Gamertell Review: Help Wanted for Wii
by at August 3, 2009 8:46 am
Sections: 3D, Action, Casual, Consoles, Developers, Exclusives, Game-Companies, Genres, Originals, Party, Publishers, Reviews, Wii
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The Wii’s known as a haven for mini-game collections. The sort of games which take advantage of the motion control abilities, are appealing to a wide audience, accessible to players of all ages and happen to be affordably priced.
Hudson’s Help Wanted is one of these collections. It’s pretty versatile too, with a Job Battle multiplayer mode that offers four ways to win and a Career Fair mode which lets you practice playing the 50 mini-games. The most interesting part is the Employment Office story mode, where all of the games are unlocked and players strive to save the world by taking part-time jobs. It may not be the perfect Wii mini-game collection, but it’s definite one of the more interesting ones.
In a strange world where some people have lightbulbs growing out of their heads and hairstyles which cackle at the thought of gravity (which is probably supposed to be Earth), a grave dilemma has arisen. A meteor is careening towards the planet. The government knew about it, and planned to take action, but somehow the meteor, and what looked like a shadowy figure behind it, destroyed the only known means of tracking and destroying it.
Or so they thought. There’s a large family who loves to lounge around at home and buy things from a home shopping network. It just so happens that the grandfather is an astronomy nut with an extremely powerful telescope. When he and the family go up on the roof to check out the comet he discovered, they learn said comet is the meteor heading towards Earth. Thankfully, the home shopping network was describing a new item for sale that day, a wristwatch-device that allows the wearer to transform into a superhero!
Unfortunately, it can only be bought with points. An insanely huge number of points. And you can only get these points by buying other items from that channel. So, the two eldest grandchildren must get to work, buying new uniforms to unlock jobs and meteor deterring devices until enough points are acquired to save the world!
My arch-nemesis, “Unlocking,” we meet again!
What’s the most frustrating thing about most mini-game collections. Everyone together now, “That we have to unlock most of the games!” Help Wanted is no stranger to that. At least it’s slightly less frustrating here than in other mini-game collections. You acquire new jobs by purchasing new job uniforms from the shopping network. So you don’t need to worry about reaching certain goals in certain games. There is a downside to this though. If you’re horrible at all of the available jobs, it’ll take a long time to acquire new costumes. You may even fail to stop the meteor. Or, if there’s only one job you’re good at (I’ve become a Courier master), you’ll get bored playing the same profession over, and over, and over and over again.
Another annoyance is that shopping from the Home Shopping Network takes up a whole day. I find this unbelievable, because who’s going to spend all day in front of a TV to order one item? Since you’re on a deadline, you’ll often find yourself playing it safe, sticking with the few jobs you do have, rather than going to the shopping network to buy new ones.
And, of course, since Help Wanted is a mini-game collection that relies primarily on motion-based controls, there are bound to be professions where the controls seem silly or don’t work. The Manicurist position became the bane of my existence, since it requires you to turn the remote left and right to properly rotate nail decals and gems into the appropriate position.
Aside from some annoyances, Help Wanted is the way to go if you’re looking for mini-games
Aside from the complaints I had with the game, detailed above, I truly enjoyed Help Wanted. Thankfully, the game’s charm, stylish presentation, silly storyline and multiplayer options keep Help Wanted from being one of the worst Wii mini-game collections. While there are some control issues and the time limit can make you sweat, in general it’s a lot of fun.
At least Help Wanted is better than Carnival Games and Family Party: 30 Great Games. It isn’t as great as WarioWare: Smooth Moves though. Overall, it’s an above average mini-game collection.
Site [Help Wanted]
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