Fluidity is one surprising little Wiiware title. On the surface, it’s just another physics-based puzzle game, but it ends up have more in common with Metroid than anything else as you gain more and more abilities. And just like in Metroid, at the end of the game when you’re finally all powered up, you feel like a bad-ass. A bad-ass puddle of water.
At the start of the game (oh, how that feels like it was so long ago), all you have is this puddle of water that you control indirectly by tilting your remote to tilt the level itself. Your puddle of water will slosh around and behave like water should, and you can make it jump by jerking the remote upward (the only flaw in the controls: it doesn’t always seem to work when it should). Your goal will be to collect Rainbow Drops and to achieve that, you will have to solve simple puzzles: find a rubber ducky and bring it to a bathtub, navigate through watermills, douse some fires… simple stuff.
But that is just the beginning, as you will soon begin to collect new abilities, the first being the water bomb. By pressing and holding down a button, you can make all your water gather together, which opens up all sorts of platforming possibilities. What’s more, holding down the button long enough will make the ball of water explode in all directions, useful to reach certain places and knocking away obstacles.
Eventually, you will gain the ability to transform into a block of ice, and again, that new form will open new challenges and puzzles: you will be knocking down crumbling walls, using launch pads that will sent you flying at dizzying speeds, pressing down switches, and more things your liquid form couldn’t do. And at some point, you will gain the ability to become a cloud and fly freely through the levels, though you will not be able to push switches or move anything with more mass than a balloon.
There are several more abilities to gain for each of those states, but I don’t want to spoil them. All I will say is that you will be impressed by the variety and the versatility of your moves by the end. It was hard for me to even remember what the early gameplay was like, because I have been sliding and swinging and slingshotting my way through the game for a while, now.
There are over one hundred things to collect in the game, but the game is by no means a collectathon: each Rainbow Drop will have to be earned. You will have to solve puzzles that are at first simple, but become more and more complex as you progress. The puzzles will involve several steps and have you switching from state to state, yet they never feel like busywork. They never seem to repeat. They simply flow naturally: as you complete one step, the next one becomes obvious, until at the end you collect your reward. It feels rewarding every time, even if they are not the most challenging. That said, there are several real head-scratchers in there that I have no clue how to tackle, thankfully you don’t need them all to finish the game.
Fluidity has really taken me by surprise. There is no flash here, it is one of the most unassuming games I’ve ever played, with its calm music and simple visuals, but there is true depth to be found in it. It is also the lengthiest single player adventure I have played on Wiiware so far, with no padding. It does not recycle its own ideas over and over, and instead constantly reinvents itself.
If you don't have a hard time accepting that they didn't mind the controls, why do you have a hard time accepting that they rated the game as high as they did?
@Zero Then ban me. When you start basically lying and misrepresenting what I've said in this thread, and then claiming I've insulted you and that I'm touting some sort of conspiracy and that I said things I clearly did not, you have what's coming to you.
@Secret_Tunnel Here's what I said earlier in one more probably pointless, futile attempt to show I've been consistent in my position on this subject in this thread:
"And actually FYI, good game reviewers do exactly what you just described. They look for things that could potentially be a problem to people playing the game and point them out, even if they aren't a big issue to them personally."
And again:
"I just think the jumping controls could have been handled better, and more than one person on this board has agreed with me about that. You guys are willing to give Nintendo a pass on clunky, lazy jumping controls. I am not."
Ok but we both know that I didn't lie and that I didn't misrepresent anything. I clearly pointed out where I'm coming from, and I've heard no logical reasoning why what you said wouldn't apply to me other than vague "I wasn't specifically targeting you" despite clearly targeting groups I am a part of. If you don't think that applies to me in any way, that's fine. I do, and there is nothing wrong with that, and to state so isn't misrepresenting anything, it is based on things you clearly said that clearly apply to a clear group of people.
Fine, that's over and done.
But if you think that means you can ignore the rules, you're wrong. I'm not going to ban you. I am going to tell you that it's not acceptable here to start insulting someone just because you perceive they are misrepresenting you. Not me, nor anyone else here. It's your decision as to whether you continue down that path.
"And actually FYI, good game reviewers do exactly what you just described. They look for things that could potentially be a problem to people playing the game and point them out, even if they aren't a big issue to them personally."
Do you believe reviewers should alter their score because of potential problems that didn't affect them personally? I don't- as far as I'm concerned, the more subjectivity in reviews, the better.
Though I suppose that's another reason to have scoreless reviews.
@Zero No we both don't know you didn't lie and misrepresent. That's pretty much all you've been doing since this discussion started. Would you like me to start listing them? You've lost the argument and been unable to break me down and are out of ammo, so now you're going to claim that me pointing out how completely irrational and fanboyish you've been in this thread is breaking the NW rules. Nice. Just ban me now and get it over with then Fuhrer.
