Hands on The Wonderful 101
How can I sum up the opening seconds with The Wonderful 101? Confusing? People have tried to explain what The Wonderful 101 is like, and to be honest, name dropping the likes of Viewtiful Joe and Pikmin really doesn’t help. No matter how it’s described or explained to you, you’re still going to be utterly bewildered by it.
Thankfully, the confusion will only last five minutes, by which point genuine curiosity takes over as you try to figure out how the game really works – and whether or not the designers have got the imagination to see its interesting core mechanics weaved successfully into something beyond a simple gimmick.
I’m betting they can – because in the short demo I played recently – there’s more imagination, more colour, more vibrancy and inventive spirit in five minutes play, than some game series have delivered in their lifetime.
At the core of The Wonderful 101 is this simple premise. You are one guy – who can attract up to 100 followers to help you in each stage – which is where the Pikmin comparison begins and ends. Once you have people following you, you can use your WiiU touch screen to draw simple shapes.
Draw a line and you can turn your followers into a big sword to attack enemies. Draw an ‘S’ shape and you can turn them into a whip. Or an ‘L’ shape to make them morph into a giant gun – to give just a few of examples.
Each weapon type has it’s strengths. The whip, for example, can be used to pull off an enemy’s armour (in one encounter we played) and the larger the shape you draw the more powerful it becomes, but the more power it drains. The more power you drain, the less you can draw on this special power – forcing you to use weaker normal attacks in order to regenerate your ability draw weapons.
But there’s much more to Wonderful 101 that this central conceit, with the kind of character recruited to your band of follows having an impact, as well as using your powers to influence the environment – not just attacking enemies.
In one simple puzzle, for example, you’re requited to draw a circle to create a giant fist, in order to set a Ferris Wheel in motion so that you can continue through the stage.
It’s a visually striking game too – drawing on elements of tokusatsu (think Power Rangers, Kamen Rider and Ultraman) in that wonderfully kitsch-comic style that Hideki Kamiya implemented in Viewtiful Joe, and has brought over to Wonderful 101. For the record – that’s basically where the similarity to VJ ends.
The result of course, is a game-world that’s outrageously colourful and not afraid to revel in the fact. Quiet suburbs are turned into riotous firework displays of effects. Monstrous enemies hit out and send your 100 followers scattered around the area, and giant neon weapons flash as you you close in to punish.
It’s nothing if not spectacular.
I think it should also be noted just how beautifully smooth this game runs. Given just how busy it is I’d put good money on this running at a steady 60fps – this might not sound like anything to write home about, but you’l be amazed how jarring it is when you have to play something that isn’t running so smoothly immediately afterwards.
Perhaps the biggest ringing endorsement I can give Wonderful 101 is that, even after playing through the demo multiple times, and indulging in a spot of ridiculously hectic multi-player co-op, I still have more questions about this game than I have answers for. I’m still not 100% sure about what, exactly, I’ll be playing when I inevitably pick this up in August.
I’m still not sure how the finished product will pan out – and that’s a level of surprise and anticipation that I’ve honestly not felt from a game in a long, long time. Right now, of all the games on WiiU Wonderful 101 remains something of an enigma – and one that I’m thoroughly looking forward to exploring.
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