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Boingz First Look

When jumping fails, stretching and snapping succeed.

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Nintendo consoles have certainly been no strangers to platformers over the years, but with the advent of the Wii's motion controls, we've started to see the genre morph into something altogether different from the image of the Mario clone that most people associate with these games. The latest example is Boingz, available later this month on WiiWare. This Ninja Bee-developed game has you controlling squishy little characters that make up for their lack of athleticism with sheer elasticity. Nintendo unveiled the game at its Fall Media Summit last week, and we took a spin through a few levels to see how it works.

Boingz features 30 levels, and each one has a similar theme: You need to take your little Boing and make it to the goal marker that matches its color. Early on, navigating these levels is simply a matter of moving with the analog stick, jumping with the Z button, and pulling on your creature's antenna to fling it like a rubber band across large gaps. The latter mechanic is what makes Boingz unique. You grab your armless character's antenna, and a little arrow will show you the trajectory that it'll fly off in when snapped loose. You've got a bit of control over the character in the air, but it's mostly a matter of getting your angles down before takeoff.

Eventually you'll come to a point where your first Boing isn't the only one occupying a level; you'll unlock Boings of different colors and have them cooperate to make it through an obstacle that wouldn't ordinarily be surpassable alone. One way you do this is by taking one of their antennae and pinning it to the terrain. If you've come across a toxic pit of green liquid, you can take one Boing, stretch it across the gap, and pin its antenna to the ground to act as a living, breathing bridge that another Boing can use to cross the toxic pit safe and sound. At other times, you'll need to use this pinning ability for solo puzzles. One level we tried gives you the option to collect extra points located deep underwater, but given that your Boing is armless, it's a bit tough to swim down there. So what you'd do in this case is launch yourself at a cluster of boulders to knock one free, pin your antenna to it, and drag it underwater so you can sink to the bottom and collect points.

The level of challenge in Boingz is fairly easy; you'll get a quick grasp of all its mechanics and simple, point-and-grab-controls within the first few levels. The puzzle elements shouldn't throw you through the same loop that other recent downloadable puzzle platformers might (Braid says hello), so it's likely to be a good fit for the Wii's casual audience.

Boingz will be available for release later this month on WiiWare. It should be available at the cost of 1,000 Wii points.

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