What do you get when you mix tennis, pinball, and a side-scrolling platformer? You get FlingSmash, an upcoming Wii title that’s being developed by Artoon.
The basics: you’ll use Wii MotionPlus to swing and smash a little fruit-with-hair-looking creature named “Zip” across an ever-scrolling level filled with enemies, blocks, and more. Zip flies across the screen, bouncing off everything in sight. The goal is to rack up as many points as possible (and pick up medals) as you near the stage’s end.
Announced at last year’s E3 as Span Smasher, the title has gone through a few changes, according to Nintendo. Previously, the title was said to only support Wii MotionPlus. Now, FlipSmash requires it, due to some changes in level design that Nintendo says demanded more precision that can only be provided with MotionPlus.
While I had fun bouncing Zip around the screen, I found it difficult to aim the little guy properly at first, even with MotionPlus. Angle was extremely important, and although the game features a small visual of your controller moving in real time in the corner of the screen, it still took a while to get used to. But after a few stages (the final game will feature eight worlds, broken into multiple stages), I was getting it. And then I fought a boss, some gigantic enemy doing a DiCaprio impersonation with a metal mask. By smashing Zip at the right angle, I was able to bounce him and nail the enemy’s exposed face behind the mask.
FlingSmash also features a cooperative mode (with player two smashing Pip, Zip’s female counterpart), although I didn’t get a chance to smash with another player. The game can also be your alternative to beach volleyball — Nintendo has it scheduled for a very general “Summer 2010” release.
