E3 '07: Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity Impressions

Earlier today, as E3 2007 started to wind down, we paid a visit to the Santa Monica offices of Game Factory to take a look at an early version of Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity for the Nintendo Wii. Based largely on the current, fourth season of the Code Lyoko animated show, Quest for Infinity will task four of the game's central characters with shutting down towers that an evil virtual entity named Xana needs to possess objects on Earth. It all sounds very similar to the action sequences that appeared in Code Lyoko on the DS earlier this year, because it is.

There are some differences between the DS and Wii games, of course. The Wii game focuses entirely on action, while the DS game forced you to play through mind-numbing 2D point-and-click exploration sequences in between action levels. The characters' special abilities also appear to be slightly different and, because this is a Wii game, there are some unusual controls to get used to, of course. For example, Ulrich can attack enemies with a sword that you'll control using horizontal and vertical Wii Remote swinging actions. Odd uses a ranged weapon that you'll fire by pointing the Wii Remote at your target and pressing the trigger button. Yumi can navigate narrow walkways as you maintain her balance by tilting the Wii Remote, and Aelita will fly when you move both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers in circular motions as if they were her wings.

The environments that we saw during our brief time with Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity looked almost identical to those in the aforementioned DS game, but we're told that the finished game will feature plenty of all-new environments based on locales that will be appearing in the show later this year. We were also told that the Wii game will feature a number of "space shooter" levels, but that these haven't been implemented yet.

Like Code Lyoko on the DS, Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity will incorporate clips from the show and, like the show, it'll feature quite different art styles at certain points in the game. To illustrate this, we were afforded sneak peeks at a couple of the all-new boss battles that will appear in the game. The action levels have a colorful look about them, but the boss battles employ a cel-shading technique that looks very different.

Code Lyoko: Quest for Infinity is still in the early stages of development. So early, in fact, that the version of the game that we saw didn't feature any sound whatsoever. We look forward to bringing you more information when we get our hands on a more complete build of the game.