Video Game Review: Elebits for Nintendo Wii

They’re like little dust balls, lice, or even mice (except they squeal like kittens) just running around loose all over the house, all over town- its anarchy. They’re actually called Elebits though. They are little creatures that generate electricity, and they have all escaped during a lightning storm; now there is no power for lights or any electronics to work. It’s your job to capture them, and re-power the city, or world I should say, by zapping, or ‘sucking’ them in.

The story opens up, and Kai, a boy (you) is left in charge to collect the elebits with your dad’s zap gun. You never actually play as Kai though. The game is in first person shooter at all times. He’s just the one who will be telling the story.

Each level requires a certain amount of wattage (each elebit has a different amount of wattage depending on its color, and how you capture it, depending if the elebit is confused, scared, or happy, when you catch it, the wattage will differ) to pass on to the next level.

The game itself is a first person shooting game. Only it’s not hard like some other difficult first shooter games on the market right now. The controls are quite easy to use. The zap gun is easily used by pressing the A button, or the button underneath the remote. Then the nun chuck is used to move around the environment.

Elebits is like a search and find, where’s Waldo type of hunt, only much more advanced, and exciting. You move around using the nun chuck and basically search the room up and down. You capture an elebit simply by placing your zap gun target onto it, then press the A button. It’s really simple seeing how most elebits are slow moving.

As you capture elebits your gun will gain more power. This is when things get messy, and a little difficult. For one when you start throwing beds and desks around, sometimes you end up blocking yourself into a corner, and the only way out is to throw more things around. Also as you collect more elebits, certain things become unlocked. Such as lamps, televisions, and other appliances. One the appliance is unlocked, you can zap out a bucket load of elebits by pressing the A button. However some items require an action, and not all of them tell you what the action is.

Trying to figure it out wastes precious time. Each level gives you either 5 minutes or 15 minutes, so you have to use your time wisely, or you could end up failing the level mission. Opening doors sometimes can be difficult, but honestly I’d prefer to use the word annoying. The door requires you to hit the A button and hold it, and then you are to twist your wrist just as you would motion to open a real door. This is not the difficult part, but what is, is when the door quickly shuts on you. So basically you have about 1 second to react. If you don’t move fast enough, you have to do it all over again. Times a wasting, and the clock is ticking.

The game also comes with a generous assortment of tunes. Not vocal music, just chimes, and beats. Each time you pass a level, you also get a new song added to inventory. I think it’s neat, because God forbid they used only one song or two. You’d get annoyed quickly seeing how each mission ranges from 5 to 15 minutes. Hearing the same repetitive song could be annoying and bothersome.

As you pass each level, the game gets a little more difficult. Not extremely ‘I quit’ and throw the remote to the floor difficult though.

The game adds in some bad guys (they’re not really bad, but they can cause level failure). If you happen to make too much of a mess, a spiny elebit will come out. If this elebit throws itself at you, or you shoot it, you take damage. You will only be allowed to take 5 hits. So you have to watch your step, and not be too messy. As you become more accustom to the game though, these elebits will not even be an issue.
You also want to make a note to capture purple elebits as soon as you spot them. They throw balls of fire at you, and you take a hit. These elebits can kill you off pretty quickly if they aren’t taken care of.

Some levels also require you to stay quiet. The sound decibel will vary depending on the level. If you make too much noise, you fail the mission. This can be tricky, because as you advance some elebits will add to the noise. By either knocking dishes on the floor, or knocking things over as they try to escape you.

Also as the game increases in difficulty, you get more options to your gun. Through out levels there will be circular orbs and boxes for you to crack open. You get a new action to your gun. They range from the vacuum. This is the most fun; your gun becomes a big suction, and basically will suck up the elebits in huge amounts. If you find the vacuum in the level, you will clear the level quickly.

