Fluidity Hands-On

Part of PAX is about showcasing the smaller games that normally go unnoticed. At Nintendo's booth, there was Kirby's Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country Returns, but what was new was a relatively simple-looking yet mesmerizing game called Fluidity, in which the star of the game is water. Now we're pretty sure that as the game progresses the puzzles and mechanics will get much more difficult, but from our experience, the controls are easy to grasp, and the gameplay is quite fun. If you've ever spent way too much time playing with those paperweights that had water and colored oil droplets in them, then this game is for you.

Who's Making It: It looks like this is one of Nintendo's WiiWare offerings, and no date or price has been confirmed.

What It Looks Like: Fluidity is set in a colorful 2D storybook-like world, which makes sense given that you are going through multiple chapters in a magical book called Aquaticus. At first glance, it does look like a PixelJunk game, with its clean art style and physics-based gameplay.

What You Do: Your goal is to swoosh your way around tunnels to clean out this world while collecting rainbow droplets. There are more than 80 to find in the game across its four chapters. The short demo that we played had us bring a fish back to its fishbowl before we were granted the magical droplet. As you collect the rainbow droplets, you'll unlock more areas to clean, and puzzle pieces are scattered throughout to unlock secrets.

How It Plays: The controls are incredibly simple, as water doesn't have too many abilities. You hold the remote horizontally and tilt it left and right to move the entire world, similar to LocoRoco. As you flow through gates, you can interact with switches by pushing the 2 button. By giving the remote a quick shake, the water can bounce around to collect items. There are hazards to avoid, which will drain your water supply, but it looked like there were water globules to collect so that we could replenish ourselves. Timing is also important when crossing moving platforms, and while we're not quite sure what will happen if you split up the liquid in multiple chambers, we are sure you don't want to lose any of it.

What They Say: Nintendo's Fluidity combines an amazing physics engine that realistically models flowing water with innovative puzzle gameplay.

What We Say: We're eager to see more of the game, because Nintendo has also stated that you can use all three forms of water, including its ice and cloud form. It will be interesting to see how tricky the puzzles can get, so we'll be sure to keep an eye out for more information as soon as it becomes available.