Tuesday, March 01, 2011

GTN2BOXBLA: Wiz 'N Liz

I am sad. Know why? Because Bizarre Creations, creators of the Project Gotham series and the first great XBLA game, Geometry Wars, are no more. What's worse? Knowing that there is virtually 0% chance that Wiz N Liz (or Fatal Rewind for that matter) will ever come out to any downloadable service. It's cool though because Bizarre was awesome enough to host the Megadrive ROM right on their own site: http://www.bizarrecreations.com/games/wiz_n_liz/

Still, I can't help but wonder how sweet it would have been for this game to be released on XBLA. In Wiz N Liz, you play as either Wiz (a wizard) or Liz (a witch). A spell gone bad has scattered all of the rabbits all over their magical land...and it's up to Wiz and Liz to set things right.

Alright, so the game has a nonsensical plot, but the gameplay is super fun, and the music and visuals are awesome. Wiz and Liz play identically, so go ahead and pick whomever you like best. The main objective of each level (which are selected in whatever order the player wants) is to collect rabbits, in turn, collecting the letters they release upon rescue, spelling a word. Once the word is spelled, the rabbits start releasing stars (currency), extra time, bonus letters, and fruit/vegetables. Collect enough fruits/vegetables and you get said fruit/vegetable in your hub world. When you have 2 fruits/vegetables, you mix them together into a magic cauldron, and with any luck you'll get something cool, like an extra life, a bonus minigame, extra points, or even stupid stuff like turning all the rabbits blue. It isn't random; believe it or not, there are 105 unique combinations, each with a particular bonus.

So yeah, that's it; rescue the rabbits as fast as you can, gather fruits/vegetables, get bonuses, repeat. Levels repeat themselves in the sense that when you scroll far enough right or left, the level simply wraps back up with itself. However, each individual level is fairly unique; they are visually unique, have different music, and different layouts.

After you complete every level, it's time for a boss. There are several different bosses depending on the difficulty chosen, and you only get the 'true' ending for beating the game on the highest difficulty. Nothing special, but worth noting.

Now, achievements:

SPLAT: Splat the dudes with enough tomatoes to win an extra life.
Master Alchemist: Mix every possible combination of fruit.
Kind Heart: Rescue every rabbit on a bonus level.
Wiz: Beat the game on any difficulty with Wiz.
Liz: Beat the game on any difficulty with Liz.
What a Freak: Defeat the Freaky Flower.
Snake, Fried: Defeat Snake Eyes.
Cleaned His Clock: Defeat the Creepy Clock.
Savage Beating: Defeat the Savage Pumpkin.
Fire Wood: Defeat the Evil Oak.
Gate Reapered: Defeat the Gate Keeper.
Deadly Dragowned: Defeat the Deadly Dragon.

There. I figured since getting Master Alchemist would take forever, then I'd make the rest pretty easy. Not a great list, but I've seen worse.

-AfroRyan
RIP Bizarre.

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