Helix - First Impressions

Yesterday I stated how I thought Helix was going to be a great underground success for the Nintendo WiiWare. The game released yesterday for 1,000 Wii Points and I was able to get some play time in last night. About a hour’s worth.

Helix is the first time effort of GhostFire Games who developed and published the game. They’re a perfect example of why the WiiWare service is so great. Small time companies with small budgets being able to release their creations without a huge publishing budget. GhostFire’s first effort so far feels like a solid one, but it’s still too early to provide full judgement.

The first big feature you’ll notice for Helix is that it requires use of two Wii Remotes to fully enjoy the game. I didn’t really think about it until I had the two wii remotes in my hands, but it was the first game I had played that had this control style. So far Helix has been quite responsive, picking up on the maneuvers that the game has you pulling off. I was able to get through the tutorial, tried out the calibration, and finally played through four of the songs on easy. The game is quite simple. You’ll listen to a song, and you have to mimic the moves that a robot pulls off on screen. Imagine an odd mix between Dance Dance Revolution and Elite Beat Agents.

The songs are pretty catchy, but you’ll definitely want to stay away if you can’t stand techno. I’m pretty indifferent to the genre; I mean techno can be catchy but it’s not necessarily music I listen to all the time. Anyway, the moves you have to mimic during the songs are pretty fun to pull off. So far in easy mode there’s a good amount of different moves to execute. Some are more complex than others, but so far the game has had no problems picking them up. In fact one fault you could say is that the controls are almost ‘too responsive’. I don’t know if it was because I was in easy mode, but it was very easy to pull off the moves mostly because the game gives you a large grace period to execute a move. Again, this may have been because I was playing in easy mode.

A fair warning before you play, you will look quite ridiculous playing this game. I really felt like I was doing some interpretive dance at some points (which I swore would never happen). So just make sure the room is empty.

For 1,000 Wii Points the game offers a good amount of content. You will be able to play over 26 songs on three different difficulties. So you’re technically getting 78 levels (if you see it that way). So you’ll be getting a pretty hefty game to try and get a 100% on. The craziest thing about Helix is the lack of multiplayer support. It feels like a party game, or a game that is fun with multiple people. Yet you’ll have to play Helix by yourself, or swap out with other people. If there’s a Helix 2, this is something Ghostfire might want to look into.

Your Family Might Be The Only People You Want To Play The Game With

While the song list is robust, and the motion controls are tight the game falls short in the presentation department. The game looks very bland. The songs all have a Windows Media Center background look to them, with generic lights flashing. Then there’s the Helix mascot that looks like a round robot that George Lucas crapped out when creating Star Wars. Both of the underwhelming presentation choices really undermine the tight, and fun gameplay. Of course Ghostfire had a 40MB cap so including 26 songs on top of music videos or what have you, might have been unrealistic to ask for.

At this point it’s hard to say if this game is a buy or no-buy. The high variety of moves in easy mode leads me to believe that the game will open up even more as I delve deeper. It has a pretty easy pick up and play feel to it, just a little too easy, at first anyway. If you can get past the bland presentation and graphics then there’s fun to be had here. That’s if you don’t mind techno, and don’t mind looking ridiculous in the process.