Avatar: The Last Airbender
One of the games that we got a chance to take an Australian exclusive sneak peek at was Avatar: The Last Airbender. Based on the Nickelodeon animation, Avatar follows the story of a group of characters living in a world where certain individuals are able to control the elements and use them to their advantage. Developed right here in Australia by THQ's Studio OZ, Avatar definitely has a polished visual style. Its cel-shaded images leapt off the screen and, of course, suited the cartoon source material extremely well. Aimed at a younger audience, parents looking to get their kids a game need not worry about endless streams of blood and guts spilling from the bodies of the on screen characters. Rather than fighting with a sharp blade, our hero appears to fight with the power of the wind. With his staff he can fling gusts towards his adversaries and overcoming battles in a blustery, non-gore inducing fashion.
The bald little boy struts his stuff in Avatar for the Wii.
Avatar allows you to add abilities to your character’s skillset as you level up by giving you points to allocate, but unlike most RPG’s it does not punish you for spending those points on something that you find you did not want. In the character screen you are able to add points to specific skill trees or take them away from certain talents and reallocate them elsewhere. Not only does this mean you are not stuck if you mistakenly add an unwanted skill, but it also results in a game where you'll be able to change your characters specialities to suit the task at hand. Along with levelling up there are numerous other RPG staples, such as inventory and stats info.
In the build we played we weren’t able to converse with NPC’s, so much of what we got to witness involved combat and levelling up. Controls were simple enough. By using the nunchuk your character will move about, with the nunchuk's C button being used to lock onto targets. The Wii remote's buttons are used for attacking and the menus themselves are interacted with via pointing at it with the Wii remote. One neat feature is having the ability to switch from your main charater to their pet in order to fly about and sniff out hidden items and other goodies.
Overall Avatar appears to be shaping up to be a well put together RPG for the younger gaming cohort, which is indeed a much anticipated rarity.
Sonic and the Secret Rings
Also on offering was Sonic’s debut Wii title, Sonic and the Secret Rings. The game is set to be Sonic’s long awaited return to his roots, where speed is everything. Secret Rings is an on-rails platformer that couldn’t be any simpler to pick up and play.
Sonic is constantly running around the level where you only have control over how fast he can run, in what direction, and when he jumps. The controls have a little bit of a learning curve, as is the case with most Wii titles, but as soon as you understand the fundamentals it couldn’t be any easier. You will only need the Wii remote and most of the time you’ll only need to press the ‘2’ button to determine when and how high Sonic will jump. Moving from side-to-side is executed with a simple tilt to either side, and you can perform all sorts of tricks by shacking the controller forward whilst in mid-air or in certain devices. In addition, once filling the power gauge on the bottom right-hand corner with orbs, found throughout each level, you’ll be able to perform a quick speed burst by simply thrusting the Wii remote forward.
Sonic's long awaited console return?
The two levels on hand displayed the game’s superb visuals that were surprisingly smooth and sharp, and a framerate that was consistently solid. What’s great is that the focus is once again on speed, rather than those silly inclusions found in most console-based Sonic titles. Secret Rings feels much like a traditional Sonic title in the sense of running at lightening fast speeds, jumping on baddies and trying to find alternative routes.
With the two levels we played wetting out appetites, we are dying to know what else Sega are planning to pack into the final product. Boss battles, familiar faces? God, let’s hope so.
Barnyard
Barnyard is another title due out soon for the Wii and on our trip to THQ we got a sneak peek through the crack in the barndoor at the title from the Melbourne developer, Blue Tongue. Similar to the already released title on multiple other systems, the game lets players enter the world of the animals from the kids movie of the same name. The gameplay has however been significantly tweaked for play on the Wii's non-traditional controller. As you'd expect the Nunchuk controls movement and environments are interacted with via Wii remote jiggling when an on screen prompt appears.
Taking control of a cow or bull (after much deliberation Luke decided on a female beefeater) players must traverse the farmland carrying out missions dished out by their fellow farmyard beasts. Barnyard has a GTA, sandbox feel, but eschews the violence traditionally associated with the style of game for more family friendly tasks like cooking and gathering, and enemies are dealt with using non-lethal weapons such as milk or tomato launchers.
Much of the game's explorable regions were locked but there appeared to be a vast array of areas to investigate. We were told that to travel through these regions your character can travel via pushbike, the thought of which causes the edges of our mouths to curl into a smile at the very oddness of it.
Australian-made Barnyard looks like it'll be great fun for the youngsters.
The visual style of the film remains intact, with its exaggerated and humorous looking characters coming to life as you wave your Wii remote and thumb the nunchuk. Some of the Wii specific controls felt a little tacked on but this did not detract significantly from the usability or enjoyable experience of being able to run around a farm as a ridiculously funny looking cow.
There were also a variety of mini-games available to play, and although we only got to see a couple, these seemed quite fun. One was a game where you must launch a chicken with a sligshot and then fly him through a series of rings, similar to slalom, the other a game of billiards set on a table crafted from an old boat. Both were reasonably enjoyable and should add a little to the titles longevity.
Although this title is available on other platforms it looks as though, considering its added funtionality, if you're getting a Nintendo's new console, and want a game for the kids with a bit of patience for gameplay on the drawnout, more involving side of things, Barnyard for the Wii may be a good point of call.
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz
After a forgettable last outing, the fuzzy little monkeys and their clear balls are back to delivering their quality puzzle madness. Banana Blitz takes the original Monkey Ball formula, as you’ll once again be tilting monkeys down long course, collecting bananas and finding goals. It’s a perfect match on the Wii, since tilting your Wii remote identically tilts each level by the movements you make.
There will be 100 courses spread across almost a dozen stages. The first couple of stages work well to introduce gamers to the controls and the layouts they can expect to come across, before enduring the hair-tearing levels in later stages. Banana Blitz also introduces a few new mechanics to the originally simplistic game, such as a jump function. By tapping the A button your monkey will be able to jump across chasms and onto moving platforms, which adds to its already carefully steady formula. The puzzles are generally well designed, and will once again cause some mild frustration if you move your monkey slightly in the wrong direction.
The classic formula returns.
While mini-games have typically been rather sparse in previous Super Monkey Ball games, Banana Blitz is going all out in delivering one of the most family-friendly experiences yet. There will be a whopping 50 mini-games, compatible for two-to-four-player action. Each of the mini-games utilises the Wii remote or nunchuk in some form, with simple movements of the controller making it accessible for anyone. There will be a variety of mini-games to dive into, including a first-person shooter mini-game that’s highly enjoyable as you shoot carrots at one another; a squash mini-game that gives Wii Tennis a run for its money; a point blank game where players race to shoot targets; and more simple games such as basketball shooting and ring toss. Familiar mini-games such as golf and bowling make it into the diverse range of mini-games available too.
Good stuff. I'm keeping my eye on Sonic. The Sonic the Hedgehog game on X360 overshadows it a bit, unfortunately.
Just goes to show, I guess.
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