WireWay – NDS – Review

Whenever a side-scrolling platformer
hops onto the Nintendo DS, it faces one inevitable conundrum: How can the game
take advantage of the touch screen? This technology has the capacity to simulate
a direct interaction with a character on the screen, model the physical
properties of inanimate objects, or simply free draw on a digital canvas.
WireWay effectively captures the visceral joy of a slingshot using the touch
screen, only it’s the main character who gets flung all over the place.

At first glance, Wiley seems like
little more than a peppy critter – an alien, actually – who likes to have fun,
and doesn’t mind being tossed about like someone else’s plaything. To guide him
home, the player must propel him across a whopping 60 level single-player
campaign. As a simple silhouette, Wiley embodies the minimalistic aesthetic of
the game. He won’t be facing any serious moral dilemmas or committing
unspeakable acts of violence throughout the course of his adventure, but the
developers have still managed to inject him with enough verve that Wiley
maintains a bit of character.

The bulk of the game pits Wiley
against the usual assortment of threats, from avalanches to spikes, and some
objects that aren’t quite recognizable, but remain dangerous nevertheless.
Countering these obstacles are the stars, which act as an incentive for Wiley to
pass through a very specific path. This is essentially a matter of getting the
trajectories right, and things get predictably trickier as you go along. The
novelty of sending the little fellow flying across the screen will hold great
appeal for all ages, and although it diminishes with time, the seamless
integration of this mechanic on the DS is really quite impressive.

The primary flaw in this design lies
within the DS itself, unfortunately. WireWay attempts to compensate for the
division between the handheld’s upper and lower screens, yet the basic game
mechanics are somewhat sketchy when you’re trying to launch Wiley from one
screen to another. In order to compete with the top platformers of his day,
Wiley will need to have better situational awareness in any of his follow-up
adventures. Softening this disappointment is the customization feature, which
offers players the chance to construct their own levels. A wireless multiplayer
race mode is also available, but the excitement can be rather short-lived;
players who fall behind may struggle to catch up. A two-player or team-based
format would have been trickier to implement, but given the multitude of
potential interactions in each level, this game is almost begging to receive a
co-op mode.

WireWay doesn’t dazzle the eye with
obnoxiously flashy graphics, but it’s got the content where it counts. Loopy and
slightly repetitive audio cues frame a zany adventure that should attract casual
and dedicated gamers alike. The core of the gameplay is quite memorable, so
despite the nagging problems, WireWay remains an undeniably charming asset to
the library of DS platform titles.


Review
Scoring Details for WireWay

Gameplay: 7.4
Unique mechanics
and a fairly polished design ensure a solid foundation. The screens don’t always
show what they should, though.


Graphics: 5.0 
Wiley is pretty
easy to spot despite his dark demeanor, but some of the visuals are rather
plain.


Sound: 7.0
WireWay sounds
better than it looks. It would be easy to call Wiley the show-stealer, had there
been others competing against him.


Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The basic
mechanics aren’t too difficult to grasp, but there’s a substantial challenge as
you advance through the levels.


Concept: 8.0 
A great execution
of the “flinging” mechanic, which has been done before, but not always
successfully.


Multiplayer: 7.0
The races aren’t
quite as fulfilling as one might hope. Cooperative play would have been very
interesting, though we’ll have to wait for the sequel if such a thing ever sees
the light of day.


Overall: 7.4
WireWay stands
firmly as a platform-puzzle adventure on the DS. Sadly, much of its appeal is
dampened by the disorientation of the dual screens. Hopefully, these issues can
be resolved for a sequel – the potential is certainly there.