''Helix'' is a

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

for

WiiWare WiiWare was a service that allowed Wii users to download games and applications specifically designed and developed for the Wii video game console made by Nintendo. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the Wii ...

by Ghostfire Games for 1000 Nintendo Points. The objective of the game is to accurately copy gestures with the

Wii Remote The Wii Remote, also known colloquially as the Wiimote, is the primary game controller for Nintendo's Wii home video game console. An essential capability of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact ...

to the beat of the music. The game encourages players to use two Wii Remotes to play, and features 26 music tracks from independent musicians. ''Helix'' was released on August 25, 2008 in North America and on September 26, 2008 in Europe.

Gameplay

The player is required to copy the arm motions of a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

that dances on screen using their Wii Remotes. The player is first shown the motion, and then must perform it afterward, similar to the game

simon says Simon Says is a children's game for three or more players. One player takes the role of "Simon" and issues instructions (usually physical actions such as "jump in the air" or "stick out your tongue") to the other players, which should be follow ...

. A "Rhythm Track" scrolls across the top of the screen, indicating to the player when it is time for to do the motion. When the robot does a move, a "Move Bar" appears on the Rhythm Track. The Move Bar starts traveling left on the Rhythm Track after it appears. The player must then time their motion so that it is halfway completed by the time the center of the Move Bar passes by the halfway mark of the Rhythm Track. Once completing the motion, if the Move Bar turns green, the player has performed the gesture correctly, if it turns red, the move was performed incorrectly. In addition, like other music games, ''Helix'' also features a gauge that fills up with every successful move, and depletes with every failed move.

Development

''Helix'' was designed with as "a video game that happens to burn calories as a side benefit". In order to keep the game under the 40mb size limit imposed by Nintendo, the developers used various technologies such as

music visualization Music visualization or music visualisation, a feature found in electronic music visualizers and media player software, generates animated imagery based on a piece of music. The imagery is usually generated and rendered in real time and in a wa ...

instead of custom animation, and used audio compression to fit the 26 songs into the game.

Reception

''Helix'' received an 8.0 out of 10 from WiiWare World, saying "as it is, ''Helix'' is a refreshing entry into the rhythm action genre and, without a doubt, one of the more worthwhile additions to WiiWare. If you weren't a fan of such titles before then we don't expect you to be won over by it, but if you enjoy a fun game that tries something different (and succeeds) then we can heartily recommend Helix to you. It is definitely worth the asking price." GameFocus were also positive, scoring ''Helix'' an 85/100, the reviewer noting "I was blown away by the unique gameplay and simple concept behind the game, which makes this one of the best Wii and downloadable games this year. If you enjoy rhythm games this one will be one of your favorites." In contrast,

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa dist ...

gave the game 4.3/10, citing "shallow" motion controls and "blah" visuals, and showing little fondness for the game's techno soundtrack. GamingTarget did two reviews of the title due to opposing views by their writers. One reviewer found fault with "the lack of precise movement, uneven challenge, and uninspired music selection" of the game, while the other felt that Ghostfire made "a fun, but bare-bones package" and called for a more fleshed-out edition.Patrick Mulhern's GamingTarget Review
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References

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External links

2008 video games Rhythm games Video games developed in the United States Wii games Wii-only games WiiWare games Multiplayer and single-player video games