Wet Hands on Fluidity

Not too long ago, I heard somebody called WiiWare a failed experiment. While I disagree with the judgment, I can appreciate the reasoning. Compare WiiWare's offerings to those found on Xbox Live Arcade or the PlayStation Network. There's definitely a gap. WiiWare needs more quality games – games that make a great first impression like Fluidity.

Fluidity is a tilt-controlled puzzle game, currently making its debut at PAX. You direct water through trap-filled mazes inside a magical book by tilting the Wii Remote back and forth. The puddle of water will split apart if you direct it over gratings, holes, or gaps between moving platforms. Though there are occasions when you need to divide the liquid, you must typically be mindful not to lose too much water in the different pockets of a labyrinth. Fortunately, there are bubbles that restore lost water (or add the original puddle) if you locate and pop them.

At multiple points, you need to convert your water to gas or solid, but neither form was in the PAX demo. I could only play the tutorial and the first stage. The puzzles start out very basic. Likely, they are designed to teach you the basics such as how to jump over gaps in the ground (flick the Wii Remote up in your hands). But soon, things turn more complex as you roll the water through treacherous spinning platforms that threaten to completely break up your puddle or must somehow float a fish back to its bowl in order to receive a Rainbow Drop, which appears to be the in-game currency for unlocking stages.

Fluidity handles remarkably well. The correlation between tilting the Wii Remote and the screen were spot on and any failure to keep my puddles together was entirely my fumbling fault.

Nintendo did not give a release date for Fluidity. The representative at the Nintendo booth only said "soon." Maybe that will be 2010. Maybe it will be early 2011. Either way, it's on my radar and should be on yours, too.