The basic story of Spyborgs [from what I gathered] is that you are a member of a secret group of heroes. A group that just happens to be called “Spyborgs”, since the members of the organization is half human half cyborg. However, one of the members goes rouge and decides to attack your group. His goal is to take out the Spyborgs and harvest their cybernetic parts, to upgrading himself to be powerful enough to take over the world. That’s where your group made up of three characters decides to stop him. These characters are archetypes to classic beat ’em up style; one is to be fast and weak sneak, that average guy, and strong and slow behemoth. The characters aptly named Clandestine, Stinger, and Bouncer in retrospectively.
The most interesting thing Daryl told me was that originally Spyborgs was suppose to be an interactive Saturday morning cartoon like light hearted brawler-platformer, with a slight puzzle or mini game sequence thrown into the mix. The problem was that game wasn’t working out to great the way it was being built and the only amazing thing about the game was the brawler beat em up sequences. So they scrapped the original game idea, and made it into a more born grinding beat em up exclusively for the Wii.
However, like all Wii games released on the Wii there is going to be a mixture of motion controls and regular controls. This is where Spyborgs stands out, as it doesn’t make you use the motion controls to attack. The game is simply a button pushing game, until you want to pull of finishing combos or use special team attacks. Even then it’s simplistic movements that from the alpha build I was playing seemed to work pretty well. You move the Wii Remote or Nunchuck from your waist to your upper arm and a quick motion, or you did the same thing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuck from your chest outward in a thrusting motion.
There is also and on screen point and click control feature called “spyvision” which you use to find hidden secrets. Secrets that are containers full of experience points, health, and finisher points; sometimes you could also find secret control panels in obscure places that open up exploration to other areas. Which was also simple as well as you would highlight a camouflaged crate with a circle, and the circle would automatically increase in size. Then you would just press the A button and shake and the Wii-Remote a bit and it would appear.
Another unique thing about this beat em up is that you can use the experience points you gain from finding secrets, or defeating enemies to power up your Spyborg team. Allowing you to swap out new weapons and armor that appear on your character changing the way they look and fight. Finisher points are used to pull of special attacks, and special co-operative attacks where both you and your team mate have attack an enemy juggling him in the air in succession.
As of right now I have some high expectations for this game as it really looks promising so far. I can’t wait for a good arcade style beat ’em up on the Wii. What do you think about Spyborgs? Is it your kind of game, or do you not fancy those “beat ’em up” style games this day and age?
