Wik: Fable of Souls
Posted January 27, 2006
Reflexive Entertainment has but one goal and that is to make entertaining games that appeal to a broad audience. Sadly, the realm of PC gamers who play these smaller titles that Reflexive develops is a small one. Thanks to the 360 launching with the arcade, excellent developing studios like Reflexive can finally see their games reach a broader market.
The game in question now is Wik: Fable of Souls, quite an odd title for a fairly simple game. You play the title character Wik, a little guy who has a tongue which rivals that of Toad of X-Men fame, which is one of his main modes of transportation. You see, Wik can't walk like most normal forest dwellers he must resort to hopping and latching onto items with his sticky tongue to swing to locations. By shifting Wiks weight like a pendulum, you can propel yourself from treetop to treetop and even perform a full 360 loop which comes into play heavily in one of the mini games included with the full download of Wik.
Gameplay:
It feels strange to say this, but the Story Mode in Wik is quite engaging. I say this is odd because really I can't remember an arcade game which kept me interested throughout by means of telling a story. As the single player game progress we control our little buddy Wik through a series of chapters told through a simple rhyming story between each level. To advance from level to level, Wik must swing his way around each screen using his tongue and an unusually strong amount of suction to inhale a set number of grubs into his mouth then subsequently spit these grubs to his friend Slotham who collects. The level ends in one of three ways: Either you collect all the grubs, a set number of grubs are stolen from the screen by your enemies or Slotham has meandered his way across the screen and exited stage right. You can however blast the enemies who are trying to steal your grubs with items strewn about the screen, or you can suck one enemy into your mouth and shoot it at another. Slotham's endless advancement however can be dealt with in one method only, and that is to place a glob of honey in front of him; this distracts him for a short time allowing you to snatch grubs and disable enemies.
Aside from the story mode, a slew of challenge levels also exist. These challenge levels have you performing tasks in a set timeframe, almost always involving more grubs to collect. The real challenge here however is to beat optional ghosts (for an achievement) and set your own time records on each level. Additionally, two bonus levels are unlocked after you beat the Story Mode prologue, Fire Pit and Loopnastics.
Fire Pit starts you out on a rock in a continually rising (or is that falling) screen of fire. You must keep Wik out of the sulfurous pits by means of his amazing tongue, in a race against the clock. Here you are competing not only against yourself, but also against the legion of Wik fans on the Xbox Live leader boards.
The other bonus level is a simple yet tough to master mode called Loopnastics. In it your goal is to simply have Wik perform as many 360 degree loops in three minutes. Sadly, it took me at least 5 tries to get a single loop, but once the trick was learned I found myself able to consistently pull off a series of loops, though still not enough to unlock the Loop Master achievement which is 60 loops in three minutes.
Graphics:
For fans of the Oddworld series, the graphics will immediately make you feel at home. The levels are a static background with interactive elements like rocks and tree limbs, but evoke the same color scheme and feel of Abe's Odyssey. Even the character design is reminiscent of the Oddworld, with Wik's partner in collection looking eerily similar to a slightly grown up Munch.
Audio:
Since this is a small downloadable game that originated on the PC and then was only around 13Mb in size, the audio is a very simple eerie affair which sets an ominous tone to the game. There are times where the subwoofer will kick in, but those moments are scattered and fleeting. Since the story is told through rhyming storyboards, there is no voice acting to worry about or subtracts marks for being poorly acted.
Conclusion:
For roughly $10 Wik: Fable of Souls can be downloaded and enjoyed by the action/puzzle fan in your home. Sure the graphics aren't going to make your head spin when you see them on your fancy new HDTV; but the surprisingly entertaining story mode and the ability to have local multiplayer really boosts this game. The inclusion of online leader boards really will drive you to excel at the challenge and bonus levels and it will probably take quite some time to unlock all the achievements that this title offers, which only further extends the replay of this simple yet effective title. Recommended.
The game in question now is Wik: Fable of Souls, quite an odd title for a fairly simple game. You play the title character Wik, a little guy who has a tongue which rivals that of Toad of X-Men fame, which is one of his main modes of transportation. You see, Wik can't walk like most normal forest dwellers he must resort to hopping and latching onto items with his sticky tongue to swing to locations. By shifting Wiks weight like a pendulum, you can propel yourself from treetop to treetop and even perform a full 360 loop which comes into play heavily in one of the mini games included with the full download of Wik.
Gameplay:
It feels strange to say this, but the Story Mode in Wik is quite engaging. I say this is odd because really I can't remember an arcade game which kept me interested throughout by means of telling a story. As the single player game progress we control our little buddy Wik through a series of chapters told through a simple rhyming story between each level. To advance from level to level, Wik must swing his way around each screen using his tongue and an unusually strong amount of suction to inhale a set number of grubs into his mouth then subsequently spit these grubs to his friend Slotham who collects. The level ends in one of three ways: Either you collect all the grubs, a set number of grubs are stolen from the screen by your enemies or Slotham has meandered his way across the screen and exited stage right. You can however blast the enemies who are trying to steal your grubs with items strewn about the screen, or you can suck one enemy into your mouth and shoot it at another. Slotham's endless advancement however can be dealt with in one method only, and that is to place a glob of honey in front of him; this distracts him for a short time allowing you to snatch grubs and disable enemies.
Aside from the story mode, a slew of challenge levels also exist. These challenge levels have you performing tasks in a set timeframe, almost always involving more grubs to collect. The real challenge here however is to beat optional ghosts (for an achievement) and set your own time records on each level. Additionally, two bonus levels are unlocked after you beat the Story Mode prologue, Fire Pit and Loopnastics.
Fire Pit starts you out on a rock in a continually rising (or is that falling) screen of fire. You must keep Wik out of the sulfurous pits by means of his amazing tongue, in a race against the clock. Here you are competing not only against yourself, but also against the legion of Wik fans on the Xbox Live leader boards.
The other bonus level is a simple yet tough to master mode called Loopnastics. In it your goal is to simply have Wik perform as many 360 degree loops in three minutes. Sadly, it took me at least 5 tries to get a single loop, but once the trick was learned I found myself able to consistently pull off a series of loops, though still not enough to unlock the Loop Master achievement which is 60 loops in three minutes.
Graphics:
For fans of the Oddworld series, the graphics will immediately make you feel at home. The levels are a static background with interactive elements like rocks and tree limbs, but evoke the same color scheme and feel of Abe's Odyssey. Even the character design is reminiscent of the Oddworld, with Wik's partner in collection looking eerily similar to a slightly grown up Munch.
Audio:
Since this is a small downloadable game that originated on the PC and then was only around 13Mb in size, the audio is a very simple eerie affair which sets an ominous tone to the game. There are times where the subwoofer will kick in, but those moments are scattered and fleeting. Since the story is told through rhyming storyboards, there is no voice acting to worry about or subtracts marks for being poorly acted.
Conclusion:
For roughly $10 Wik: Fable of Souls can be downloaded and enjoyed by the action/puzzle fan in your home. Sure the graphics aren't going to make your head spin when you see them on your fancy new HDTV; but the surprisingly entertaining story mode and the ability to have local multiplayer really boosts this game. The inclusion of online leader boards really will drive you to excel at the challenge and bonus levels and it will probably take quite some time to unlock all the achievements that this title offers, which only further extends the replay of this simple yet effective title. Recommended.