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Saturday 26 January, 2008
GAMEPLAY
Another few hours of gameplay bring a few rewards and a very sore arm. I have yet to get significantly far into the game, because a lot of levels took a few tries for me to get through, but what I have done so far has been considerably enjoyable. All the levels continue to be pretty straightforward and can get almost frustrating as I search for that last hidden Elebit, but it is usually found quickly and the game moves on. The in-game puzzles are very simple and involve sticking objects into other objects the challenge comes from manipulating the objects with the wiimote and sorting through the scattered furniture to find what you need. The objectives are very linear but gameplay is very open ended due to the seemingly limitless possibilities of where to hunt for those freaking Elebits.
I gave multiplayer a brief try, and it was practically the same as single player, just with another target onscreen. Having a second player takes up the hectic-level a notch or two, in the heat of the competition objects fly around more, and both players lose control. Its very fun to play but not all that challenging, the winner often depends on luck more than any sort of skill.
I only managed to make it through one boss battle today, and it took me three or four tries. Some giant Elebit boss lady breaks through the ceiling of your home and spawns tons of invisible little elebits that need shooting, and to make matters more interesting you have a super powerful gun so furniture goes flying with the flick of the wrist. It might have been my lack of skill but I found the boss battle difficult and frustrating and not in the least beat fun compared to the normal levels. I mean I know thats what boss battles are supposed to be like, but this one was just a chore to get through. I guess thats a challenge of developing a game with very simple straightforward gameplay. Its hard to expand on the concept to make some sort of successful boss battle.
DESIGN
Lets start by talking about level design. The levels are very small but you continue to unlock new things in the same space as the game progresses. This is a model that Katamari Damacy used very successfully and Elebits does almost as good of a job. Most levels start out with one small room you need to hunt through and then slowly, as you collect elebits and build up your wattage, another room or two is unlocked. I think this is a great design choice because it emphasizes the small size of the elebits. From what I understand elebits are supposed to be small, and the fact that you are stuck in one tiny room turning over pieces of furniture one at a time gives the game a very unique feel, as you get the sense that you are somewhat trapped and surrounded by these little creatures. Having small levels also makes the player get to know the levels really well, which I find is a great way to make a game memorable. When a level stretches on forever you only remember a vague impression of it after you are done playing, but when you keep having to come back to the same play with different objectives, it really gets lodged in your mind,
So heres what the player gets to do: point at the screen and hit a button when it sees an Elebit, pick up furniture/objects and move them around. This is a very limited scope of gameplay, but the designers have done a good job getting the most out of it. Compared to other games Elebits is simplistic and not very advanced, but taken by itself it does very well. Shooting objects gets a bit boring after a while, luckily Elebits keeps the player interested by throwing in quite a range of different elebits that need shooting, each with different properties and reactions to the player. Elebits has a fun gravity engine that the designers used to their fullest extent. Moving objects around is an integral part of the game because elebits tend to hide behind things that are lying around. Its always fun to cause mayhem, but as it turns out, it is often smarter to leave a level unsmashed, so elebits have nothing to hide behind. The other thing the physics engine is used for is to solve puzzles. As the game goes on, the player gets to use different appliances which spray elebits, but some puzzles require objects to be put in other objects to activate them. This is quite the challenge with the wiimote, but is refreshingly different aspect of gameplay which gives a welcome switch from pointing and shooting.
At this point I don't feel like I can make a fully adequate analysis of game design, because I've only gotten through 1/4 of the game, but I figure its more of the same. Its a very simple but well executed game. They developers took what they were given (a wii with motion sensing technology etc.), figured out what it was good for, and made a game that does just that and pretty much only that. By keeping their standards low and not taking any unnecessary risks Konami put together a fun and well executed game.
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