ACME Arsenal : What's going on, Doc?
Case in point, Looney Tunes: ACME Arsenal by Warner Bros. Interactive. Think of Loons meets Super Smash Bros. meets Zelda sans the puzzle-laden dungeons.
The premise is rather simple: the Mad Scientist (dubbed Frankenbeans here) from the classic Chuck Jones' short wants revenge on the Looney Tunes. In doing so, he decides on sending Eraser Bots back through Time to 'rub out' their ancestors. Basically you play as Bugs, Daffy, Marvin, Foghorn, Taz and Gossamer to foil Frankenbeans' scheme.
Though Sylvester, Wile E. Coyote, Roadrunner and Tweety (as your Checkpoint indicator) have cameos, it would've been nice if you could have selected them as well, but I suspect Warner Interactive was on an astringent deadline.
Anyway, the schematics of the game are simple: bash robots in all forms and fashions and deal with some mid-bosses (based on some familiar Chuck Jones' villains) while also collecting cash for unlocking new skins and ACME Weapontry to use against your foes.
Along the way, you also collect a strange powerup called ACME Illudium Q-37, which when acquired builds up your character's strength. With the Wii the fun part is moving the Wii Remote and twisting the nunchuck in order for your guys to perform fancy moves and making spin jumps to cross longer gaps. The thing is, you have to really practice this to get good, and the game does have a tutorial for you to try out for getting used to the moves.
Though the levels are repetitive at times, the game is fun, especially in one-player mode where you can switch between two characters. Meaning if one dies (unless dropping into a bottomless pit), the other fills in until you can regenerate them at a checkpoint. Same applies when playing two player.
With two player, you can either choose horizontal or vertical split-screen, and the cool thing is you no longer have to wait for your friend to find you. Whenever you hit a Checkpoint, your friend automatically teleports with you.
The reason I like ACME Arsenal is, it's a game you can just have fun with and play it whenever you're not in the mood to recount what dungeon you were at, or what part of a mission you were supposed to do later.
But my beef here is this: Warner decided on using the classic 3D Camera engine from Super Mario 64. Meaning, you'll find some spots where the camera locks into place, thus making depth perception rather difficult, if not frustrating. For instance, in one level you have to get Taz and Foghorn up this volcano to a prehistoric version of a cage. The problem here is when you reach it, the camera locks into a frontal view rather than allowing you to position it for determining the jump better. And because it IS in 3D, your character doesn't exactly make straight jumps. Due to this, you'll wonder if Warner Interactive designed LT:AA for being a two-player excursion.
The Arena setting is great, reminscient of Smash Bros and Loons where you can fight against characters in a free-for-all. Too bad , the guy behind Brawl didn't decide on using these guys as well. I'd like to see the Wabbit and Duck pummel some plumbers and Snake.
Overall, ACME Arsenal is a great game for passing the time with your Wii, and does offer some interesting replayability with different character choices and costumes when you play it again.
I'd definitely give this one worth a look. Despite the poor camera angling, this one actually is fun to play around with.