many of his little friends, the Eau—of which there seem to be 100 per level—as possible. These guys are generally found stuck in little mud puddles; sliding into them will free them. In at least one world, there were cages full of Eau that could only be opened by Water Dewy; the cages didn't budge when I tried sliding Ice Dewy into them. Eau are also found sometimes trapped inside enemies; defeating said enemies will free the Eau. The number of Eau you liberate is recorded as your score.
I played levels set on a green forest floor, in a tropical-looking area, and in an icy world. The variations in locale change up the strategies needed, especially when concerning the heat and freeze powers; depending on the climate, they may not work as well or work at all.
A handful of other mechanics showed their face as well, like windmills powered by waving the Remote (to create wind), an "earthquake switch" that was activated by sitting Dewy atop it and doing the side-to-side earthquake motions with the Remote, a "lightning switch" that Dewy could strike on the opposite side of a barrier, and others. None were really mindblowing, but if the gameplay trailers are to be believed, the full game has significantly more complicated trials—hopefully pointing to a deeper experience.
Final Thoughts
I've had my eye on Dewy's Adventure since its announcement. The Elebits pedigree piqued my interest, but the game itself has held it. It was one of my favorite games to play at the show (second primarily to Super Mario Galaxy); despite my professed love for all sorts of crazy concepts, it's nice to see a solid Wii take on the platformer packed full of all the expected accouterments, technically solid as well—and have it turn out to be a joy to play.
I'm currently looking forward to the game's release, currently slated for September 4 in North America (though the lucky Japanese get it this week). Wii owners may have a big-name holiday season ahead of them that would normally put lesser-known games like Dewy on the sidelines; hopefully, this won't mean a quality effort like Dewy gets ignored.