Developer: Shiny Entertainment Publisher: Interplay

Release Date: Sept. 30th, 1998 Platform: PlayStation

Wow. I wouldn’t want to be that guy…

I used to love Shiny Ent. back in the day. They gave us Earthworm Jim, MDK and RC Stunt Copter. After a couple iffy games (Messiah, Sacrifice and a couple of Matrix games – ’nuff said) they got bought out and that was that.

But I will always thank them for Wild 9.

‘Torture Your Enemies’ was the slogan used. And as protagonist Wex Major, he dealt out the torture like no one else at the time. In today’s conditions, a game that touts torture as a form of entertainment would more than likely be shelved for, you know, forever. But in the late 90’s, it was fair game.

And come on, your enemies are robots with green juice in them (but could strangely feel pain…huh). Regardless, screw those guys.

The premise is straightforward enough. Wex and his ‘Wild 9′ friends (B’Angus, MacSheen, Volstagg, Boomer, Pokkit, Crystal, Henry and Pilfer) are a bunch of rag-tag orphans out to stop the evil Karn and his plans to take over the universe whilst simultaneously finding Wexs’ parents. Levels are divided into several planets and each new planet comes with new opportunities for unnecessary cartoon violence. And herein lies the draw of the game.

It’s called ‘the Rig’. It’s a glove-backpack combination that releases a sort of electric whip/lasso that can be used for anything ranging from throwing your enemies around to swinging from place to place ala Indiana Jones to lifting heavy objects. But let’s be honest here; who gives a crap outside of using it on your enemies? God I wish I had one of these things – fun times a-plenty!!

There is only so much you can do with such a contraption, however. Is the Rig a gimmick? Absolutely. Is it still fun as hell? Damn straight. Wild 9 is at its core a platformer – jump, shoot, gimmick. That’s how it works.

The way Shiny set things up was giving said gimmick as many varied uses as possible (as much as can be allowed in a mainly 2D viewpoint that is). Not only can you pick up an enemy and slam them against things (feel free to toy with them a little – it pays off, trust me), but you can use enemies as a sort of ‘death-cushion’ against the games various pitfalls – of which there are many. Let’s say you are standing in front of a double-wheeled meat grinder. You can’t jump over it but there is a enemy spawn point near by. So why not pick up a few bad guys and feed them in? Awwww look, the meat grinder shorts out and explodes. Nice. Is there a fan blocking your entry into a secret area? Jam a baddie in the blades- just don’t lollygag, you’ve only got so much time. Bed of spikes got you down? Why not line them with corpses? That’ll get the job done. It’s a trial-and-error process to be sure. Difficulty does ramp up a bit when you’ve just rescued one of your colleges and have to assure their safe passage. Of course, they all have their own special powers that just happen to be useful during said rescue. Go figure.

An upgrading system is in place and while it’s not very in-depth, it gives a good reason to make that little effort (an overly effective Rig upgrade is always awesome…yay burning!!). Gathering ‘gears’ is the ‘gold-coin’ of the game and lends another continue when 100 are collected. The occasional health/weapon upgrade drop off from MacSheen is also a welcome occurrence.

Of course, downsides do exist. The hair metal soundtrack is downright annoying. The voice acting and script are terrible (‘Wexcellent’? really?!) The graphics were dated even when it was first released. And although there are several planets, aside from backgrounds and various space races/battles in between, there is little to distinguish one planet from another. But for some reason, I always found these things to be easily looked past. And I do have to say that one of the bosses, Nitro, is so massive and huge that fighting him is one of the greatest joys this game has to offer.

If you’re looking for a little something for your dusty old PlayStation (or your shiny-new PS3) that brings you back to the days when people took things a little less seriously, try and find a copy of Wild 9. It’s becoming a little hard to find these days, but with a little effort you’ll be OK. Will you play it from start to finish? Maybe. But for however long you play, it will be one fun, if not cliched and corny, ride.

Overall – Then: 7.5 Now: 7 out of 10

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