It’s no secret that the Wii has had subpar 3rd party support for some time now. For every great 1st party title there seems to be fifty 3rd party games that are not up to the quality standard of Nintendo. It can be hard for the Wii customer to find solid games that don’t have Mario or Link on the front cover. However, there are instances where the Wii strikes gold and receives a great 3rd party exclusive game. This time it’s Bit.Trip Complete from developer Gaijin Games. Originally a WiiWare release, the Bit.Trip series consists of six intuitive mini games that all rely on fast reflexes in time with musical cues. All six games are different in their own right, and each is included in Bit.Trip Complete along with some great additions. With only a $40 dollar price tag, those who have all six games will see enough content to revisit the experience while those Wii owners who have never played a Bit.Trip game will receive a warm introduction.
Bit.Trip Complete offers all six Bit.Trip games presently on WiiWare: Flux, Beat, Core, Void, Runner, and Fate. All share the same premise of connecting game mechanics to beats of music. However, each is done in its own unique way akin to the Atari games of old. Flux and Beat play like Pong; the player rotates the Wiimote up and down to reflect pixels. They both feel basically the same, but Flux is more complex overall. It’s impressive that the motion controls are precise enough to give the player a fair challenge for the harder and more complicated challenges. Core uses the control pad to shoot down projectiles in four directions as they come on screen. Void has the player control a black orb to move it around the screen and collect black pixels while avoiding the white ones. The orb gets bigger the more black pixels the player collects so it becomes harder to avoid the white pixels. This forces the player to manually downsize at certain times so finding the perfect balance of size and maneuverability is the key for success.
Runner is my personal favorite, probably because I’m a sucker for a good platformer. Players control the main character, Commander Video, who is constantly running, making button presses the only way to avoid obstacles and collect gold. This is heavily trial and error based, as any misstep causes a respawn to the latest checkpoint. While this could be frustrating for some, getting the perfect button presses in time with the music is a fantastic feeling of accomplishment. Fate is an on-rails side-scrolling shooter. Gamers must stay on the rail itself but can move back and forth along its differing paths to avoid and shoot enemies. This proves to be an engaging and difficult shooter. All six games share rhythm based game mechanics and the retro style, but are different and unique enough to give six distinct experiences.
One thing that needs to be addressed is that this game is addicting. Each game requires simple controls with levels that start off easy, but as the player progresses the levels get more intricate and difficult. A new difficulty setting is available (easy, normal, hard) that will satisfy both the casual and hardcore Wii fan. On the easy setting, more mistakes are allowed with less intricacy that will likely appeal to fans that have never played a Bit.Trip game before. On the other hand, the hard difficulty will satisfy the hardcore Bit.Trip fan as it makes an already difficult game all the more challenging with much less room for error in each level.
Bit.Trip Complete isn’t merely six games on one disc. There is enough content added for fans of the series to pick this up. Along with the new difficulty selection, Bit.Trip Complete adds 20 new levels via the Challenge Mode to each of the six games amounting to 120 new levels in all. These levels are polished and overall harder than the old levels giving the sense that care and effort went into creating them. New unlockable bonuses are awarded for beating certain levels – a treat for hardcore Bit.Trip fans. These bonuses include concept art, remixed music, cutscenes, and developer commentary. An online leaderboard has been added to see how scores stacks up. It’s nice to see a substantial online component in a Wii game. Also thrown in the deal is a soundtrack CD containing 18 tracks of Bit.Trip’s central tunes. After going through all of the content on the disc, it’s clear that this is no mere compilation.
Both the graphics and sound are purposefully retro. The 8-bit presentation gives the game an overall classic feel. What’s most impressive, however, is the unique fusion the game makes between the game mechanics, graphics, and sound. Each part works together in how the game plays, which is rarely seen in other games. When playing the game, the player must pay as close attention to the surrounding objects as to the musical cues for successful completion of a level. This tandem that Bit.Trip Complete makes between graphics and sound is one of the most unique experiences out of the Wii library.
Bit.Trip Complete delivers a great package for those who already own all six games and those who have never played a Bit.Trip game before. It’s a creative and ridiculously addicting experience that blends together 8-bit graphics with rhythm based game mechanics. For those Wii owners who are looking for a fun game this holiday season, Bit.Trip Complete is a must buy.
