Death Jr.

05.06.2008

Death Jr., the latest brood of the reaper, primary pupil, friend of the black-eyed Pandora and a good-for-nothing without equal. Not that he puts his foot in it on purpose, no, but his plans and adventures unfortunately always rebound on him. DJ and Pandora only want to undertake a project for their biology lesson, and a bit later both have to try to save their skin, or bones.

However, anyone who thinks they are taking on two goldfish had better get the big fishing rod from the shed. DJ and Pandora stop at nothing. Neither at revived, aggressive cuddly toys, nor at robots as tall as houses. The control by Wiimote and Nunchuk is astonishingly solid and uncomplicated and exactly what the PSP counterpart is missing. Once more it demonstrates what a good control is.

Right from the first chapter you are completely lulled in by the cute-morbid comic world of "Death Jr.: Root of Evil". All the levels spread much charm and come up with different themes. You pass countless lanterns, which shine on green meadows, colourful bushes and restless trees. While you are still amazed at the terrifically implemented pet cemetery, the game catapults you into the next hyped-up world, packed full of letter dice, Lego bricks, joysticks and TVs. You are right in the middle and have to beat up nasty mushrooms, gigantic spiders, insect robots and stocky soldiers, to name but a few. In certain levels the depiction of the enemies overlaps with the gaming world and you don’t see the red opponent in front of a red background until it is too late. Fortunately that rarely happens and, on the whole, does not dampen the gaming experience. Briskly you fight your way, master jumping sprees, solve puzzles or other tasks and amuse yourself about sayings in a great (English) speech output.

With the Nunchuk you manoeuvre your character through the decent environment and let the scythe or whip rip with the Wiimote, and even act like a gunfighter. Anyone on the move with Pandora carries around a kind of bone whip including machinegun strongly reminiscent of the Mafia, instead of the scythe and two guns. By repeatedly pressing one single button you start three strikes with your swinging- or cutting-tool, whereby the last one really does the damage. Only one downside: If you are on the edge of an abyss you better rely on things that shoot. In particular, DJ often falls down somewhere after a sweeping movement. This either leads to another sightseeing tour of the already explored level areas or fatally, in the case of a lava flow, as landing strip. So, call up the aiming system with the Z-button, aim at the opponent on the screen with the Wiimote, like with a lightgunshooter, and blow him away! This works fine and after a few practice shots you flatten a whole horde of chickens running amok, while you move in all directions.

The difficulty increases nicely from one level to the next, so the fun remains. At the beginning you are having a comfortable walk and free a few mushrooms here and there from their caps. Later you will have your hands full when bombs shoot out of the ground incessantly and everywhere, you are being shot at with machineguns from sniper's towers and disagreeable contemporaries throw thorny fireballs at you. Apart from that, the game offers heaps of different types of opponents, which all require a different approach. In matters of approach you soon have several versions to choose from. Apart from new brutal close combat attacks, which are performed by swings with the Wiimote in different directions, you get a whole lot of weapon parts. These can be located with the aid of an acoustic signal and collected. Your standard weapon usually serves you well, but sometimes heavy artillery is called for. That is rocket launcher, shotgun, C4 laden Hamsters, burning-toilet-paper-throwers or either a gun that electrifies your opponents or a coldblooded cannon that freezes your adversary. Yes, we can live with that, and moreover cause a lot of havoc. Especially in a game of this nature which boasts an amazingly high number of destructible objects.

"Death Jr.: Root of Evil" is a game that has given me hope in many respects. In particular, the graphics in "Death Jr.: Root of Evil" give a good guideline for other Wii titles. Astonishingly detailed textures make up the large part of the very beautifully modelled worlds. Light effects during fights are amazing; explosions, however, are only on a small scale. Pompous, visual fireworks have deliberately been left out, and that is precisely why the attention focuses on the basics. And the basics cut a fine figure. The random background music is alright; however, sooner or later you get fed up with it and you simply ignore it. Not that the music is bad, but there comes a certain point when you just don't listen anymore. Everyone has to decide for himself if that is a good or bad thing.