Dewy's Adventure Hot

Black Water has again begun to fall upon the great forest, under control of the evil Don Hedron.  The Eau, a group of mysterious creatures who depend on the tree, have seen this before—but this time, it’s the worst it’s ever been.  The only hope for the distressed inhabitants is Dewy, a small drop of water from the Tree of Seven Colors.  Dewy must vanquish the evil Don Hedron and his minions in order to save the world.

Dewy’s Adventure is produced by the same team that gave us the excellent sleeper hit Elebits last December for Wii launch, and it’s obvious—everything from the graphical presentation to the storybook-style, hand-drawn animated cut scenes is nearly indistinguishable.  But unfortunately, the game suffers from other, deeper gameplay-centric issues that completely overshadow its stronger points.  For someone who was so excited to see the Elebits team’s next project, this is a hard review for me to write.

Watered-Down Controls

He may not have any arms or legs, but Dewy can still get around by sliding.  To play, you turn the Wii remote on its side and simply tilt it to tilt the game board (sound familiar, Monkey Ball fans?); Dewy will then slide in the direction the environment is tilted.  You can also jump by pressing the 2 button, and while in the air, the 1 button performs the equivalent of a Mario butt stomp.  Finally, you can morph into two other forms, ice and steam (appropriately), by pressing down and up on the D-Pad.  Each of these two additional forms also boasts its own special attacks, such as spinning recklessly toward enemies in ice form and casting lightning down while hovering above as a gas.

The goal of the game is to make it to the end of each level, collecting and rescuing your Eau friends along the way by sliding into them.  Some of the Eau are directly along your path to the goal, while others are strewn haphazardly throughout the level in places you might not think to look.  Still others can only be freed by defeating enemies along the way.  Upon the completion of a level, you’re given the opportunity to save your progress before trying the next one. There are four levels in each world, and there are seven worlds in total.

There’s lots of jumping involved, which makes this game an isometric 3-D platformer first and an action/adventure game second.  The level design is actually pretty good; locating and rescuing some of the more elusive Eaus can get to be pretty tricky, and some of the puzzles in the later worlds really spice up the experience.  But Dewy’s Adventure’s problem is not in its level design or even its premise—it’s the controls that break the experience.  The tilting of the board doesn’t feel nearly as precise as it does in Monkey Ball, a problem perhaps partially due to the fact that the camera in Dewy is shooting from above the action rather than behind the subject.  And Dewy just sort of slides around the board like a drop of water (which he is), something that, while appropriate to the premise, really makes controlling him quite difficult (in spite of the “press A to stabilize the board” feature).  Forget about quick turns and tight controls—it’s practically impossible in Dewy.  Granted, the game is designed around the same principle of indirect control as the Monkey Ball series, but this just doesn’t work as well when you’re fighting enemies and navigating large labyrinthine environments from an isometric perspective.

Compounding this problem is the aforementioned camera system, which is the source of a whole separate set of issues that further complicate platforming efforts.  The camera is fixed and mindless, and it almost never seems to provide the best shot of the action.  It’s already difficult enough to line up jumps with the lackadaisical tilt control, but having to deal with the camera just makes matters worse.  A small percentage of unnaturally persistent gamers are bound to practice for long enough to where the mechanics become manageable, but that doesn’t change the fact that the control and camera scheme is far from ideal.  When you spend nearly two minutes trying to jump on top of a mushroom and bounce to a higher ledge, you know there is probably something wrong with the system.  It’s just a very frustrating experience.

A Mist Opportunity

Perhaps the worst thing about all of this is the fact that Dewy’s Adventure had potential.  Some of the later levels are well designed, and the various puzzles dealing with ice and steam, while generally simplistic, work well.  The bosses are large, hulking creatures that serve up respectful, multi-stage battles… the various ways in which Dewy must use his strengths to defeat them are entertaining.  There’s a short challenge mode where you can try your hand at three different pre-set challenges on several different special levels in an attempt to beat the record.  And there’s even a fairly versatile and functional level editor—again, a la Elebits—where you can create your own challenges and send them to your friends.  But none of these things matter if the game isn’t fun to play, and thanks to the irritating control scheme and problematic camera, it just isn’t.

The game boasts a pretty catchy soundtrack (available on iTunes) and a well-done cartoony visual stylization.  Its arcade-like design provides for the kind of competition and replayability that are the hallmark of great games.  You’ll even find hints of clever polish throughout the title if you manage to stick with it—stuff like tips on beating the bosses sent to you by the game in the form of a Wii Message.  If it weren’t for the mechanical issues, Dewy’s Adventure surely have been a different story altogether.

Overall Comment

I was really excited about this game after having enjoyed Elebits so much… that’s why it pains me so much to have to write such a negative review about Dewy’s Adventure.  While I appreciate its creativity and depth, this game gets my vote for having the most infuriating gameplay of any high-profile Wii title to date.  I always appreciate a good challenge, but this challenge should not be a byproduct of battling the control scheme and camera angles.  Dewy’s Adventure, sadly, is just one big amalgamation of good ideas and bad gameplay.  Elebits fans, keep holding your breath for Elebits 2… I’ll join you.