The Wii's Katamari? Not quite.
The storyline follows a kid who steals his parents' zap gun and captures Elebits to restore the power after a storm has passed. Since there's no real movie sequences to illustrate the story, the game developers have beautifully drawn storybook art that corresponds to the narration. Surprisingly, this is no real hindrance to the game and fits well into the whole semi-childish style of Elebits. However, the real trouble comes with the narration itself. Remember Baten Kaitos, released on the 'Cube a few years back? Now, imagine that, times fifty. The voice acting is painfully horrible, something that reminds you of story-time for kids at the local library. It's surprising that it made it to the world market with such crappy voice acting. However, this doesn't really affect gameplay, since the voice acting only comes far in between the gameplay and is somewhat balanced by the great game art.
The graphics are above average. Nothing is going to blow you away, but there's no spots in the game where you really wish that the visuals were scrapped. The graphics during gameplay are quite nice and have their own "style," their own pseudo-realism. Something about them echoes Katamari--the vibrant colors, the cubish tendencies in everyday objects. And, as mentioned before, the story art during narrative scenes are simply superb.
The soundtrack is quite mediocre. Each stage has its own theme, but they're forgettable, upbeat ditties that suit the overall mood well, but are not aural masterpieces. Nothing will stick out, which may be a good or bad thing, but I tend to believe it's the latter.
Even though this game's other departments may be lacking, the gameplay is what makes it good. You, the player, control a zap gun using the Wiimote, and with this gun, you zap Elebits. Elebits hide in all kinds of nooks and crannies, and it's your job to push away furniture, hardware, and as you grow stronger, houses, trees, and cars, to find them. This physics engine is what that draws the Katamari references to Elebits. The simple fun of throwing around various objects with your Wiimote keeps you coming back to this game. There are no mistakes in the engine to be spoken of, and the gameplay works flawlessly. This is the game's strong point.
This is a fun game to waste your time if you're a casual gamer, and like games in the style of Katamari. However, the small things are what sets this game a step below such legendary games as Katamari: the poor voice acting, the lack of a definitively edgy style, the lack of a good storyline, and the lack of great background music. Where Katamari seemed to have excelled, this game has settled for mediocrity. However, if you can dismiss these nitpicky little items and focus on the gameplay, this game is a decent one.
I'd suggest you rent this game, or try it out at a friend's house before you buy it. You may find this game really boring if you don't enjoy the style. If you do, though, this is quite a fun game to play.
Pros:
+ Nice concept
+ Good story artwork
+ Nice, casual fun
+ Level-editor that lets you exchange levels with friends
+ Good physics
Cons:
- Horrible story
- Painful voice acting
- Quite easy
- Multiplayer completely sucks