I'm a grown man and I consider myself a long time core gamer!However, thatdoesn't stop me from enjoying this game! If you can get past the PS1 graphics and the kiddie dialogue, this game will grow on you! I mean this game has depth too it. Although it's aimed at kids, I don't see that many kids finishing this game,due to theRPG elements and some of the boss difficulties can be a doozie from time to time. That's why I think a core gamer (with a love for RPGs will still enjoy Spectobes Orgins.
Here's my in depth review:
Ilove leveling upmy Spectrobes through excavation. Depending on how well you excavate a spectrobe that will determine how high of a level the spectrobe will start off! This is determined by the time you took to excavate and byhow much you damage the spectrobe tookthrough excavation. They key is toNOT hit the body of the of the spectrobe. You can use some bombs to get started, laser for trimming, scanner to see where you should cut along at, a hammer, and a blower (the finisher). If you get an F or D then your spectrobe will start off under level 10. If you get a B or A then your spectrobe will start off between levels 15-20 (depends on the complexity of the spectrobe)! Keep in mind 30 is the ultimate level. So while excavation does take the hassle out of level grinding, you may still find yourself hicking up the excavation from time to time, especially with more complex spectrobe structures. For instance, I got this Monkey like spectrobe and messed up the excavation andit started off atlevel 11. However, I latergot another excavation cube of the same spectrobe and got a better grade and level. So I ditched the lower one that I messed up and went along with the more powerful spectrobe. As long as you do good on excavations, you can get your spectrobe up to level 30 in no time!
It's not just about leveling up though, but also evolution. You have child form spectrobes, adult, and evolved. The child forms are apart of your search team (for finding minerals, which are used for leveling up and also they are used for certain puzzles) and canNOT be used in battle. So I can have a child form that's level 30 and can not use it in battle until I evolve it into Adult or Evolved form!
So how do you evolve? You do this by finding an evolve mineral. Those are rare to come by! However, I've noticed certain areas are more likely to have these than others. You find these just like you find other minerals--by sending the child spectrobe to search over sparkling areas. What pops up could be either a green mineral, blue mineral, orange mineral etc (different colored minerals give more experience points than others) or it may be an evolve mineral or other powerups. Anyway, if you find an evolve mineral you use it to evolve a child into an adult. Now, when that adult reaches level 30 (by battling and feeding it minerals) it will go into the final form-Evolved. Remember evolve mineral only work on child spectrobes so you can use an evolve mineral on an adult to make it into it's final form! Despite how rare it is to come across Evolve minerals...leveling up is still easy compared to most RPGs, but at least it's done in a creative way--starting with excavation. Also, your human characters, Raleen and Jeena level up by battling and they level up pretty quick.
There's alot going on in Spectrobes. There are seven worlds to explore. This reminds me of Metroid Prime 3:Corruption, in which you fly your ship to different planets that serve as they're own levels. Obviously most planets are themed after a certain element (fire, water..etc). There are also certain caves that are unreachable earlier in the game, but that later changes through story progression and a certain item is given to you so that you can reach these caves. These special caves have an elemental symbol for it's respective barrier. So once you get the needed device you can use a child spectrobe, of a certain element, to open the respective barrier. These specials caves basically have weapon upgrades! So there is some back tracking to planets,mainly ofthe first two planets since you would see these caves and could do nothing early on. There are 5 weapon types thatyour human characters use (sword, lance, blaster, axe, and power glove). You start off witha stanadard sword and get a lance early on, andas the story progresses you'll get the axe. When your able to open elemental barriers the other types will come available as well. Now there are several types of swords to get as well as axes, blasters (single shot, three way ice blastes--nice, etc) and more! So there is alot of depth in the weaopns department! Thereare also shield types you can get later in the game as well.
The controls are fun and interesting. You start off on search mode with your child spectrobe. If you swing the remote up or down that will signal for the child spectrobe to go into the direction your character is facing and it will plow up an item from thegroundif follows over a sparkling spot. You can swing the remoteside ways (horizontally) to call your child spectrobe back. So those are thebasic controls in searchmode.
