Elebits

The story is relatively simple: Elebits are little creatures that control electricity. One day, electricity stops working. The son of two Elebits researchers finds his dad's laser gun and starts zapping the Elebits to gain the electricity back. Find enough Elebits in a stage within a set time limit, and move on to another room. Sound a little weird? We thought so, too.

When The Wiire staff played Elebits in Los Angeles this past May, the game instilled a great deal of uncertain feelings. While the single-player experience with only one room felt like the most gimmicky title on the floor, it still held a unique potential that could have been unlocked with more features. While games at the convention had a half-hour (or longer) wait to try even five minutes of play, Elebits had a wait of less than five minutes and never had more than three people gathered around. The player before me grew bored of the game within the first minute of playing, asking if I wanted to take over so he could try out the Virtual Console demonstration. If a writer had said Red Steel was worse than this game, gamers would have egged said reporter.

Meet the culprits: Teletubbies with high voltage.

Fast forward six months from the first playable Wii kits to Wii's consumer launch. In an unfathomable change of wind, Elebits is initially more engaging than most of the Wii games on the market, including some of the most anticipated titles for launch. Utilizing the controller's motion-sensing abilities in exciting ways, the game initially seems to be the next cult-classic, multiplayer game for 2006. We'll see how the game plays out over the next two stages.

While we wait for said stages, let's look at all of the things Elebits did right after a great deal of listening to the press. The first is tuning the controls to a far better scheme than first presented at E3, allowing faster response times and some really great ways to move around. Opening doors requires people to move the cursor over the door, press a button (either A or B, they both do the same thing) and twist the controller around just like a door handle. Turn on a faucet the same way, or pull open a drawer by pulling the controller close to you. Finally, a game that really shows the difference between an analog stick and a wireless controller in 3-D space.

Elebits shines for its unique simplicity. Take hide-and-seek with several hundred little critters running around your house, use a gravity gun to throw dishes and furniture around, zap the little buggers to get their electrical juice and finish your objectives within the time limit. Boring by concept, great in practice.

Multiplayer is fun and extremely fast. After unlocking even the first stage in story mode, players can jump into the fun of throwing beds across the room, whipping desks against walls, knocking over air conditioners and opening up closets to find these insane little electric creatures. Whoever zaps the most within the amount of time wins. Konami had no indication of multiplayer in May, but the new addition is one of the most respected decisions to date.

Multiplayer is as fast as you can move your hands.  Seriously, that fast.

Even initially, the game has a lot of great features. While making your own stage is a bit useless without playing through story mode a couple times, playing already-made stages is quite a great time. Four-player battles require all players to find Elebits before anyone else and gaining their electricity. The problem doesn't lie in finding them as much as four people throwing furniture across the room at once finding them. Throw too much junk and your floor is littered with things to make searching all the more difficult.

The music is very catchy in a jazzy sort of way. While it may not be worth buying a soundtrack over, it certainly keeps the charm of the game in every stage. After playing through, that area's song can be played in any other stage you want to play. If you have a favorite song, feel free to always use it.

The graphics are colorful, though perhaps not as colorful as people want it to be. There may not be a great deal of detail in every object, but the designs are nicely implemented with the same unique simplicity found in gameplay. Colorful, but not too detailed.

Stage 1 already proves this game deserves an award or two. Which ones, you ask? Find out in stages 2 and 3!

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