A retrospective on Eledees

Despite the major selling point of the Nintendo Wii being motion controls, it’s surprising how few games actually took advantage of them. Sure, Nintendo put out the Wii Sports package, but that was about the best example, and it was there on day one. For most games, the motion controls and functionality of the Wii Remote were an afterthought, and it really showed. In their Wii debut, Konami fashioned a game that really understood what the Wiimote was about, and used its abilities for all it was worth. This was the charming Eledees, and this is a look at why I loved it.

You’re set in a world where electricity is provided by small, adorable creatures called the Eledees. The parents of our protagonist, Kai, are leading Eledee researchers and, after a lightning strike leads to a power outage, they head off to investigate. Kai is bitter about this, so he arms himself with his dad’s capture gun and sets off to help save the world. It’s simple, but the narrative isn’t really the crux of the game (and thank goodness for that – one of Eledees’ major flaws is that the voice acting is horrendous, with Kai in particular boasts a real nails-on-the-chalkboard sort of voice).

No, the major draw is using the capture gun mechanic, and it’s great fun. By aiming the targeting reticule with the Wiimote, you are given near free reign throughout a bunch of charming environments. The gun can lift objects and move them, and it’s really very intuitive. An object shaking indicates that there may be Eledees hiding behind them – when they’re revealed, you aim your gun and fire off bolts of energy to capture them.

Some of the physics is a little bit wonky

This is a fun set-up, but it comes with a surprising level of strategy too. The objective of each level is to capture a certain number of Eledees (measuring in electrical wattage) within a certain time limit. But its about more than this – you also need to collect power for the capture gun. You do this through certain types of Eledees, but you need to power up certain appliances to be able to actually find them. Boosting the gun’s level means that you can lift up heavier objects, but you need to hit a certain target to actually be able to power them up. Although you’re most obviously collecting Eledees, succeeding in the game means balancing this objective with boosting your gun, and it’s tough.

Some of the physics is a little bit wonky, particularly when you notice that everything seems to have the same consistency when it hits the ground. This is forgivable, however, because it’s so fun just moving around and breaking things, just because you can. And, despite the time limit, it is fairly breezy, especially when you start acquiring gun power-ups to aid you in your Eledee collection. Even under time pressure, the charming style and easy objectives make it more fun than stressful. The only place it ever gets particularly iffy is in a poorly put-together multiplayer mode, which is a curio that you probably wouldn’t ever try more than once.

I’m not going to claim that Eledees is anywhere near the best game on the Wii. But it is one of the few games that truly understood what the console was all about, and made a game that really suited it. It’s intuitive and easy to get to grips with, but mastering the game takes time – fortunately, it’s so fun, you’ll happily sink hours into it. Years later, I still return to Eledees because it is that enjoyable, and there’s not many other Wii games I can say that about.