Nick the Genius

Tonight I have enjoyed two things for the first time, and I would like to share my first impressions. So without further ado:

Deangerous Creatures (Wii):

As any of you who have a Wii know, there are two kinds of games you can play on it. The first are games made my Nintendo and the others are crap. This makes Dangerous Creatures somewhat of an anomaly. The game was developed by Rainbow, who I had never heard of, and published by THQ, not a publisher normally on my radar. And, oddly enough, for a Wii game, it has A-list voice actors, a high level of polish, and a truly unique concept.

The game starts with a voiceover by Billy Bob Thornton, which tells the story of a mysterious gas station fire that has injured a local ne’er-do-well. It then quickly places you in the role of a tarantula as you navigate the dangers of the desert: hunting prey and fighting off predators. Halfway through the level you switch away from the spider and take over as a scorpion. The actual story elements are told in game, as the insects encounter, at least from afar, the goings on of the human world above them. It is a very different way to tell a story, and does its job of making you play on. For example, you hear loud thuds and the sand begins to shift and fall around you. As you skitter closer to the source of the noise you hear two humans, voices muffled, talking about digging up a body. Later in that level you crawl across the half buried skeletal remains of the above mentioned body.

If that brief description does not get you interested, maybe the graphics will. While you would never mistake this for the HD gloss of the 360 or PS3 the graphics are richly detailed, run at a sooth frame-rate, and the creepie-crawlies animate with frightening realism. Compared to the shovel-ware that developers heap on the Wii as a way to cash in on its remarkable success, Deadly Creatures is a real standout. If you own a Wii, and want a reason to actually turn it on once in a while, we need more developers to make games like this, and they never will if you don’t buy it.

Dollhouse (Fox):

I am a huge Joss Whedon fan, and cannot honestly say that I have disliked anything he has ever done, so take my impressions with a grain of salt. 

Much has been made of the fact that this first episode was not the originally planned or shot pilot, and that many have taken this to be a sign of trouble. As someone who morns Firefly, this is completely understandable. If you compare the first shown episode of Firefly to the one originally shot and then make a 1:1 with last night’s Dollhouse you will be familiar with my chief complaints. The episode focused too heavily on the open and closed story of the episode, and left us with way to many questions about who these characters are and what exactly the Dollhouse is. Motivations and backstories are almost nowhere to be found, or at least you really have to be paying attention to see them. 

I can see what happened now: Joss wrote a sweeping beginning to his new tale and Fox thought that it strayed to much form the popular CSI/House formula to be accepted by a wide audience. So a new story was crafted to make it conform. But it is in spite off all this that Dollhouse shines. The concept is so different and the glimpses of greatness are too many to not want to see more. And isn’t that the whole point of a pilot?