The Wonderful 101
Wonderful 101 has much deeper gameplay than we thought
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Being a superhero isn't easy
It’s so easy to dismiss an overly colorful game as being simple or intended for younger players, but don’t make that assumption about The Wonderful 101. Finally coming to Wii U in the US on September 15, the superpower-infused game brings together 100 colorful heroes in the hopes that the small army can stop an alien invasion of Earth. And to our surprise, the team has a shocking variety of attacks--as long as you’re curious enough to find tactics the game doesn’t outright tell you about.
Wonderful 101 is from the same game director as Bayonetta, but the similarities aren’t obvious in screenshots. After playing a 30-minute chunk of the final game, we noted that Wonderful 101 is similarly dedicated to pushing (and punishing) players with deep, combo-heavy gameplay. We faced a small chunk of the massive robot army the game’s masked vigilantes are tasked with stopping, and the largest of the group was giving us some trouble. We took tons of damage as we adapted to its attack patterns and broke through its defenses. After the harrowing battle, the Nintendo rep was quick to clarify that wasn’t a mid-boss, but a normal encounter.
Wonderful 101’s average encounters feel like potential boss battles because your diverse moveset is continually called upon to beat enemies in inventive ways. Team leaders like Wonder Red, Wonder Blue, and Wonder Pink each have specific attacks that can be summoned with a quick stencil on the GamePad’s screen. While you’re cleanly swapping between those attacks during the tense levels, the game throws out a surprisingly varied collection of enemies at you that demand new tactics, particularly if you want your performance to earn the coveted Platinum rating. And as director Hideki Kamiya showed in his recent Nintendo Direct, if hardcore players are willing to look, intricate combos are waiting for them to uncover.
If you were worried Platinum was going soft from its new partnership with Nintendo, what we’ve played of Wonderful 101 would prove otherwise. It isn’t going to hold your hand, but once you’ve finally destroyed, say, a giant cyborg turtle, you know you earned it.
Keep reading to see all the new screens for the fast-approaching game...
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Saving citizens transforms them into new members of your super-army
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Dodge moves like this are instrumental to surviving a battle
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You don't just morph your team into weapons, but also special items to reach new areas
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Be careful to watch how much battery power you have for transformation
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Head-on attacks like this aren't always the smartest move
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The core team of heroes have a lot of personality
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We're guessing this guy is Wonder Red's rival
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Meet your friendly (if goofy) robot sidekick
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Here's a closer look at the bad guys
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Each time you meet a new enemy, you get a quick intro
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When new heroes join your team, they get distinct personas
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They not only make your team stronger, but they also work as in-game collectibles
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GhostNappa2k10 - August 9, 2013 11:19 a.m.
It does look quite good, but it's still not enough for me to go out and pay £200 for a Wii U. Not by a long shot. -
ObliqueZombie - August 9, 2013 11:27 a.m.
Think of it as a long term investment for all the other games coming out for it--not to mention any Wii games you missed or old school games on the virtual console you might want. -
GhostNappa2k10 - August 9, 2013 12:10 p.m.
To be fair, I have a Wii, so that point is redundant. And I don't really play old-school Nintendo games, so that point is redundant as well. It just doesn't appeal to me. -
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Swedish_Chef - August 9, 2013 9:11 a.m.
So basically what I got out of that is Wonderful 101 is basically what happens when Platinum games decides to combine The combat of Bayonetta and the Devil may Cry games, with gameplay/thematic elements reminiscent of Pikmin and a charming presentation that evokes Viewtiful Joe's super sentai style, with a lot of humorous/in cheek elements. In the combat the player can using an absolute crapton of morph abilities (essentially weapons stances), each of which has different stats, attacks and unlocks/buyable upgrades and you can pull off full juggle combos involving the ability to switching between morphs or using multiple of them the same time allowing a massive amount of combo potential/battle strategies. Different enemy types and gigantic bosses require the player to use different strategies to take them down, there are segments where gameplay can change up drastically with players looking at the game through the gamepad screen while the tv shows a different perspective of what's going on and an absolute crap ton of stuff happening on the screen on a colossal scale while still running at 60fps. Welp, looks like it's time to buy a Wii-U. -
Swedish_Chef - August 9, 2013 9:14 a.m.
Also one of the characters is basically San Francisco Vergil. I mean come on... He even uses a stinger... -
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Swedish_Chef - August 9, 2013 9:17 a.m.
Broadcasting Directly *hand motions.* ... .... ..... ...... ....... ...To you. -
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agentkuo - August 9, 2013 12:48 p.m.