As a Wii owner, I often feel like that lonely kid on the playground at recess, desperately waiting my turn to be picked for dodge ball, only to be passed over again, and again, leaving me disappointed and neglected on the bench. Any remotely “serious” gamer who owns a Wii console has likely felt this way at least once: a new game is announced, but Wii is sadly left by the wayside. Or, worse, a title is released in Japan, but never for the North American market. Instead, we are left with a plethora of titles aimed at children or people who know little about games and can be easily duped into purchasing an inferior product. In a word, the Wii software market is flooded with “shovelware” as developers jump to cash in on the booming Wii audience.

However, thankfully, this year’s E3 revealed many quality titles that gamers of all levels can appreciate. While Nintendo’s press conference may have left a lot to be desired in many ways, I know I came away from the expo’s revelations with a long list of games to look forward to over the next months. What are some of the games I’m extremely excited about? While everyone can be happy about a new Mario game (or two), I’m more hyped up about the great selection of serious, third-party games coming soon, some of which I hope to cover for you all (and get you excited, too). These include: Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Cursed Mountain, Arc Rise Fantasia, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, and Ju-On: The Grudge, among others.

I’d like to introduce you to Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, if you aren’t already familiar with it.

“In Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, players will explore a dark and abandoned world with the aid of their Wii Remoteâ„¢ that functions as a flashlight and as a proximity sensor to track invisible ghosts. The highly cinematic presentation, coupled with an emotive soundtrack, bring the narrative of a lonely and lost soul to life as players encounter memorable characters and discover the back story behind scavenged items that provide insight on people’s last days before the apocalypse.”

Released January 22, 2009, in Japan by Namco Bandai, many North American gamers feared that the title would meet a similar fate to Fatal Frame IV and never be released for English-speaking audiences. However, at E3, XSEED confirmed that the game is being localized for the US and will be released this winter, most likely January 2010.

“We are ecstatic to be able to finally confirm Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon for gamers in North America,” said Jun Iwasaki, President of XSEED Games. “We have received countless requests from eager gamers pleading with us to publish this title, and it gives us great joy to be able to give the public what they want while being able to work on such a great game.”

Although billed as an RPG (the game does include RPG elements), Fragile forges its own genre, something like a cross between an action RPG, survival horror, and point-and-click adventure. You play as Seto, a young boy seemingly alone in a post-apocalyptic world, searching for answers — and perhaps even other survivors. Seto eventually meets a mysterious young girl named Ren, the only other living human he has encountered so far, who runs off before you can even introduce yourself to her. Thus, you set out to find her, desperate for the warm touch of another person.

Along the way you encounter many ghosts, some teasing, some helpful, and some dangerous, as you struggle to find Ren and discover what happened to the world. Your quest may occasionally mean helping spirits find peace (such as helping the ghost of a little girl reunite with her ghost mother), as well as finding mementos of the people who used to inhabit the world. These items: cell phones, game cartridges, etc., will give you snippets of the memories of the people who owned them, and are a creative method of revealing Fragile’s mysterious story.

It is the story that seems to be this game’s strongest point. Yes, the game involves combat, including “bosses” that you must battle, hostile ghosts, violent birds, and giant mutant dogs (not to mention jellyfish…), but if you are looking for an extremely complex battle system, this title is not for you. Throughout your journey, you will discover new weapons (sticks, paddles, etc.) as well as meeting up with a mysterious (spirit?) merchant who will sell you new items. Your weapons fall into two main classes: melee type (sticks and other whacking items) and long-range type (slingshot, bow) that Seto can use to help navigate his way through the world. However, combat is primarily the “hack and slash” type, simply a means to proceed to the next plot revelation.

As a result, a large portion of Fragile involves exploration as you search for items to help you progress through your journey, utilizing your flashlight to help look for clues to unraveling the mystery. In this sense, Fragile is like a traditional point-and-click adventure, and is part of the reason I’m so excited about it as an adventure junkie. However, traditional survival horror fans can also find satisfaction in that the game plays very much like a traditional Silent Hill type game as you navigate dark corridors searching for keys, building maps, and battling demons and ghosts.

The game also features an inventory management system in which you are limited to what you can carry in your bag; thus, you must decide what is necessary for your quest and what you can leave behind, adding an interesting strategic element to the game. The world has fallen into decay, and because of this you will occasionally find danger in your surroundings: While exploring decrepit buildings, floors can collapse if you run across them too quickly, or you can risk falling off high places (such as the roller coaster track in the rusted over amusement park).

Thankfully, the controls are simple and “waggle free”: the remote serves as your flashlight (and directs the camera), which you guide around the room to examine objects. You interact and fight with the “A” button, crouch with “C,” navigate with the nunchuck, and zoom in with the B button to examine items more closely. You use the control pad to bring up your inventory and other menus. Similar to the upcoming Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, the Wiimote speaker alerts you to hidden dangers, growing louder as the threat gets closer.

The game is beautiful, with cinematic cutscenes that bring out the intense emotionality of the story, whether it is the pain of a ghost longing to be free of this world, or Seto’s own anguish and struggle with loneliness. Art and quality story are combined with a movingly beautiful soundtrack, certain to bring tears to the eyes of at least this gamer. The art, story, and music combine to create an immersive atmosphere that is certainly bound to be one of the best experiences on the Wii console to date.

[Sources: XSEED Games, IGN.com]

       

Tags: fragile, fragile: farewell ruins of the moon, namco bandai, RPG, seto, survival horror, Wii, xseed

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 13th, 2009 at 11:35 am and is filed under Featured, Previews, Wii. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.