E3 Disclaimer: AMN’s E3 previews are designed to inform you of what each game at E3 plays like, and what we think of what’s shown. These previews are not reviews, and we reserve final judgment of each game until it is finished and released. These previews offer an honest opinion of what a publisher chose to demo at E3. So, without further ado, read on.
What the Game’s About
Code Lyoko is one of the hottest animated series to cross the oceans in a long time, but rather than cross the Pacific, this one comes from across the Atlantic—France to be exact. Airing on Cartoon Network, Code Lyoko tells the story of five high-school students (Aelita, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi) who travel into the virtual world of “Lyoko†which is hidden within the basement of an abandoned factory. Its here that they fight against a digital antagonist named XANA who wants to take over Earth by activating towers on Lyoko, which allow him to possess something or someone in the real world. In the game, each stage’s goal is one of the towers. You’ve got to reach it to undo the damage. The Wii game in question here (currently planned for an October release) is directly based off the upcoming 4th season of the series and the two share some story elements.
What’s Hot
The TV show uses a combination of traditional 2D style animation in the real world, and 3D CGI when the characters are in the virtual world of Lyoko (For old timers, think back to the 90’s for another Cartoon Network 2D/3D hybrid series, the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest). Though the game was in an extremely early state with lots of objects still flat-shaded, the visual style of the game is looking like it will near perfectly mimic the style of the show’s 3D animation as the game nears completion. Everything from the menus to the characters animation looks true to the source material. The boss battles in particular featured some clever puzzles that must be solved to conquer them, and the visual style switches over to a highly stylized cel-shading approach for the duration of the fight. Even in such an early state, it looked really nice.
Each of the main characters is selectable (and swappable) and feature their own individual upgradeable move sets and special attacks. They also feature transformations that can be executed to solve puzzles in the game’s five worlds. With the quick action and puzzle solving on the fly, Code Lyoko comes off as a cross between The Matrix and Kameo: Elements of Power.
The controls are also turning out to be quite solid. The Nunchuck controls movement and the Wii Remote does pretty much everything else. The Wii-mote’s pointer is used for all projectile attacks such as shooting enemies on screen. The platforming/shooting controls appear to be pretty tight at this early state. The more exaggerated Wii Remote motions also seem to make sense such as flapping the Remote and Nunchuck to fly (when needed)
Though the game is based off the series 4th season, there are some surprises planned that are exclusive to the game alone including plot points, and original FMV created exclusively for use in the game. Existing footage from the series is also going to be used to help set the mood and tell the story, as well as unlockable artwork from contest winning fans.
What’s Not
The only kinds of 2D art you will find in the game are on the (rather slick) menus. The developers aren’t planning to add any kind of gameplay outside the 3D world of Lyoko because this is strictly a straight-up action title. It seems like a missed opportunity to add more potential depth to the experience.
There are sections of the game that feature rail shooting. During the shooter portions, the controls are awfully loose. You use the Wii-mote’s tilt functionality to move the ship around the screen (similar in concept to the Star Fox mini-game in Wario Ware Smooth Moves), but there is a considerable amount of lag in the response time. The idea is sound, but it’s going to need more polish before release. The sound wasn’t quite presentable just yet at this early state.
Outlook
What we’ve got here is a game that looks to be tailor made for the fans of the series. There’s nothing terribly innovative about the gameplay, so it’s nothing you haven’t seen before in previous games on previous generation consoles. The Wii-mote does add to the experience in almost every way (especially the pointer control for projectile attacks), with the exception of the slippery shooter stages, but as previously stated, the game is still extremely early in development, and barely in the working alpha state. Though there is plenty of room for improvement, the work that has already been done leaves us very hopeful that this one is going to turn out to be a very solid game. Removed from the show on which it is based, Code Lyoko is looking to be a solid platformer in the making that while intuitive in control, doesn’t offer anything truly new. If you are a fan of the show though, you’ve got every reason to be ecstatic about this one.
