Wild 9

This graphically impressive game has a clean look and bears testimony to the ability of the PlayStation. Even though this one is still in the beginning of the development process, we did manage to get a few screens of the eye-catching title. Gameplay seems similar to the Out Of This World-style of games with the player controlling the character's action from that same vantage point. The story is based on a group of nine teenagers exploring and attempting to use their youth to take over the galaxy. The title's story is tangled in surprises and twists of fate throughout the adventure.

Players control Wex, the leader of a group of renegade teens, as he makes his way through level after level, trying to destroy the evil mastermind known as Karn. The game takes place in a future where Karn-no more than a gigantic face-controls the entire world as Wex and his group know it. Why does the "Wild 9's" have such a vengeful attitude? Karn destroyed all of the teens' families but also made the mistake of attacking Wex. The dark and gritty look of the future in Wild 9's comes through in the graphics. From what we've seen from early versions, the animation is llowless. being true to life.

Look for special lighting and other graphical effects. More than likely the levels will take place in the system's many planets.

You could say Wild 9 is an important title for Shiny Entertainment. Partway through Wild 9's production schedule, Shiny President David Perry kicked out the programming staff and started development all over because the game ended up looking too much like a generic platform side-scroller. But what we have now is a game that may do for Shiny now what Earthworm Jim did to them in the 16-Bit days: Make them lots of money. Why? Wild 9 offers variety and unique ideas not seen anywhere else in today's market of copy-cats and clones.

You play as Wex Major, a 21st-centurym adventurous teen. He, along with eight other alien teens (hence, the "Wild 9") must free the Andromeda Cluster from the evil tyrant Karn. To do so, you must advance through several stages that are filled with alien enemies and dangerous obstacles.

Sounds like standard gamefare, but believe us, it's not. Most of the levels are done in 2.5D (2D gameplay in a polygonal 3D environment, like Pandemonium! or Klonoa). On these stages, you are armed with a weapon called the Rig. This unique item is a laser beam you can use to grapple or to move around items and enemies. Here's the fun part: See those spinning blades up ahead? Toss a Bounty Hunter into them to break the motor and stop the blades. Got a Shocktropper you want to get rid of? Grab him and snuff out a pesky fire with the body. In fact, you can use the Rig to slam, impale, asphyxiate, drown, torch and torture your enemies any number of ways. It's not all for gruesome show--you have to use a bit of creativity and imagination in killing your enemies to get past obstacles and move on in the game.

The other members of your group will come in on certain stages to add new elements to the gameplay. In the Gulag prison level, for example, you have to pick up your friend Nitro, who is explosively allergic to being touched. Basically, you have to use the Rig to carry him through certain areas without letting him get in contact with anything. In the Labyrinth level, you must manipulate lights, switches and spotlights to keep your friend Crystal illuminated (because she gets her energy from light).

As you can tell, Wild 9 has some pretty funky ideas that can change the face of platform gaming. The game is still being tweaked as you read this (Wild 9 is currently going through some heavy focus group testing, and Shiny won't let the game out until their test groups think the game's perfect), but you can expect to see it sometime late fall or early winter.

On a scale of 1 to 10, Wild 9 already looked like a 7 at E3. Interplay and Shiny are collaborating to create 9 wild (get it?) worlds where you use an energy weapon called The Rig to grab and literally torment LEGMs (Little, Evil, Green Men). The Rig was wicked, nasty, and a whole lot of fun.

Overview

If you’re into fast-action, kick-butt, no-holds-barred gaming with fighting and strategy, Wild 9 is right up your alley! This game by Shiny Entertainment is a potpourri of mechanized mayhem and survival, as you fight your way through a wild obstacle course full of alien shocktroopers that are out to get you. The group of good guys, called the Wild 9, are stranded when their trawler spacecraft gets severely damaged. You must fight for your survival as the team leader, "Wex Major," with a formidable weapon that is key to your success called "The Rig," and other weapons that you find along the way.

Gameplay

The game starts out looking like a typical role-playing game with 3-D type graphics and the character you control in the center of the action. As you move through the game, you’ll run into what are called "B’angus Boxes" that are simply hints and tips which help you learn how to play. Once you’ve learned them, you can skip over them and continue on your way. The simplicity of the controls and features like this make Wild 9 very easy to learn, and a lot of fun right out of the box. The controls are limited to the directional controls, jump, firing the rig and firing the secondary weapon (grenade or missile). There are no complicated moves or sequences to learn, but it does take some practice to make it through some of the areas, especially the further you progress into the game. While the game makes good use of a 3D type of layout, the player is limited in his movement to the course at hand, and the player’s freedom of movement is similar to that of a Mario Brothers game (left, right, up down and jump), but that’s where the similarities end. You cannot move around like a character in a 3-D game like Doom, yet that does not hurt the game at all, in my opinion.

Your main weapon, "The Rig," is an energy beam that you can use to kill your enemies, and as a type of "electronic rope" to swing up, down and across the buildings that you’re exploring. This is one of the more original parts of the game that I’ve seen, and is really a lot of fun. It can only be used on certain types of structures in the game, which seem to have been designed just for the purpose of flying around like a 21st century Tarzan. Once you’ve locked onto the rope swing structure, you need to start swinging left and right with the directional controls, and once you’re going in the direction you want, simply extend the beam by moving the directional control downward. If you move the directional control upward, you’ll shorten the beam. When you’re going in the direction you want, simply stop pressing the rig’s power button and you’ll be released into a free-fall that should put you right onto the platform where you’re aiming. When you encounter one of the Shocktroopers, the easiest way to kill them is to fire the rig directly at them, and once you’ve caught them in your beam, simply flick your directional controls left and right, which will literally pick up the enemy and slam him into the floors, walls and other objects that might be in the way. You can usually finish them off with three or four hits, and they’ll simply disintegrate. The Shocktroopers can also fire missiles at you, which you can either jump over or avoid by running away. You can also use the rig to move and lift heavy objects that can be used to get you in position to move onward in the game. There are little electronic units that you’ll also encounter which have to be pushed into the floor to complete the circuit, and turn on huge fans that are used to float your way up and into other corridors and passageways. It’s really fun floating around on them.

