Note: The Wiire editors will be updating this page throughout E3 as further impressions are gathered.
James King, The Wiire IT Project Manager & News Editor
I had the opportunity today to go hands-on with Konami's exclusive Wii launch title - Elebits. Unfortuately, I wish I hadn't. To be honest, Elebits seemed very incomplete as a game concept. In fact, it suffers from the same sort of syndrome that the DS's early titles suffered from; glorified tech demos being passed off as full games.
The E3 demo of Elebits succeeds in demonstrating the Wii remote's pointing ability, however it's just not that fun. The goal in Elebits is to pass through different rooms by using the Nunchuk and try to hunt out and zap these little critters (the Elebits) by "picking up" and tossing aside various objects in the room with your electric beam.
There's still time for Konami to add more depth to the title, but if this is what they intend to ship alongside the Wii, you can be sure I'll be passing on this one.
Rob Galbreath, The Wiire Managing Editor
I had a chance to watch Elebits in Nintendo's booth just before I had an interview with Konami. The game seemed generic at first, lacking anything really impressive and lost my interest a bit. Still, I felt the need to give it a chance. Readers can read up on that interview in the news section after this impression.
The two Konami representatives I spoke to used three words that scared me a bit: hide and seek. The player, in first-person view, looks around the room and zaps things called Elebits with a sort of tractor beam similar to the grappling beam in Metroid. Players move things around, zap the 2 kinds of Elebits, get enough points to beat the stage in the time limit, and advance to the next stage. It seems a lot like an unlockable game rather than a full retail game.
While I was waiting in line to play the game, which had to be one of the shortest lines next to the Virtual Console demonstration, an avid gamer conversed with me and criticized the game's lacking visual appeal. His complaint is justified, as the game really isn't anything compared to the other demonstrations. Now to be fair, a game does not have to be visually impressive to be fun. I believe the WarioWare franchise proves that.
I cannot fully dismiss the game just yet. When playing Elebits, I felt a sense of cult classic gaming nostalgia. Most people aren't familiar with that phrase, but a great example of cult classic gaming is another of Konami's creations: Dance Dance Revolution, a fairly pointless game with four buttons and a lot of physical activity that pulled out almost as many sequels as Capcom's Street Fighter series. Another cult classic game I'm reminded of is Katamari Damacy, a senseless Namco game collecting junk around the world and became a worldwide phenomenon. Now I won't say Elebits is anywhere near the phenomena of Dance Dance Revolution or Katamari Damacy just yet, especially with the demonstration so short and limited, but I believe there could be some potential in this game. After all, it is just a demonstration and does not reflect everything in the final product.
With that said, Konami really needs to ensure that this game hits the cult classic gamers and ups the replay value tremendously. Using the controller to throw furniture and dishes across the room was really fun, and I'd love to see some sort of gameplay that allowed people to totally trash an environment for some unlockable content or new features.
If Konami really plans on making this a launch game, I believe there needs to be a lot more work done than what I played in the demonstration. I have no doubt that this game has the potential to be a lot of fun, and the company has had some thoughts about possible multiplayer gaming, but the game at this point probably won't fly as well as the other games.
Keep at it, Konami. You still have time to make another cult classic game.
