The Wonderful 101

Platform	OVERALL
Wii U	9.10

Overall

9.10

Hideki Kamiya has a near perfect directing record pumping out excellent game after excellent game. His specialty is the action genre and he has been behind most of the best action games of the last 15 years. When Wonderful 101 came out it looked as if Kamiya was wasting time on some strange Pikmin like experiment. The cartoony graphics and child like theme led to apathy by the general gaming community, myself included. You should not doubt Kamiya, this man is a genius and Wonderful 101 may be his most ambitious action game ever.

In W101 you control a group of heroes called the Wonderful 100. As the name implies you can control up to 100 heroes in your group, well you control just one and the rest follow behind much like Pikmin, but that is where the similarities to Nintendo’s game end. In this game you use the touch screen or the right stick (you should stick to the right stick) to draw shapes which turn your heroes into gigantic weapons which are then used in combos to eviscerate your enemies. The more heroes you have recruited the larger the weapons grow thus dealing more damage. Or perhaps having multiple weapons attacking at once is a more enticing option, up to four weapons (called unite morphs) can be summoned at once if you have enough heroes to create them. To put it simply the combo possibilities are huge and if you are a fan of Kamiya’s action games you will be right at home juggling huge enemies and getting massive combos.

Combat in W101 is a lot more strategic than in DMC or Bayonetta. Where in those games you basically always deal tons of damage as one character, here you will need to mix your unite morphs to hit the weak point of the enemies. One enemy is susceptible to the unite whip but all other attacks bounce off. Heavily armored enemies must be hammered with the hammer to break their thick skin before exposing them to the fist or sword attacks. When all powers are added into the mix the game becomes a beautiful dance of chaos; you will be attacking, drawing, dodging, blocking countering, 100 things are flashing on the screen at once, explosions going off, colors everywhere with so much going on… yet you are always in control.

It’s thrilling and even accessible to those that find DMC too fast paced, when it’s all broken down all the player is doing is matching the right morph to the right enemy then attacking at will when the enemy is weakened. Some enemies take very long to defeat leading to lots of random attacking, which is the equivalent of button mashing. Where the best action games require pin point reaction to every attack this game takes a more simple approach to the one on one battles but makes up for it in having to manage a field of different enemy types and needing to rely on defense to stay alive. At the normal difficulty level I would say the game is balanced just right to keep you on your toes but not frustrate you, it also helps that after any death your character is spawned right back where you left off with only a penalty to score so basically you have infinite health. At higher difficulties the enemy mixes become brutal with so much to dodge on screen that every bit of those super reflexes are need.

While combat is the main gameplay component in W101 what makes this game truly stand out from the rest are the seemingly random gameplay scenarios you are constantly thrown into. Early on you will be controlling a giant ship while chasing down a three headed dragon and having to gun it down in a shooting segment. Other times you will have to solve a puzzle using the pad screen to manipulate objects on the TV. That’s nothing compared to the insane stuff that happens later, to spoil that would be wrong of me so let me tell you if you are a fan of old school games and Nintendo games in particular there are moments in this game will have you cheering like a school girl. This game is a love letter to all action games, not just the hack and slash but the shoot em up, the button masher, and so much more. Wonderful 101 will surprise you around every turn with its insane gameplay diversity.

As should be expected, bosses play a huge role and provide many of the best moments of the game. There are bosses of all types and sizes. Some are the size of a building and play out with a more traditional pattern and progression. A few bosses are more skill based battles against enemies that have a skill set that matches your squad. Then there is the surprise bosses, something so cool I dare not to spoil it but it is really unlike anything you have fought before in an action game of this type. The presentation of the action is what needs to be commended the most; action on an epic scale is the norm during boss battles and regular play. Expect buildings to fall, hell buildings are used as weapons in this game; it is so amazing when your squad turns the table against a 100 foot robot.

Wonderful 101 is also the first time that a Kamiya game has a story worth watching. DMC and Bayonetta have very anime influenced stories and are usually nonsensical. By using the Saturday morning cartoon as the template for the story Wonderful 101 manages to tap right into your inner child and creates a classic hero squad story with memorable characters and moments. It has all the right ingredients for a great cartoon show; funny and easily identifiable hero types, a wide variety of major enemies that can fit the bad guy of the week mold, and an excellent theme song. If you don’t get hyped up when the theme song starts up and the Wonderful 101 go into full badass mode your inner child is dead.

While I love the game it is important to note this is not a game for everyone. If one doesn’t grasp the drawing system or gets frustrated early on it is possible that experience may lead to quitting. This is not the easiest game to learn, experimentation is a must, you will get beat down, you will get frustrated but the reward for sticking through it is worth it. That said this game suffers from the cardinal sin of action games, an unresponsive move. Some drawings, specifically hammer and bomb, are hard to pull off leading to moments where you get a weapon you did not want or simply failed to perform the move. In the middle of the action this can be a fatal mistake. A weapon wheel or a shortcut button could have performed that action, the drawing to create a weapon does not add anything.

Keeping with the Saturday morning cartoon motif the graphics are extremely colorful and very stylized. The game runs very smooth and never dips even when everything on the screen is seemingly exploding. The music is fantastic and the voice acting fits the theme perfectly. One run through the story can take a good 8-10 hours with plenty of extras, tons of secrets and difficulty modes to complete after finishing.

The Wonderful 101 represents the best idea Platinum Games has come up with. To me this has major franchise potential, it could get its own cartoon to go along with it but… no one bought it so there goes that. The theme, the action, the look all works perfectly together which makes this their most complete game. While the core action mechanics may not be the best the overall experience makes this game worth trying out. If you have ever loved action games and still have some of that 10 year old boy that loved watching heroes on Saturday mornings do battle then this game is for you.

Posted by Dvader Tue, 03 Dec 2013 04:20:48

<< prev

bugsonglass

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:20:11

I think touch-screen is optional. Anything you can do on the touch-screen you can do with the second stick and most people found it quicker to do that way.

Dvader

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:27:01

Use the R-stick, I try to not use the touch screen unless its for certain types where its easier than the stick.

gamingeek

Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:49:03

I tried to use the R stick on the demo as you couldn't use the touch screen in off screen play. It was impossible, I couldn't even draw a circle with the stick, just a long line for the sword. It's really weird. IMO they could have just had touchscreen icons for the gestalts. You know, as an option at least.

<< prev

Recently Spotted:

gamingeek (8m)

Username:
Password:
Remember me?