Put your balancing, action & puzzle skills to the test this Christmas as Hydroventure makes a splash on WiiWare
Master the states of water this Christmas on Wii as Hydroventure becomes
available to download for 1200 Wii Points on WiiWare from 24th December
onwards. Hydroventure is a physics based water platformer tipped as the
most hotly anticipated WiiWare game of the year. A WiiWare demo for
this game will also become available on the same day!
Set in an
illustrated magical book called Aquaticus, Hydroventure combines a
true-to-life physics engine that takes on the characteristics of flowing
water, with innovative and intriguing gameplay.
Players must
navigate their way across multiple chapters to rid Aquaticus of a
corruptive goop called the “Influence”, solving puzzles along the way in
order to find Rainbow Drops scattered around the world. Using the three
forms of water – liquid, ice and cloud – players can transform to
continue on their adventure, for instance become a cloud to float to
hard to reach areas, then make the cloud rain to return to a liquid
state, or turn into ice and stick to surfaces..
Players can
“tip” the world left to right to move the water in a realistic motion,
depending on which direction players angle their Wii Remote. By
balancing the Wii Remote in just the right position, players can move
lumps of ice, pools of water or liquid laden clouds through each level.
Shaking the Wii Remote will also make the water jump over obstacles and
help players to complete tasks and challenges.
Fear not, if
all this splashing about sounds like a tidal wave of tricky combinations
to learn, the game offers detailed tutorials that introduce basic game
controls. Once you have mastered the fundamentals, utilise special
powers which can be acquired to take on increasingly difficult enemies.
Beware
though, as the finite amount of water acts as it would in real life and
can be split, trapped or even evaporate. If the water reserves get low,
players can refill their supplies by collecting water found throughout
levels. Water however will be lost if it is hit by enemy attacks, and if
the water touches arid or hot surfaces, such as sand or lava, things
might get steamy and it could be game over.
In order to clear up
the goop, players must search each of the four chapters – Countryside,
City, Mountain temple and Seaside – for Rainbow Drops. To access later
chapters of Aquaticus, players will need to find these Rainbow Drops to
progress and restore the book to its former, colourful glory.
There
are over 80 Rainbow Drops which can be found by exploring each level
and using six different unlockable abilities. For example, in order to
increase their speed when in cloud form, players can use a gust of wind
to propel them forward or hitch a ride on a passing hot air balloon with
the aid of suction power. When under attack, clouds can be charged up
to launch a lightning bolt to destroy enemies and interact with
electrical equipment in the levels. In liquid form, players can squirt
water onto higher platforms or transform into ice form and stick to
walls and platforms for a few seconds to reach their goal.
So
get your Wii Remote steady as you take on all forms of water in an
adventure like never before when Hydroventure & Hydroventure demo
launches across Europe on 24 December on WiiWare.