AMN's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Remember Elebits? The cute point-and-shoot tech demo-esque Wii launch game from Konami? Well, Konami's latest Wii effort is even cuter, cuddlier and in fact more fun than Elebits. Despite sharing a similar visual style with Elebits, Dewy's Adventure is different in every other regard. The game is a platformer/action game in which you maneuver a droplet of water named Dewy through colorful, stylized worlds by tilting the Wii-mote. You'll also have to employ special elemental powers to best enemies and solve puzzles, as Dewy is tasked with the job of saving his world and the Elder Tree from certain demise.

What's Hot
It's all about gameplay when it gets down to it, but it's hard not to think about graphics – or at least art direction – when you see Dewy's Adventure. In Elebits fashion, the game looks colorful and is realized by creative art direction. Everything looks very simplistic, but the mix of brilliant colors gives the title an instantly unique graphical style.

Gameplay is more important, however, and it's here that, despite its kiddy presentation, Dewy's Adventure surprises. Zelda fans in particular will feel right at home with the game, as it is focused around exploration and puzzle solving. Additionally, the title employs platforming-esque level design, which requires you to maneuver Dewy up, down and around the vibrant worlds he explores. Konami combines these two things well, and as a result, the game's creative level design allures you into playing more and more of the game. What's more, the environmental puzzle-based boss fights are some of the better parts of the Dewy experience and keep you wanting more.

A large reason why Dewy's Adventure entertains is because of its imaginative, artistic level design. You'll explore green forests, icy mountains, the insides of a volcano and much more. These locales aren't exactly original or new – every platformer has them – but Konami's implementation of them is attractive, thanks to the waterfall of pastel-like colors and unafraid personality throughout.

There's also Dewy's elemental powers. With the D-pad, you can turn Dewy from a blob of water into several different forms, one of which is ice. These different forms lend the droplet appropriate elemental powers. For instance, using the power of ice transforms Dewy, as well as the world around him, into ice, letting him quickly slide across newly frozen ground as a block of ice. There are other powers, too, and each functions differently than the last.

Finally, although Dewy's Adventure looks incredibly kiddy – let's face it, it is – the game packs a surprising amount of challenge. This means you'll find yourself satisfied as you play through the obnoxiously cute platformer.

What's Not
The art direction and overall style of Dewy's Adventure works, but the cute attitude is a bit too in-your-face. The music, the smiles, the graphics – they all cohort upon you in full force, and the sickeningly cute flamboyance can become a turn-off. This is unfortunate, because had Konami toned it down even just a little, more people might be able to pick up, tolerate and enjoy what is otherwise a fun platformer.


This is not to suggest Dewy's Adventure is flawless when it comes to its gameplay design, though. The opposite is true; there are some fundamental issues that plague the game, the biggest of which is a forced control scheme that hurts more than it helps players. The entire game is played with just the Wii-mote – held sideways, NES controller style – and is tilted to control the game's environments. In a very real sense, you are controlling the world around Dewy, like a platform in Super Monkey Ball, not the water-blob character himself. This can result in frustration. For instance, it's difficult to maneuver Dewy back and forth on screen with the tilt controls, and it's not uncommon to accidentally send Dewy sliding in the wrong direction.

Last but not least, Dewy's Adventure's voice-acting is fantastically bad. It's hard not to laugh – and cry – as the narration continues onward. You'd turn it off, but its so-bad-its-good demeanor ensures you don't – or can't. Nonetheless, we have a message for the developer of the game. Konami: please make it stop.

Final Word
Dewy's Adventure is a cute, lovable and entertaining Wii title. Although the cute exterior of the game is a bit over-the-top, it's this style that gives the game its undeniably unique personality. More importantly, however, the game features fun, varied world design. Konami's level design mingles well with Dewy's elemental powers. That said, it's unfortunate that the Wii-mote controls negatively impact the adventure. Traditional analog control would have worked better in the long run, as the tilt controls prove to be too imprecise, bringing more quirks to the experience than ease of use. If you can get past the obnoxious level of cuteness and wearisome controls, though, you'll uncover a cheerfully fun Wii platformer.