Jessinta Cheng
Welcome to the weird world of our protagonist Death Jr., or DJ as he’s known to friends. It’s a warped place where stuffed toy rabbits throw rockets at you, chickens shoot deadly lasers beams from their heads, and your classmate’s a dead guppy.
The story begins with DJ and his best friend Pandora going into the forest to search for a cocoon to complete their science assignment. The first signs of trouble appear when they encounter attacking mushrooms,. While trying to get a cocoon, they accidentally release Furi, a Dryad who’s angry at not being able to be evil all her life.
Furi is trying an off-the-shelf item that promises to turn users evil, but gets interrupted by DJ and Pandora. The duo must then battle a host of monsters and defeat Furi to save everyone.
The wild and wacky world of Death Jr.
The game has interesting and quirky characters, both in terms of their design and their personalities. Pandora has an obsession with opening boxes (Pandora’s box, get it?), his classmates an armless and legless specimen in a tank called Seep, as well as Stigmartha, a girl who bleeds from her palms whenever she gets nervous.
The unique game design style is reminiscent of its PSP predecessor, and reworked to make it even better than the first. The colours are bright and cheery, which makes the graphics seem less ominous.
The worlds and characters render nicely in 3D, with worlds such as the Toy Cemetery being particularly memorable. That’s where UrbanWire first comes across rocket-hurling stuffed rabbits, evil teddy bears literally popping out of the ground, and mutant robot toys which want you dead.
Blasting your way through
In single player mode, you can choose to play as either DJ or Pandora, while in multiplayer mode, you get to play co-op with a friend.
Gameplay is easy: you just shoot, blast, jump and kill.
Tutorials at the beginning help you familiarise yourself with the controls, which aren’t a big feat to master in the first place.
One feature that UrbanWire liked was that, unlike some of the other hack-slash Wii games, there isn’t any need to wave the Wii Remote (or Wii-mote) around to attack all the time.
You begin with just 1 basic attack and weapon, and unlock more attacking options as you advance in the game. Stronger melee attacks might require some minimal swinging, but it’s not necessary to use these moves to advance the game. Ranged weapons include C4 Hamsters, which can be shot at enemies, as well as the Flaming Toilet Paper Thrower, with a name that speaks for itself.
Camera view can be adjusted in 3D, making it easier to see where you’re going. However, UrbanWire feels it can be improved on, as while the camera view can be rotated, the controls for the camera are a little hard to use and inaccessible, and really inconvenient when you’re in the frenzied midst of a battle. You might end up jumping off the edge accidentally into toxic waste, where you’ll have to start again.
While interesting with its warped, yet cute concept, the game can get frustrating and repetitive at times. At one point, UrbanWire spent nearly 15 minutes trying to jump across a huge vat of oil using little nuggets as stepping stones, as the character kept falling into the oil midway The whole game is as wacky as that sounds. Also, there’s very little replay value, as all the modes, have the exact same storyline and gameplay.
The Wii has so many interesting features that could have been used, it’s a pity that the game doesn’t properly utilise them. An example is using the motion sensing ability of the Wii to turn your character, which would make the game smoother, instead of only being able to turn with the analog stick on the Nunchuk. The game music doesn’t really impress as well and it’s pretty forgettable.
Deathly Results
While there are some flaws in the gameplay and design, the end result is an enjoyable platformer that can do so much more with the interesting premise and worlds that it currently has.
The different characters could have had different storylines attached to them to provide some variety and replay value for the game. After the first round, there’s not much reason to replay it other than to try and unlock all the weapons and moves that are available.
Score
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 5/10
Plot: 7/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Addictive Rating: 6/10
Replay Value: 3/10
Overall Rating: 6/10
Pictures courtesy of Games Press.