Spyborgs

Overview

Released in North America on September 22, 2009, and in Europe on September 25, 2009--Spyborgs is a brawler style action game for the Wii developed by newbie studio Bionic Games. It centers around a team of three cyborg secret agents, each with their own unique abilities, who travel through several enemy laden levels. The game can be played either cooperatively with two players, or solo with the games AI taking control of the second character. There are five difficulty modes, ranging from Novice to Nightmare. The game includes a level-up system, in which players can buy upgrades to increase the abilities of the Spyborgs, and the appearances of the characters will change based on the upgrades bought.

Story

Betrayed and left to die, Stinger, Clandestine, and Bouncer narrowly escape death at the hands of a maniacal traitor. Driven by revenge, and armed with cybernetic enhancements, the Spyborgs must stop their renegade ex-teammate before he fulfills his quest for ultimate power.

Characters

Clandestine -Originally a wandering ninja, she was injured in an accident and was accepted into the Spyborgs program in order to regain her skills through the use of cybernetic implants. She is fast and agile, capable of slicing through enemies with her incredibly sharp blade.

Stinger - A natural soldier and a leader, Stinger never thought he'd be able to continue fighting after getting hurt in a mission. He was chosen as the first Spyborg and gladly joined. He is equipped with an arm cannon that has great range and power.

Voxel- Not a fighter by any means, Voxel was saved by the Spyborg Initiative after barely surviving a car accident. He helps the team by acting as their support, using his cybernetic brain to their advantage.

Bouncer- Unlike the other Spyborgs, Bouncer is actually a combat machine created by Voxel. Though silent and not even human, he is still very loyal and treasured asset to the team. In spite of his lack of agility and mobility, he can charge head on into hordes of foes and deal devastating blows with his hulking arms.

Original Game Design

The original intent of the game was to all-but explicitly parody Saturday morning cartoons, with intentionally stereotypical cartoon action heroes and mini-games between levels that mimicked children's toy commercials. The game would have "played like a full season of a Saturday morning cartoon." There were originally five playable characters: a muscular male leader with a gun for a hand, a svelte female ninja, a hulking child-like robot, and two teenage boys. After being shown at Capcom's Captivate event in 2008, public opinion of the game was found to be lackluster, and the decision was made to make the game more "gritty" and "realistic." While the end result is still cartoonish, it is noticeably less bright and cheery than what was initially shown, and perhaps more importantly, the tongue-in-cheek nature of the game is absent. In terms of gameplay, the two playable boys were removed, as were the "commercial break" mini-games.