Preview – Flip’s Twisted World (Wii)

Do you miss the feel of old school 3D platformers like Banjo Kazooie? If you do, Flip’s Twisted World is worth checking out. Canadian developer Frozen North took inspiration from Banjo Kazooie, Spyro, and even newer mascot platformers like Ratchet and Clank in order to get the feel of Flip’s just right, and to set this unique platformer apart from its predecessors, they have implemented a twist – by holding the trigger on the Wiimote and rotating the controller, you can actually flip the entire world on its side or upside down.

No Flip! The coins aren't worth it!

This mechanic is used to solve all kinds of interesting puzzles. Is the chest on a high parapet up on the castle? A quick flip of the world will let you walk up the castle’s walls, and another flip will land you onto a convenient ledge where your treasure awaits. Frozen North didn’t want to punish players too much for getting used to this new mechanic though, and for that reason there are helpful arrows that are colour coded, terrorist alert-style, to let you know if it’s safe to turn the world in that direction. Even if you do fall to your death with a misguided flip, as I did quite a few times, you are brought back to a nearby checkpoint with no penalty. However, if you die in a more traditional way such as by falling too far onto a hard surface, you will be penalized by being thrown back to the beginning of the room.

The scope of the levels was fairly overwhelming at first, as you see many different platforms that you’ll want to turn onto and it eventually gives way to the desire to explore all of it. To aid in the exploration, the game implements manual camera controls, which is a huge relief for anyone who has played a 3D platformer with auto “smart” cameras. Julian Spillane, CEO of Frozen North, emphasized that they wanted to let people explore as much as possible. “When I was a kid playing Mario, I loved finding all the secrets,” he explains, “so I want to give that power to the players.”

Flip’s isn’t just about jumping and exploring either. There are various cartoony monster hybrids for the player to overcome and puzzles to solve. Since Flip is simply a magician’s apprentice who doesn’t know any spells, he uses his massive, possibly borrowed, spellbook to hit monsters with. The classic stomp type attack has been implemented and some enemies will require this super book smash to defeat. There are other weapons to unlock as Flip moves through six different worlds, solving the mystery of the magician world that he has been transported to in order to become a fully fledged wizard.

A book might not work against this one.

One more great thing for Whedonites (Joss Whedon fans): the voice acting of Flip’s guardian is voiced by Anthony Stewart Head of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. Come to think of it, he was a warlock in that also. Julian explains that it is his personal goal to have every actor in the Whedonverse voice act in their games – I can’t wait for Felicia Day’s role! Further adding to the list of talent is Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live fame, who does the musical score of the game. From what I heard at the preview, it all fit very well into the levels.

Unfortunately, the game is in Nintendo’s review process so no release date is set, but we were told Fall of this year. However, it is going to be set at a lower price point as compared to other Wii titles, so this seems to be a low-risk (ad)venture!