Dewy's Adventure

What do you get when you combine Squirtle from Pokemon with Izzy, the mascot for the 1996 Olympic Games? It's Dewy, an instantly-endearing character making his Wii debut in his very own fairy tale. Dewy's Adventure, a platformer-puzzle hybrid from Konami, is equal parts Super Monkey Ball and Crash Bandicoot. Whether this game is as ultimately successful as either of those two franchises remains to be seen, but so far Dewy's Adventure is enjoyable.

Isn't he adorable?

Dewy is a magical droplet of water who is called forth by the Tree of Seven Colors to save his home world from the ominous Black Rain. Players will guide Dewy through eight worlds, collecting friendly Eau creatures while avoiding enemies and pitfalls along the way. The story is told primarily through cut-scenes in the same style as Konami's first Wii title, Elebits. That is, the cut-scenes are presented in the form of still-motion storybook pages that are pleasant and colorful, but at the same time washed out.

The narration is flighty and whimsical, delivered by many of the same voice actors who performed in Elebits. Those performances were easily the worst on Wii, and their quality doesn't improve in Dewy's Adventure. The narrator (who previously played the precocious Kai in Elebits) still overacts here. The music is mostly forgettable, and Dewy's personal theme becomes overplayed and annoying. Thankfully, the audio is rescued by diverse, funny, and appropriately bubbly sound effects.

Dewy's Adventure is played by holding the Wii Remote sideways - no Nunchuk necessary. Like in Banana Blitz or Marble Mania, players tilt their environment by tilting the controller. Dewy moves by sliding along on his bottom, with his speed and turning controlled by the direction and degree of the tilt. The controls are accurate and responsive, and players have the option to adjust the sensitivity for extra precision.

Tilt the ground by tilting the Wii Remote. Dewy slides along for the ride.

Players use the 2 button to jump and the 1 button to attack. Dewy also has two special powers constantly at his disposal; both of them are activated by shaking the Wii Remote vigorously. Shaking the Wii Remote side to side causes an earthquake that shakes the screen, and shaking the Wii Remote up and down causes a gust of wind. Both of these moves can be used to toggle switches or affect enemies, be it by lulling them to sleep or causing them to run in fear.

As any elementary science student knows, water has three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Dewy can assume all three of these states, and players can change between them at will by pressing up or down on the d-pad. A temperature gauge that constantly moves toward room temperature (and Dewy's water state) prevents players from assuming a single state for unlimited amounts of time, but players have the freedom to change states as often as they want.

In his default water form, Dewy can do a hip attack to bounce on enemies or switches. In ice form, Dewy can do a spinning attack that makes him invincible for a short time, or jump and use the spinning attack as part of a three hit combo. In mist form, Dewy turns into a cloud and can shock enemies with lightning.

When players change states, not only does Dewy change form, but the environment around him changes as well. Turning into a cloud turns a temperate environment into a tropical hotbed, so nearby vegetation will flourish and bloom. Open flowers will recede into into closed bluds when Dewy enters his ice form, and the ground will also be turned to ice, thereby making Dewy's movement much faster and harder to control.

Dewy - and the color palette - get warmer in mist form.

The look of the level changes when Dewy shifts states, and so does the level geometry in some cases. In the Icy Island level, Dewy can heat up just enough for water to rise and reveal floating platforms for him to jump on, or he can turn into ice form and make that water a solid, traversable surface. The game's levels are largely linear, but there are the occasional diverging paths, and some are only accessible in certain states.

Although Dewy can change the speed of the terrain by shifting from water to ice form, that is the only noticeable difference in terrain throughout the game so far. The levels are geometrically and artistically diverse, so it is unfortunate that Dewy behaves the same whether he is sliding on grass, sand, or wood. Even in the ice level, Dewy behaves the same in his default form while sliding on the ice as he does when sliding on grass. Not until Dewy himself assumes the ice form does it feel like he is sliding on ice.

There is one other noteworthy oddity about the terrain: Dewy, himself a droplet of water, dies any time he falls into water. It stands to reason that the developers at Konami wanted to include level hazards other than enemies, spikes, and the good old-fashioned bottomless pit, but it defies all logic that a droplet of water can drown.

Ice form: two enemies are frozen by the temperature drop!

It is possible for fast-fingered players to quickly switch into ice form and find a way to safety before plunging into a watery grave, so it is disappointing and unfair that players are unable to move the cloud using the wind. It seems that if Dewy were suddenly flung off the edge of a stage, players should be able to assume cloud form and blow themselves back to safety. Alas, the cloud is immobile. Perhaps granting it the power to move would have overpowered this form, but it seems - especially in contrast to the life-saving ability to turn water into ice - that the developers chose the restrictions and vulnerabilities of each form at random.

Players are far more likely to die falling off the stage than falling in combat to an enemy. The game's enemies rarely pose a challenge; combat is as simple as jumping with the 2 button and attacking with the 1 button. Far more challenging are some of the game's devious and sudden turns. The result is a lot of trial and error, requiring players to master upcoming turns, timing, and angles in order to advance to the next part of the level.

The next part of the level will likely be as sudden and unexpected as the previous one due to the game's camera. The camera shows Dewy moving from left to right, and only a few feet in front of him. At various points in each level, the action will stop and the camera will pan out to show a brief look at the obstacles ahead, but the camera is often confined too closely to Dewy. A camera that is closely focused on the character works in similar games, like Banana Blitz and Sonic and the Secret Rings, because the camera is directly behind those characters. As a result, the entire length of the screen can be used to show the turns ahead. When the character is moving from left to right like Dewy, however, much of the on-screen action is lost.

I wish the camera would show less of Dewy and more of the environment.

Of course, a lot of this game's fun comes from surviving those white-knuckle turns while being unsure of what lies ahead. Dewy's Adventure is a test of one's reflexes more than the ability to smartly navigate the terrain. The result is a game that, despite being played on 21st century hardware infused with accelerometers and motion-sensing capability, feels very old school. So much trial and error might be too much to ask of younger gamers or those in search of instant gratification, but constant repetition and the need to memorize obstacles were tenets of game design in most early platform and action games. If that appeals to you, then stay tuned for Stage 2.

Coming up next: boss fights, WiiConnect24, a deeper look at the single-player campaign, and another level editor from Konami!