Konami's Electrifying Adventure

Where were you when the lights went out? Elebits belong to the uniquely Japanese genre of adventures starring mischievous spirits. Its household setting will remind you of Chibi-Robo (whose friendly li’l robot is a kind of spirit, after all) while the variously colored tiny sprites are pure Pikmin.

Features* Explore rich interactive environments, find Elebits and use them to power up equipment * Move with the Nunchuk while using the Wii Remote to push, grab and shake virtually everything in sight * Increase your lifting ability, which opens up even more exploratory possibilities * Race against a friend to collect the most Elebits

Elebits are tiny creatures who are the source of the world’s energy. (Judging from their adorable little squeals and toddler-style running, they’re the world’s source of cuteness, too.) A few Elebits are rash enough to walk around in the open, but most hide. It’s your job to find them. Playing as a young boy, you scour your darkened house for these elusive creatures, grabbing them by simply pointing the Wii Remote and pressing the A Button.

Each Elebit carries a set number of watts. For example, the easily frightened red ones tote 15. When you get enough watts you can power up electrical lights, appliances and toys. You can also open doors and turn on what must be the world’s only electric toilet. Switching on a gizmo invariably startles more Elebits out of hiding. Grab ‘em before they get away!

Best of all: Because It's a Video Game, There’s No Mess to Clean-up! At heart, Elebits is an exploration game set in some of the most interactive environments yet to grace a console. Virtually any object that you could move in real life can be moved or manipulated in Elebits. Shake potted plants, overturn statues, grab pictures from a wall, pull books from a shelf, punch switches, put an old CD in a shredder – you get the idea. Objects carom off each other realistically. You can even stack them. The possibilities are seemingly endless. In its own subtle way, Elebits is a terrific showcase for the Remote/Nunchuk controls. Moving an object is a snap – just point your trusty Remote at it and press A. If it still won’t move, try shaking it. The drawer-opening mechanics are particularly cool.* You point and hold down A while pulling on your Remote to open the drawer. Stuck? Perhaps a baseball bat or flashlight is blocking the way. Just pick it up and move it aside, then try again. However, if the blocking object is too heavy, you’ll have to come back later after you have built up strength. Start harvesting those electric sprites!*Now, there’s a sentence you never would have seen before the Wii came along.