There are also shield orbs. This protects you from taking any hits. There are electrical orbs, in which I believe add power to your gun. –As the gun increases in power, it is able to lift heavier objects. Messy time! There is also the laser, this will target in on any surrounding elebits, making it easier to catch them in a quick manner.

Other levels require you to not break anything. You get a varying limit where you’re only allowed to break up to 10 items. This can be tough to do, especially when things get knocked over, and tossed around easily. You have to make sure you don’t toss anything into a vase, or glass. This limits the fun in my opinion. I love being able to freely roam, and make a huge mess without having to worry about breaking things. But you will get plenty of these levels to just run around and cause chaos, so I guess the added difficulty was needed.

About every 5 or 6 levels you pass, there will come a boss level. This battle for me was easier than catching elebits. The boss levels prove no real difficulty. So long as you know how to use the controllers, you wont have a problem at all. I like this, because Nintendo in the past has had a fair share of impossible bosses to beat. Being able to beat a boss gives a newer gamer the sense of accomplishment. However for a hardcore gamer, it’s also extremely disappointing to be able kick off a boss in less than 2 minutes.

Some levels also have cannons that will shoot at you. These are more annoying though, than they are a challenge. You can easily toss them aside by pointing your gun at it, and flipping the wrist. However, spotting them is not always so easy. So you will get shot a

few times if you don’t find the cannons fast. They are small and usually are hidden in high places, or sidewalls.

Besides story mode, you can also play Elebits in multiplayer mode. Up to 4 people can play. It’s basically whoever can catch the largest wattage/most elebits wins.

You also have an elebits album in the main menu. Here you can view all of the different species of elebits that you have caught, and learn a thing or two about them. This is a great advantage to you. You will learn sometimes where they hide, and or their weaknesses.

Okay so now that you got the basic point of the game, let me get into what I like, and dislike about Elebits.

DISLIKES

-Sometimes during game play the remote will go nutty, and the screen will point up at the ceiling.

-Being able to open doors and have them shut on you is terribly annoying.

- The lack of directions on certain actions is annoying

- Certain actions are too difficult to accomplish in a timely manner. For instance, putting a piece of bread into a toaster, or a pile of clothes into a washer.

- Some levels are repeats of the last. I’m not saying it gets boring or repetitive though. Just adding it as a note. Only one level I know of repeats 3 times. However when the repeats happen, new doors are opened. So you do get to explore a new room or two.

- I hate when I corner myself into a pile of mess. It’s hard to get out, and wastes time.

- I don’t know if it’s just me, but if you play this game for too long, you suddenly find yourself having a headache. I don’t know if it’s the 360-degrees of constant twirling and swirling on the TV, or if it’s just me. But my head hurts after about an hour of game play. It’s the same feeling you get when you stare at a computer monitor for too long.

LIKES

- I enjoy being able to throw things around with ease when my gun is powerful enough.

- I like how dresser draws open, refrigerators, closets, and everything in the home or level is intractable. No object goes unusable.

- I like how you feel you’re a human metal detector.

- The story pictures are beautiful.

- Music changes with each level. Nothing is repeated.

- I like the elebits that fight back (the spiked ones, and purple ones). It gives the game a neat challenge.

- Appeals to a wide assortment of age groups. Children or adults.

Now moving on to the graphics.

Like I’ve said in past reviews regarding Nintendo games, I’ve always been a fan of Nintendo’s carton looking games. This game is yet another Nintendo masterpiece. The levels are colorful, and bubbly. It’s sort of equivalent to Nintendo 64s Super Mario world 64. (Inside the castle)

The graphics however, are not up to par with the technology that exists today in gaming… but this is why I like it.

This game has already provided me with hours of fun, lack of sleep, and eye twitches.

It is definitely a great buy. You can purchase it at either Wal-Mart or Target for the best price. Or visit their sites. www.walmart.com or, www.target.com. The game will come to about $50 after taxes. However, if you wanted to get it for the lowest price, I’d just google it. www.google.com
You will not be disappointed.