Fluidity Hands-On (WiiWare)
By:
Micah Seff
|
December 3, 2010, 1:38 pm

Nintendo was gracious enough to invite us to swing by their offices and check out their newest WiiWare creation, Fluidity. I hadn’t gotten a chance to try out this game when I saw it at PAX, so I snatched up the appointment and headed on my merry way. And I’m glad I did, as Fluidity is shaping up to be a stellar addition to the Wiiware lineup.

 
 
In Fluidity, players actually take control of a small body of water. That’s right. Water. I know it sounds odd, and I was actually somewhat skeptical, as the whole thing sounded vaguely like 2007’s Dewy’s Adventure, which was a decided flop for everyone involved. Luckily, after actually getting my hands on the controller, I can safely say that what sounds like a strange premise actually makes for an incredibly compelling 2D, free-roaming puzzle game.

Fluidity is controlled with the Wiimote on its side. Pretty much everything is handled by motion controls. Tilt the controller side to side, and you’ll rotate the environment (ala Loco Roco) causing your watery form to flow through the environment. A quick flick of the Wiimote will cause you to jump, while the buttons will do different things depending on the state you take.

 
Just as you might assume for a game about an animated body of water, you can alter your state using contraptions placed throughout the level. Your water elemental can freeze itself and become a block of ice or superheat to turn into a cloud of vapor. Each of these states controls slightly differently, though they all seem to have well defined puzzle-solving uses. The block of ice can weight down switches and freeze to various structures with a quick press of the ‘1’ button. The vapor cloud can ascend and descend by twisting the Wiimote forward or back and has a myriad of other abilities including gusts of wind that can gather floating objects such as balloons, lightning bolts with which you can zap enemies, and even the ability to make it rain with a shake, reverting you back to your liquid state.

What’s so cool about all this is the way that everything comes together. Levels are vast and contain countless puzzles that require some clever thinking, quick reflexes, and a keen spatial awareness. I’d actually liken the nature of the puzzles to something like the recently released Limbo, although that comparison will likely feel strange to people who haven’t actually spent time with Fluidity. It also reminded me of a clever freeware puzzle/platformer from several years ago, Within a Deep Forest http://nifflas.ni2.se/?page=Within+a+Deep+Forest.

 
I only got to challenge myself with five different puzzles or so, but I was already impressed with the ingenuity I saw. I was having to think critically about the powers of each and every state of matter I could play as, and needed to spend time merely looking around each room I entered to get a sense of the natural flow the puzzles followed in that area. The mere fact that each step of each puzzle seemed to flow so well spoke volumes for the quality of the game. In fact, if I weren’t so tired right now, I’d come up with a whole series of water-related puns to entertain you with regarding the game’s quality. Regardless, it seems like Nintendo and the folks over at Curve Studios have really managed to capture the aqueous nature of their unlikely hero.

The look of the title is actually pretty snazzy, using a sort of storybook visual motif that actually comes together pretty well. Players will find themselves navigating through the pages of a picturebook, traversing page after page and bleeding through the margins ala Comic Zone. There is some sort of cell-shading being applied and it fit the game rather well. Though visually simple, the look of the game seemed very cohesive, and certainly never disappointed me in any regard.

 
What I got to see of the game during my all-too-brief play session already had me pretty jazzed for the full title. I only scratched the surface of what the game seems to offer in its ten to twenty hours of playtime. In addition to the four massive levels containing countless puzzle chambers, there were four minigames that could be unlocked that seemed like they had the potential for serious addictiveness in their own right. I only got to play one, a sort of long-jump challenge using the block of ice and some skillful flicks of the Wiimote.

All in all, I came away from my time with Fluidity fairly impressed. This seems like a hidden gem that many might overlook simply based on the premise. I’d advise against that rash course of action though, if you have any interest in well-thought-out puzzle games that constantly keep you thinking. I can’t wait for the full game to hit the WiiWare service this Monday, Dec. 6.
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