Mom Brain's Elebits/Wii impressions

Written by Mom Brain

Well, it finally happened! After my cancelled trip to (what we now know as the final) E3 and months and months of waiting, I played the Wii! The day was October 15. The place was Digital Life at the Javits center, NYC. Surrounded by the fabulous JTS, the studly Kirby and the illustrious RMC, I entered the Konami booth to Play Elebits and the Wii for the first time. What follows is my account of the glorious experience.

When we arrived at the Konami booth, there was a modest line at the Elebits station. I’d say there were probably six or seven people in front of me waiting to play the three minute demo. I settled happily at the end of the line to watch people use the game’s “capture gun” to throw around kitchen appliances in search of cute little aliens that reminded me a little of Electroplankton. To me, Elebits felt like a combination of ChibiRobo and Katamari Damacy. First off, the demo has you playing in a kitchen. The feel of the room was pretty realistic. It had all the necessary appliances as well as plenty of cabinets and doors to open. The object of the game was to use the capture gun to search out and collect as many Elebits as possible. The more Elebits you collected, the stronger you became and the more stuff you could throw around. COOL! When I finally got my chance to play, I was so nervous! By that point, there were a few people behind me in line and my own little GoNintendo crew taking pictures and videos. The pressure was on.

I picked up the wiimote and I felt actual tears welling up in my eyes. I was THAT excited! I had to wait a few seconds for the game to load while my heart pounded in my chest. As soon as I saw my first Elebit, instincts took over. I didn’t even need to think about the controls. Everything just did what I thought it was supposed to do. I used the nun chuck to walk around and the wiimote to ransack the kitchen in search of Elebits. It was amazing to me how intuitive the game was. I was playing like a pro in less than 30 seconds. I had so much fun! Do you have any idea how satisfying it is to throw a microwave? I really loved how the world was so consumable. It was almost voyeuristic. I was going through cabinets, drawers, the fridge, and anything else that got in the way of me capturing Elebits. There were also lots of goodies to help me catch the Elebits such as the EMP that you use to stun the little suckers so you can catch them. Before I knew it, though, my three minutes were over! The months and months of waiting had all been justified in just three minutes. Nintendo and Konami, I don’t know how you did it.

A few final notes before I go back to counting the seconds until November 19. If you haven’t played the Wii yet, I just wanted to give my very first impressions of the system. First, I found the wiimote to be smaller than I had imagined it. Also, I watched some people hold the wiimote up really close (like, within an inch of it) to the TV. I think it may have made the game act a little fritzy. Just remember, stand a couple feet away and relax. Instincts will take over. And, even though Elebits isn’t a launch title, I will definitely buy it the day it comes out. You should too!