This is the second chance for the game from Platinum Games and Kamiya already on sale on PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
The race to recover some of the Wii U classics that have not been played en masse due to the low sales of the console does not end. Nintendo has been in charge of recovering many of its exclusives, and now it has been the turn of Platinum Games who have wanted to give The Wonderful 101 a second chance. The title, directed by Kamiya, is one of the most original and unique that you you can find it in the extinct Nintendo console. It would not enter the Olympus of the great games of the Japanese developer but if in that section of action games that are worth knowing. Now, years later and after a successful Kickstarter as suspicious, The Wonderful 101: Remastered comes to PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Same action, same humor but very little remaster.
The announcement of the game came not without controversy. Platinum Games decided to launch a Kickstarter to promote the game. This, which remained as a marketing maneuver admitted by the company itself and that was evident if we took into account that the game launched a few months later, in May, did not prevent it from becoming a resounding success with more than two million of dollars raised. Among some of the objectives, the most interesting will come as a DLC -free for backers- in the form of 2D phases starring Luka, one of the characters in the title. Finally, last week it came in physical format to the indicated platforms to show us all its new virtues. And the main problem of the game is that new virtues have few. Although it maintains those of yesteryear, yes.
The game puts us in the shoes of a world invaded by the Geathjerk, some aliens who want to end our presence and take certain powerful objects from our civilization. To prevent it, there are Wonder, heroes who protect the planet united in such a way that they can create powerful weapons to destroy enemies. The grace of the game is that we can recruit heroes and ordinary citizens to join our cause -100 maximum per level- and be able to carry out more powerful and devastating attacks.
The Wonderful 101: Remastered is basically an action game with an aerial view in which we progress through phases dealing with enemies that have their specific weaknesses, interspersing with platforming areas and with some puzzles while we collect Wonders to hit harder and we go Meeting new heroes with new abilities that allow us to face new challenges and break new ground. A very Platinum Games formula seasoned with original touches and a very particular humor.
Among its peculiarities is the fact that the main Wonder have special attacks: Wonder Red, the protagonist, generates a giant fist to hit hard, grab certain elements or unscrew others; Blue creates a gigantic sword capable of stopping certain attacks and also absorbing electricity; Green creates firearms that allow even absorb and spit bombs from enemies; Pink uses a whip that disarms spiked enemies, hangs on areas to go further, and tears other underwater enemies out of hiding; White creates claws capable of splitting into two enemies, opening locks and climbing walls; Yellow creates an ideal hammer to break structures and protect itself from air attacks; and Black, which creates a bomb that slows down enemies and is also useful in non-combat areas.
Drawing the attacks
All these attacks have more or less power depending on the number of recruits we find along the way, and they are carried out in two ways: drawing the shapes with the right stick or in the case of Switch, with the touch screen. It was one of the main features of the Wii U game, which remains here but is still more agile using the joystick as it was with the off-tv mode of the previous Nintendo console.
The use of these types of attacks is combined with the normal attack, the jump and two gifts that are a blessing compared to the original game: the block and the dodge. The title forced you to buy them and they were not available from the start, which has been provided here since they are totally essential to be able to advance and enjoy the battles that it offers. Blocking with hectoflan turns Wonders into a kind of flan for a limited time. Using it when they are going to attack us leaves the opponent in stun and we can reply. As there are unblockable touches, the hectomuelle works like a dodge of a lifetime to be able to react and continue with the offensive.
The game has a chaotic point, the controls are not friendly during the first minutes but there comes a time when you get used to it and everything starts to flow. It is true that even in the final chapters we will draw some hectofusion -that is what the special attacks mentioned above are called- and we will not get the one we wanted, but in general it ends up maintaining an interesting combat rhythm because it adds a certain strategy to it by collecting the hit wonders , using a whip to remove the protection of the enemy and then the hammer to hit hard, switch to the sword to avoid the rays of a third machine and thus phase after phase, appearing new enemies that need to be defeated with the new Wonderful that we get.
