It’s time for another action packed Wii game! I’ve been on a roll with this console and Centipede Infestation was definitely the next title on my list. I mainly bought this game because it was supposed to be similar to Alien Syndrome and also because the title is pretty intense. I got it for a cheap price, but it’s a very fun game that I would highly recommend for the Wii!

The plot revolves around Max, The Bug Slayer. Earth has been overtake by Centipedes and other insects and all of the flowers and plants have died. One day, Max meets up with a girl named Maisy who is able to grow gardens. She needs to head back to her main base of operations, but getting back there will be dangerous. Max decides to escort her there since he may as well and they decide to go. What dangers will befall these two along the way!?

The plot is pretty simple. The game explains towards the end how this all happened and I feel bad for the Government since it sounds like they were taken down pretty quickly. The situation is effectively hopeless for the heroes since they would need to destroy all of the insects to win back the Earth. Max basically accepts this so he just goes around destroying as many as he can while having fun. He does take a lot of pride in his work after all. If there were more heroes, then they would have a chance. Essentially, destroying large insects can make a garden grow immediately, so Max just needs a few resistance fighters with him and they’d be okay. It would be an Attack on Titan situation where they try to protect a little land and slowly move to conquer more. It would take a while, but it’s basically the only option still available for the humans.

Max is the main character and he’s pretty cool. He has accepted that he is the only person brave enough to fight the insects and he has become pretty skilled at it. Give him a blaster and the insects don’t stand a chance! He befriends one of them, but things get a little dicey for Max and the ending is quite tragic. At least he didn’t mean to shoot, so that helps Max in my book. He’s not an all star character, but he makes for a good lead.

Maisy is the main heroine and she’s really the only form of civilization that we get to meet. Everyone else is hiding out at the town. Maisy runs a garden business and she goes across the planet planting them. The apocalypse has slowed down her business, but she still tries to make time to plant some new ones. She’s a pretty solid character and she always tries to keep Max in check. I’m hoping that she picks up a gun and decides to help more in the sequel.

There’s also a ghost kid who meets up with Max after he is separated from Maisy. He has a different name than Max technically, but I believe that he is supposed to represent Max’s kid self. Unfortunately, I can’t say that he’s very likable. He mostly tries to verbally take shots at Max whenever he can and he’s constantly taunting the poor guy. No, the ghost kid definitely wasn’t up to snuff and he ran once the going got tough.

The gameplay is basically the same as Alien Syndrome. In case you haven’t played that (excellent) game, here is how it works. The gameplay is overhead (Although not completely overhead) and you’ve got the blaster. Some levels are very enclosed as if you are in a boxing ring and you have to destroy all of the insects to win. They’ll keep coming out of the bushes and you have to keep your finger on the trigger. You can also stomp, but that’s only useful for the underground monsters and it leaves you wide open for attack. The Wii remote can make things a little dicey, but it works out decently well for this game. It doesn’t hinder it as much as it would hinder other games and I still found the gameplay to be a lot of fun.

There are power ups to be found across the levels and they range from increasing your fire power to nuclear explosions that can defeat any enemy in one shot, except for bosses of course. My favorite power up was the laser blasts, but the explosions are a close second. Picking your power ups can be a tactical decision because they only last for a few seconds and you can run out of space as you can only have 4 different ones at once. Picking up something that just leaves you vulnerable like the acid bombs could get in the way of a solid laser pick up.

There are 40 levels in this game. That’s a solid amount, but they are pretty short so you should be warned. Each level may be 2-5 minutes long so you can roughly finish the entire game in 2-4 hours. That is a little short, but it still does have a lot of levels and there is an achievements system as well. I ended up earning most of them and I almost got a Gold Medal in each level. That definitely would have been pretty cool and I just missed a handful towards the end. There is also hard mode and insane mode where you can really see if you have what it takes to stop the insects. I haven’t given them a try, but they definitely sound like a lot of fun. The levels could be a little easy at times so this is just what I need!

The graphics are decent. I do applaud the fact that there are voices for the characters and the cutscenes appear after every level. We also get completely animated cutscenes once in a while. The animations can be a little retro and more like a really old cartoon, but I’m just glad that they were there. The graphics may be a little underwhelming, but you really won’t notice all that much while you’re busy blasting aliens. That is the important part to the game after all.

The soundtrack is all right. There aren’t many different tunes in the game, but the ones that are there are decently catchy. You’ll likely enjoy them as you are crushing the bugs and then forget about them afterwards. That’s good enough for me since they aren’t bad tunes and they won’t hamper your experience. I would prefer for the tunes to be more memorable, but we can’t have it all.

Overall, This is a very good game for the Wii. 40 levels is a solid deal and the plot is pretty sound. They put more effort into the cutscenes than one would expect and the main characters are pretty good. The game never gets repetitive and it’s very easy to just pick it up and play. I actually took a break from it for several months and it was still just as fun when I jumped back in. I would definitely be up for a sequel and that would be a lot of fun to experience. Now, was this game quite as good as Alien Syndrome? I would say that it is slightly inferior to Alien Syndrome because the choice of weaponry is more limited and there is no level up system. I did love those after all. Of course, this game does have a level select and it has a Lot more replay value. Both games definitely have their pros and cons so it is a very evenly matched battle. Nonetheless, I definitely recommend checking this one out! After all, who doesn’t like a game where you have to fight giant insectoids!?

Overall 7/10