Elektra Hands-On

3GSM, CANNES, FRANCE--Elektra started out as a tertiary character in the Marvel superhero pantheon, but she's now graduated to the big-time. Jennifer Garner will reprise her role as the sai-wielding ninja in a blockbuster feature film due out later this year, and Mforma's going to supply the mobile goods in accordance with its exclusive content deal with Marvel. The near-final version of Elektra we played at 3GSM was a fairly quotidian action game in design terms, but it had been put together skillfully and it ran nicely. In short, it should be more than enough to keep Elektra fans happy.

Elektra Natchios, the daughter of a Greek diplomat who also happens to be a ninja assassin, was actually murdered when superhero beau Ben Affleck dropped the ball in 2003's Daredevil. Fortunately, death is rarely a permanent obstacle in the world of comic books, especially when marketing research indicates a high level of interest among young males. So, a few years after her untimely demise, Elektra is back with a vengeance. Her mobile game is a side-scrolling affair in the mold of such all-time action greats as Bad Dudes and Shinobi, which are certainly two of the best models a mobile developer could choose to emulate. Elektra runs from left to right, dispatching enemy ninjas from an evil organization called the Hand and picking up power potions. You must complete each level before a timer runs out, although you can put time back on the clock by grabbing yellow potions.

As mentioned above, Elektra does all of her dirty work with her sai, which are razor-sharp daggers that can cut through most enemies in a few attacks. To get out of tough spots, Elektra also has a special attack that unleashes an unstoppable combo. But using this ability depletes her combo meter (which you can replenish by picking up blue potions). You can also make use of throwing stars that will slice through your enemies like butter. After you play the game a little and meet Abby, your girlish protégé, you'll gain the option to switch characters at any time with a button press. Abby's morning star has more range than Elektra's sai, but it doesn't do quite as much damage. Both characters seem to run at the same speed, and both have the ability to hop up onto ledges to avoid attacks. There are boss fights at the end of certain missions in the 13-level game; we bested a villain named Tattoo on three separate occasions before he finally left us alone.

Most of Mforma's development efforts appeared to have gone into making Elektra look good and run quickly--a very wise decision for a game that is attached to such a big property. Elektra's character art is some of the largest we've ever seen in a mobile game. As a consequence, you really get the feeling that the action is centered on the heroines rather than on the levels, which are generally pretty homogenous. Also, the game has some in-engine cutscenes with dialogue to help explain the movie's plot. This is a nice touch and a rare occurrence in mobile games.

Overall, the beta build of Elektra we played came off as a slick action game that should be very accessible to all mobile gamers. Elektra will be released in Q2 2005, and we'll keep you posted with new updates as they become available.