A Splash of Amusement – SPRay Reviewed

Throughout the years there have been a number of games that have attempted to duplicate the formula for The Legend of Zelda. On the surface, this task would seem relatively feasible for a competent developer. Simply create a hub overworld, pepper it with a handful of puzzle-filled dungeons, each solved by the creative use of in-game equipment. While the blueprint may seem uncomplicated, a successful execution isn’t always achieved. Sphinx and The Cursed Mummy, Okami, Alundra, and Rocket Slime Adventures have all tried, with various degrees of success, to reproduce the formula.

With The legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess having just passed its second birthday, the timing could be right for a Zelda-inspired title on the Nintendo Wii. While a deluge of mini-game collections, casual fare, and remakes of older titles have been developed for the system, a scant number of action puzzlers have been made. SPRay, developer by EKO Software and published by Tecmo, attempts to fill that gap in the Wii’s software library.

                           Gush contemplates accenting the window frame with a fresh coat of vomit.

As the game begins, the peaceful village of Ecoia gathers around a crystal sun, as they eagerly await the annual address of their king. The joyous occasion is violently interrupted by a meteor, sent by a malicious force. The impact of the space rock is devastating- the king becomes gravely injured, the crystal sun is shattered, and an evil band of creatures is unleashed throughout the land. The monarch realizes death is imminent, and bestows his magic crown to his son, Ray. As the prince puts the crown on, two figures appear, granting the player with a remarkable ability.

Players coat the environment with five different liquids- from water, slime, ice, antimatter, and vomit. As first, puzzle solving is completely intuitive- water extinguishes flame, while vomit covers black holes in the game’s landscape. As the title progresses, puzzles get a bit more devious. Slime is a powerful adhesive that can support the weight of Ray’s body, making for some clever environmental brainteasers. Thankfully, the puzzles never get frustrating, and hints are doled out liberally to the player.

Players control Ray with the nunchuck’s analog stick, while the Wiimote in used to aim a small on-screen targeting cursor. With the directional pad, players toggle through the five liquids to coat the environment with. With a press of the B button, liquid is dispensed, leaving its mark on the environment. Additionally, the Z button is used to lock onto an enemy, or to center the camera when no adversaries are present. The control scheme is reminiscent of Super Mario Sunshine and is effective until multiple enemies are engaged. When the player gets surrounded by several goo-lobbing antagonists, frustration will ensue, as some enemies require a myriad of hits to dispatch.  Luckily combat isn’t the central focus in the game.

                                 Who knew stone was flammable? It is if you live in the land of the crystal sun.

Graphically, SPRay is a competent title, with a framerate that’s generally fluid until multiple enemies appears on-screen.  The title’s strength is its depiction of a persistent world; every patch of ice, vomit, or slime will endure in the game’s environments until it’s overwritten by an adversary.  While this is a novel feature that makes for a realistic world, it does come at a price- the game uses 128 blocks for a game save. Wii owners short on internal memory space may have to do some cleaning before playing SPRay.

Our main gripe with the game is the title’s tendency to respawn enemies- dispatch one lower-level foe and a meteor chunk quickly creates another.  Coupled with the lack of any visceral thrill derived from killing antagonists, combat becomes a nuisance, instead of a rousing reprieve from puzzle-solving. Oddly, the action-based multiplayer games are surprisingly fun and offer a number of interesting variations.