Right in the middle of Nintendo's very open E3 booth is the first game I played today, and a very good demonstration of what separates Wii Motion Plus from its original Wii Remote origins.
Developed by Artoon, the studio behind Pinobee for the GBA and a number of Yoshi-branded handheld games, Span Smasher puts you in control of a little yellow orb-like dude from the Pac-Man genus of game creatures. The story is a lot like any popular game on a Nintendo system: your island paradise is threatened by an unknown menace. To save it, you must float around and collect pearls.
The game is 2D and is kind of a mix between a brick breaker game like Arkanoid and a side-scroller, and the E3 demo covers Level 1, which is split up into three sections and a boss battle. You start out unaffected by the laws of gravity. Swiping the Wii Remote (with MotionPlus) in a direction hurls you across the screen in exactly that direction. Swiping in another direction shoots you the other way, mid-flight. Your goal is to smash through almost everything on the screen, and pick up little fruit bonuses along the way. If you collect three of the same type of fruit, you gain a temporary ability. One power-up triples the number of orb dudes you control, which makes things particularly crazy.
The accuracy of the motion control surprised me. I can imagine playing this game without MotionPlus and the experience just wouldn't be accurate enough for much of the precise aiming needed. It was very fun to use, especially in the second level, where your character turns into a lead ball and must hop around. Span Smasher is a fun casual title that should be enjoyable to those who like games where you frantically shake a controller and blow things up.
Developed by Artoon, the studio behind Pinobee for the GBA and a number of Yoshi-branded handheld games, Span Smasher puts you in control of a little yellow orb-like dude from the Pac-Man genus of game creatures. The story is a lot like any popular game on a Nintendo system: your island paradise is threatened by an unknown menace. To save it, you must float around and collect pearls.
The game is 2D and is kind of a mix between a brick breaker game like Arkanoid and a side-scroller, and the E3 demo covers Level 1, which is split up into three sections and a boss battle. You start out unaffected by the laws of gravity. Swiping the Wii Remote (with MotionPlus) in a direction hurls you across the screen in exactly that direction. Swiping in another direction shoots you the other way, mid-flight. Your goal is to smash through almost everything on the screen, and pick up little fruit bonuses along the way. If you collect three of the same type of fruit, you gain a temporary ability. One power-up triples the number of orb dudes you control, which makes things particularly crazy.
The accuracy of the motion control surprised me. I can imagine playing this game without MotionPlus and the experience just wouldn't be accurate enough for much of the precise aiming needed. It was very fun to use, especially in the second level, where your character turns into a lead ball and must hop around. Span Smasher is a fun casual title that should be enjoyable to those who like games where you frantically shake a controller and blow things up.