Nunchuck required.
Introduction
Eledees is the story of Kai- neglected son of two enthusiastic Eledee Researchers. Eledees (Elebits if you're not in Europe) are the source of all electricity in the world. After a particularly nasty storm they begin acting strangely, plunging the world in to darkness. Kai immediately blames the Eledees he hates so much and grabs his father's Capture Gun in order to get the Eledees back to work.
Gameplay
The Capture Gun works similarly to the Manipulator in Garry's Mod. You can pick up objects with it and fling them about to find the Eledees hiding in or under them. Shoot the Eledees with your beam to suck them up. There are two major types of Eledee to collect:
- Ordinary Eledees give you Watts when collected. These are your main target- reach a certain wattage to complete the level. Appliances and objects around the level will be powered up when you reach their required wattage. Find out how to turn them on and you can find...
- Generating Eledees. These are the Eledees at work. They buzz with electricity and power up your Capture Gun, enabling you to pick up heavier objects.
Each level also has three special Pink Eledees. They're difficult to find and catch, offering new play modes for their level.
There are a good few other types too but they appear later on.
Navigation is pretty well done. Use the analogue stick on the Nunchuck the move around, with the two buttons to stand on tiptoe or crouch down. Point the Remote around the screen to aim, or over to one side to turn the viewpoint. It can be frustrating at times, but the speed of movement seems to have been judged quite well. Buttons A or B can be used to fire the beam.
Some levels have an extra requirement: Usually "Don't break more than ten items" or "Don't make too much noise". These are annoying, but horse your to change your playing style from time-to-time. There are lots of powerups to collect too, which are fun to experiment with.
Sights and Sounds
Graphics come from the Katamari school of design: Keep things simple so you can have lots of it. Almost everything is Physics'd Up, and the poor Wii has trouble keeping the frame rate up in places. Still, while it won't greet you with sights of wonder it won't make your eyes bleed. There's some great details in the objects too, should you have time to look at them ("Eternal Mode" lets you play without a time limit if you find the corresponding Pink Eledee).
Audio is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is rather good, I think, with as many mixes as there are levels. The sound effects do the job nicely. The beam noise doesn't get too annoying and the Eledees themselves make cute mewing noises (if you've ever played Darwinia you should know what to expect). The voice acting, however, is without doubt the worst I have ever heard. Despite being renamed Eledees for the European release- and therefore having to redub- it's still voiced by an American cast. This feels like a missed opportunity to me, not because I have anything against American accents, but because the actors they have are just so chuffing awful.
Stuff that sucks
- The physics holds up pretty well really, but objects tend to bounce and float rather more than they should. Large, heavy objects seem to react the same as smaller, lighter objects; just slower. You often find your way obstructed by a hedge you've just thrown out of your way that as bounced off a wall somewhere and come straight back at you.
- Time limits. I hate them. "Eternal Mode" is great, but it's an arse to unlock.
Online
Eledees has an interesting Edit Mode. You can build levels in any of the scenarios you've completed using unlocked objects. I haven't quite figured out how it all works yet, but YouTube has a lot of videos of custom levels, so I guess it's fairly usable. Levels can be shared with Friends over WiiConnect24.
Conclusion
Eledees is quite a lot deeper than I thought it would be. Yes, it's essentially 3D Duck Hunt, but they've really put some thought in to how you can interact with your environment to Make Cool Stuff Happen. There's lots to unlock, grades to be beaten and levels to be created.
I think you're better off renting this if you can. You might enjoy it enough to buy, or you might tire of the experience. Either way, it's fun while it lasts.
Give it a shot.
Score :