The combat is very different and unlike anything you've done in an action RPG! This is for better or worse. To start a battle, ifit happens that your child spectrobe plows up adark crystal that will summonvarious types of Krawl(the bad guys). Suddenly the Krawl pop up, your child spectrobe disappears and out comes your adult spectrobe ready for battle! The transition from search to battle is seamless.Just to be straight the combat is fun and is a good step in the right direction, but could use some tweaking. You control your character with the nunchuck analog stick and you press A on the remote to hack n slash or blast! When blasting you don't have to aim with cursor, the targeting is done automatically for you--but this is for the blaster--not the spectrobe! Usually a large gray cursor will be over the enemny that it automatically targets (I guess it depends on distance or what direction you're looking in.). If you swing the swing the remote vertically that sends your spectrobe off to the enemy that has been automatically targeted. You can tell your spectrobe to fall back by swinging vertically. If there is a certain enemy that you want your spectrobe to work on (instead of random automatic targeting), then this is where the hard stuff comes in at. The Krawl are numerous at times and can be bothagressive and quick, so its hard to press down on the c button (of the nunchuck) then aim with the Wii remote to target a certain foe, with getting pounded on a little! So it takes some getting use to (especially in boss battles), but it won't ruin the experience. Anyway whatever enemy is targeted...you swing up and down to let your spectrobe go at 'em! You control the camera with thethe left and right button onthe directinal pad of the remote.Pressingthe down buttonsets that camera back behind you.
However, multiplayer is where it's at with this game! One player controls the human, while the other controls the spectrobe--there no fuss to aiming since your only focused on one character in multiplayer.
One of my personal favorites isthe special attack gesture.You'll be up to fill up a certain gauge in battle. Once that gauge is filled up, press B to go into a power up sequence...then you hold the remote and nunchuck upto your chest like an 'X'(as if your charging up!), then quickly stretch your arms forward (as if unleashing energy) amd yourspectrobe willunleash a powerful barrage attack on surrounding enemies. That move is wicked fun to pull off and I can never get enough of it! It's not tiring at all, since you only do it when yourspecial gauge builds up and sometimes you may want to wait to use it for strategy purposes. Nontheless, the controls are relatively easy and take playing the gameto really understand (in case you're not following me bery well).
At least rent this game and give it a try. That's what I'm doing. Spectrobes Orgins is alot better than I thought and I am now considering buying this title. Then again Blockbuster doesn't really charge a late fee, so i can keep it long enough to finish! But I still may buy it so that my brother and nephew can try it.
Graphics: 7.0--The environments look decent and so do the character models of the Krawl, Spectrobes, and NPCs. However, the character models for the main heroes look out of place! It's not very good when the main characters don't look very good compared to everything else in the game. This game is certainly not trying to push anything in terms of visuals. It just looks like a top tier PS1 game.
Story: 8.0--If you can get passed the dialogue you'll find that the actuall plot is pretty deep and there are some serious themes that come into play as well. It's nothing jaw dropping, but at least is interesting to make you stick around to find out certain mysteries.
Gameplay:8.0--The controls are pretty easy. However targeting can be a hassle when needed--especially in boss fights. Also, sometimes when I gesture for my Spectrobe to attack...it falls back and vice versa. So the reponsiveness could use some tweaking. Using the remote for excavation is a genius idea and some of the smartest Wii Remote implementation around!
Replayability: 8.0--There are over a hundred spectrobes to find, excavate, and level up! Also there are just as many cool weapons to find! You can also post your best excavation and battle times onto online leaderboards (unfortunately I saw nothing up so far, since the game is new and relatively unknown. Also the target audience may not know much about the online experiences of the Wii).
Overall: 8.0--There are few Wii action RPGs available and this is certainly one of the best. If it wasn't laughable to give Wii RPGs a top 5categroy, this game is certainly up there. The depth and variety to this game will keep you coming back for more!
You can also read and rate my review here: http://www.gamespot.com/wii/puzzle/spectrobesorigins/player_review.html?id=677792.
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