The first Wonder Project game was released on the Super Famicon about 2 years ago. It was an innovative game where you helped to guide a young robot named Pino through different everyday situations. Enix redoes the project in 64-bit style and brings out only the fifth Japanese N64 title thus far. Here in the U.S, we have already exceeded that number and can expect a lot more releases before Christmas is upon us. The main character in the Nintendo 64 version is a robot named Josette who is Pino's little sister. Whereas the previous N64 releases have all showcased its graphical power and special effects, WPJ2 does not offer anything innovative in the way of sparkling graphics. What it does give the player is intensive character animation and off the beaten track game mechanics. Like Pino, Josette is a blank slate - a child who has a lot to learn about the ways of the world and you're the teacher.
Wonder Project does not fit into any simple category. It defies labeling under conventional game genres so we'll have to make up a new category for it. On the simplistic side, it could fall under the category of 'character simulation' where you interact with an onscreen character. This neglects the learning side of the game where Josette takes on knowledge and retains it for her future experiences. With this in mind, WPJ2 can be considered an artificial intelligence simulator as well as a character simulation. Josette personifies an animated model of artificial intelligence and an emotional creature who gets angry and becomes happy or sad with the different situations that she encounters. She is also affected by what you tell her and will internalize any information that you give her. She will ask you questions if she does not understand something and will continue to ask if your answers are not satisfactory to her. In this way, Josette can be considered your child and you'll have the arduous task of teaching her right from wrong. Like a child, Josette will not hide her emotions - everything comes out without inhibition. Her many facial expressions convey her emotions very well and you'll get to see her in her happy state, in her sad state and in her angry state among her other states of emotional distress or elation. We humans are a curious lot and have a lot of emotions to deal with. A pity that a robot like Josette has been saddled with emotions too. She can get very angry which is somewhat disturbing to see and it isn't the easiest job to get her back to a calmer mood. The right suggestions, cues and time will eventually bring her back to her normal, sweet self. As you and Josette go along in the game, she will grow in knowledge and her abilities will expand as she moves towards self sufficiency. She'll need the experience because there are a lot of social scenarios to be encountered and dealt with.
Josette's personality and intelligence is an intriguing model powered by the Nintendo's 64-bit engine and Enix's refined logic program. Josette is very convincing as the innocent, ignorant child who needs to be guided in a world that she is unfamiliar with. Her curiousity and child's energy have the potential of bringing out the paternal or maternal instinct in us all. It could get to a point where we might start protecting Josette from the dangers of a crazy world. Josette moves freely in the game screen and animates well. When she wants to ask you something, she will walk up to the screen, voice her inquiry and wait for your reply. Once she gets her answer, she'll walk back into the distance and ponder what you have said and plan her next line of questioning. If you decide to ignore her questions, Josette will pace back and forth and continue to ask until you finally answer her. The game may sound tedious and to a point it is because Josette asks a lot of questions. I found the game interesting but it is something that will eat up a lot of your time as you help your young charge learn about basic rules, social norms and how best to handle different stressful situations.
The introduction to the game is an unimpressive albeit colorful sequence where you watch Josette ride on a ship to the world where she will finish her education. In the intro, you see that her creator, Dr. Geppeto dies. He is the man who created Pino, Josette and other mechanical people that are known as gijin. Josette is his finest creation but since he dies before her education is complete, it is up to you to help teach her and turn her into a fine young lady. The quality of the intro animation is poor in some spots - the camera zooms look extremely rough when the view focuses in on a structure. This is clearly a matter of lax programming and not a hardware problem on the N64s part because the character animation in the game runs at a lively clip. One clear limitation of using cartridge roms over CDs is that there are no spoken voices in Wonder Project 2. I have become accustomed to listening to voice acting when an onscreen character speaks on the Saturn or the Playstation. There is simply not enough room on a rom cartridge to accomodate the storage requirements of digital voice data so we have to be content with text based conversations. The upcoming bulky drive should help to alleviate this problem but the first bulky disc title is not due out for another 3-5 months (Zelda).
You control and communicate with Josette using a robotic bird. This bird is capable of conveying emotions with facial expressions and bird-body actions. This is helpful because if you tell Josette something that is misleading or contrary to what should have been said, the bird will cross its wings in an 'X' shape. A proper answer will result in the bird forming an 'O' with its wings. You thus have an animal guide to help you along the way with Josette's education. Josette keeps an eye on the bird all the time so you will always be able to make her listen to you by using the bird as your onscreen messenger. As you continue with the game, you will slowly discover an evil force that is growing in the world. It is integral that Josette be able-bodied enough to help you take on this evil force so all of your training and education will pay major dividends.
Wonder Project J2 was reviewed by Peter Mui and Teddy W. Jung; HTML by Nicolas Kim. © NCS 1996