As you’re moving along in the game, you also will run across little "gears" floating above you. As you pick them up, you are on your way to winning additional lives, which are granted to you each time you accumulate 99 of them. I found this game quite addicting and very challenging. It can be difficult at times, as it can take quite a lot of time to figure out how to get through many of the screens. There are numerous machines that are moving and working as you maneuver through the game, and you’d better beware of them. Some of them are giant grinding wheels that can suck you in and grind you into little pieces. You can use them to your advantage by picking up alien enemies with your rig and pushing them into the machines, whereupon they’ll scream as they get sucked in. You really have to think about how you’re going to get through each screen, and it often takes a bit of trial and error, but it is a lot of fun as you do it. I found myself playing for hours, and it’s one of those games that can immerse you in it so much that you can easily lose track of time. They also did a great job with the background music and sound effects in the game, and made great use of the vibration function and analog controller in the game.

Graphics

I thought the developers did a good job on the graphics in this game, with plenty of detail on the buildings and lights; there's even a cool background of the landscapes way down below the buildings you’re running around in. The only thing that I really felt was lacking was the detail in the character you control, but that wasn’t a big deal to me. There’s nothing really new with the graphics here, but they did utilize the Playstation’s graphics capabilities as well as could be expected. They obviously spent some time working on the graphics, and it shows.

Bottom Line

Wild 9 is a lot of fun, very challenging and different from your typical role playing type of game. I found myself playing it for hours and hours, and still enjoy it. If you like shoot-'em-up type games, you’ll most likely enjoy this one too. At first it may seem a bit awkward and unusual, but once you get the hang of it, I’m sure you’ll agree that this game is a blast!

Wild 9s is the latest game from Shiny Entertainment, the same folks who gave us Earthworm Jim and MDK. At this point there's more story than game. The tale centers on Wex, who leads eight other characters as they fight the evil forces of Karn, a monster who's systematically destroying the galaxy. Wild 9s will feature platform-style action in 3D environments (much like Pandemonium) and huge monsters.

Wild 9s is another project from Shiny Entertainment. the group behind Earthworm Jim. From the few screens we've seen, this action adventure run-n-gunner looks like another blockbuster in the making. The smooth rendered backgrounds, wildly imaginative characters and enemies, and engaging story line point to another sure-fire success for Shiny. Here's the story line: Wex Major, an earthling teenager orphaned during an alien attack. lands on a remote planet and comes across eight other teenagers who team up with him to crush the intergalactic badass Karn. We have the highest hopes for Wild 9s.

Although we first reported on this game way back in the January 1997 issue (see "Sneak Previews"), Wild 9s is finally getting closer to completion, and it looks like it's going to be worth the wait. A fast and furious adventure game, it tells the story of Wex Major, an adventurous 21st-century teenager who becomes entangled in a plot to destroy the universe. Wex befriends and enlists the help of eight alien teenagers, who have been orphaned by the evil Karn. Using a huge biomechanical arm, Wex will attempt to dis-troy 500-pound electrified frogs, maniacal chainsaw-wielding black sheep, and other hilarious enemies. The game takes place in a 3D world, and the good-looking screens suggest that Wild 9s will provide a wild time.

If Earthworm Jim were a carefree teenager and liked torturing his opponents rather than joking around with them, you'd have Wild 9. This game is a twisted take-off on the Jim engine, with a ton of cool animations and some seriously warped puzzles.

You play as Wex, a space-bound teenage adventurer with a mechanical rig for an arm that doubles as a grappling hook and an electric rope. This appendage allows you to swing from area to area and to catch cyborgs in your steely grip. Why catch cyborgs? Because that's the whole point of Wild 9. You catch them so you can kill them in lots of disturbing yet clever ways: feeding them into meat grinders, using them to stop dangerous fans, or throwing them into steel-spiked pits for use as stepping stones. If you're not creative, you won't progress.

Wild 9 is funny, wickedly subtle, and almost as amusing to play as it is to watch. It resurrects the old side-scrolling platform game, adding somejim-esque humor and head-scratching puzzles. This game definitely has nine lives.

Graphics

You can see the Earthworm Jim influence in Wild 9's detailed backgrounds and realistic death animations. The game's only drawbacks are the slowness of Wex's running and seeing the same cyborgs over and over again.

Control

Everything works just like it should in a good side-scroller-with the exception of swing grappling. Making the tricky jump to a safe platform while swinging is frustrating and interrupts the adventurous pace of the game.

Sound

Screams that make your blood curl, Wex's valley-boy euphemisms, and a great music score all make an impression in Wild 9. There's also cleverly placed mood music to let you know when something is about to happen.

Fun Factor

For Earthworm Jim fans who have waited patiently for the return of the Segmented One, Wild 9 will seem like a refreshing diversion. For first-time side-scrolling platform gamers, Wild 9 will challenge and thrill you with its bizarre but innovative gameplay and engaging puzzles.