No, it's not. You can believe it is if you want, but it's not. And that is the main reason why it is an issue that you're resorting to personal attacks. But actually, personal attacks are never allowed here. Sure, it happens and it's not an insta-ban, but we try to keep it from progressing further.
So really, stop taking things to a personal level with insults. Seriously, do you want to continue down that path? Yes, of course, if you think it is ok to continue insulting someone over and over, it can result in a ban. That's true for anyone here.
Just to clarify, no one has ever been banned from the decision of a single moderator. That's not even how it works. "I" won't ban anyone, because I don't make those decisions in a void.
So calling me a conspiracy theorist is not a personal attack? Blatantly lying about what I've said in this thread isn't a personal attack? Start obeying your own ground rules if you expect others to do the same. How nice for you that after breaking your own rules you can pull rank whenever you want and start wagging your finger at whoever you want about the rules after embarrassing yourself on your own forum about a video game.
Well considering I never lied, no that's not a personal insult. It's a miscommunication. And I never called you a 'conspiracy theorist' I said that you turned people's well intentioned reviews into some kind of conspiracy to boost platform exclusives, which is pretty close to what you did.
Whatever the case I hope you're not actually trying to equate that to implying that someone is Hitler. I mean really, you do see the difference, right?
Yeah you did lie. Would you like me to start listing the erroneous stuff you've posted in this thread? And by your logic, that's pretty much the same as calling someone a conspiracy theorist, which could easily be construed as an insult. Since you've abandoned all pretense of actually defending your failed position on Fluidity, are we just going to argue about who has insulted each other more now? As owner of Negative World, you're sure setting a great example. Keep it up!
I didn't abandon any "failed" position, it just turned completely fruitless after it was clear that we weren't going to see eye to eye.
And no, I'm not going to argue about who has insulted who more. I'm telling you what you can't do here. Again, it's your choice what you want to do with that knowledge. But calling people fanboys, irrational, and relating them to Hitler, etc. will not be accepted. That should be pretty clear, no?
I'm trying to keep this from exploding further, while you seem to be intent to stoke the fires. Well, whatever the case, it's up to you now.
But calling people conspiracy theorists and lying about what they've said is acceptable. Got it. Or at least it is as long as Zero does it. Being the owner of the site gives him the prerogative to bend the rules whenever he sees fit, and then to enforce them whenever someone is saying stuff he doesn't like. How convenient.
I'll be happy to do that just as soon as you start doing the same. And if you were really that interested in this not exploding further, you'd just exit the thread since this is pretty much a two-man thread at this point. But we both know you won't do that, don't we? :)
Well, I'm trying to see if you're actually concerned at all about the way you have been throwing insults around. It's kind of my job to figure these things out, you know?
And again, the comparison isn't even close. You think I lied, simply because we see things differently. Fine, you can believe whatever you want to. I certainly never called you a conspiracy theorist as we have already gone over, but you're allowed to believe that as well. Whatever the case, I don't think I have ever on this site equated someone to a man responsible for millions of murders, and I haven't been every other post calling out your rationality nor claiming that you're some kind of blind fanboy.
I know you're upset over the argument but you need to take a clear view of things and understand that you crossed a line that I was nowhere near. If you can't do that, then you can at least stop continuing the insults. That'd be a nice first step. I have a fair amount of patience in general, but there are certain things you just don't say to people.
No you lied because you fabricated stuff I never said or came close to saying. And yes, you pretty much did call me a conspiracy theorist. You're very good at self-justification and playing the victim when it suits your own ends. Or maybe not so good since I can see right through it.
Oh yes, there are certain things you just DON'T say to people. Like I insulted your mother or something by calling you a fanboy lol. Gimme a break. Would you like a hug?
I'm not upset over this argument at all. I'm actually morbidly curious to see if you're really going to ban me over this. I think you would actually do it and are just looking for a reason at this point. Quite amusing actually. :)
Anyone 100% this game? I only have flowers and puzzle pieces left to collect...and it's suddenly very tedious. There don't seem to be any clues leading to the flowers (other than showing how many you've collected on each page), and you have to get near the puzzle pieces before you can see their glow. And the game doesn't tell you how many puzzle pieces are in each chapter, either.
Shame, because until now I was loving it. Fluidity is definitely one of the best Wii exclusives and a steal for $12.
EDIT: Also, there is one narrow path leading to a puzzle piece and a flower that I can see in the first chapter (western part of the left page, above the ducks-in-the-tub section), but there's a breakable wall in front of it and no way to turn into ice in the vicinity. It's had me stumped for like an hour so I need to ask for a tip or I might go crazy.