The development of the phases, there are several divided into 9 episodes that involve a little more than 10 hours of play, it is interspersed with moments away from combat or with quite irregular shooting areas. The Wonderful 101 was an inconsistent game in many moments, and it still is here. Uninspired platform spaces or shooter-like moments on ships with very simple mechanics and far from the best moments of combat in the game end up clouding the end result, with missions that break the rhythm often.
Luckily, all of this is more than made up for by wonderful, complex, and varied bosses. The great enemies, who tend to occupy an entire final phase of each operation, are a waste of imagination combining different patterns to find their weak point, with the spectacular touch of their, as a rule, large size, and with brilliant action sequences , quicktime events and hilarious dialogues. It is difficult to find fault with the bosses except for some specific mechanics at specific times, and they are moments that really give life to the game and, incidentally, require the user to use everything learned so far.
Because as in any Platinum game, here you also bet on replayability in the form of scores, irretrievably low in the first round unless you already played it on Wii U, requiring the player to buy some skills and extras that can make life easier , using the least possible objects (by the way, with a crafting space for materials to create them for free too) and finishing the missions as fast as possible. In addition to the collector factor of finding some platinum coins and all the Wonder, some secrets, we also have the option to search and find secret phases that expand the experience.
Is it you, Joe?
Humor is an indispensable part to enjoy The Wonderful 101. The game presents us enemies clearly marked by classic cliches, to which is also added the type of stereotypes of the Wonder who want to parody explore the personality of each one of them. , starting with Red and his purity and innocence in search of justice, followed by Green and his French speech, always thinking about food and going through Blue and his touch of a great hero with a certainly fragile ego.
It is almost impossible that one does not end up evoking Viewtiful Joe when he sees that Vorken Ohgee, archivilllano, takes out a tourist guide to check the name of the planet they are on (Does anyone remember Alastor reviewing the script when fighting with Joe?), Like this as the words of one of the first bosses on the baseballl field, calling the Wonder as "mechetrefes disguised as Parcheesi" are perfectly compatible with that "What are you, a kind of Mega Man?" from Hulk Davidson. The visual and artistic tone and the characterization and dialogues of the characters are in the same line, although it is true that at a playable level Wonderful is a step below what many could imagine as a Viewtiful Joe in 3D. That yes, maintains a soundtrack more than outstanding with moments for the epic and that accompanies well at all times, including the dialogues and characterization of the same and to which remixes of powerful composers were announced.
More port than remaster
The game, therefore, brings with it everything we already knew with hardly any major news. One of the setbacks we have found is the use of the second screen, which is activated with the button – on Switch and appears in the middle of the main screen, something that can be annoying and not very attractive at certain times, especially if we play in portable mode, where following the action in itself is complicated and more in this situation. Unfortunately, despite certain improvements such as the skills given to us at the beginning, none of the problems that we had with the game at the time have been retouched. One of them is the camera, very unfriendly both in various battles and at certain times that does not let you see where to go. There are also problems with framerate drops in Switch that we already experienced in Wii U, which without being serious or affecting gameplay, are still present. Continuing on a technical level, the game has not been excessively improved visually either, keeping the saw teeth and some very little detailed textures years later.
CONCLUSION
The Wonderful 101: Remastered is still a remarkable action game, inconsistent in its development, but with moments of brilliance, a unique style, and brutal final bosses. This has not changed over the years and makes it more than recommended for those who do not play it on Wii U. The problem is that after so long, a port arrives that hardly improves or adds anything of interest, maintaining several of its setbacks intact -the camera, some technical problems, playable sequences that can be improved- and without any relevant news until the arrival of the DLC. Unfortunately, the word remaster does not honor the truth for a game that, yes, deserved to live a second chance.
THE BEST
- Original and varied combat system
- The final bosses are delightful
- The humor that it transmits with characters, moments and dialogues
- The soundtrack
WORST
- Very poor as a remaster, with hardly any improvements or changes
- It is still inconsistent, with sections and phases that are not at the level of the rest
- The camera plays tricks on us with ease
Good
It meets the expectations of what is a good game, it has quality and does not have serious flaws, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
