Wonder Trek (Playstation)

 Among the many prominent and exciting translation patches that have been released in recent times, it feels like Wonder Trek kind of fell by the wayside, and didn't really get the attention it deserved. Which is strange, since I'm sure a basic description of what kind of game it is has at least one element that appeals to a wide range of different tastes and interests: it's an isometric open world metrovania with Prince of Persia-esque platforming, 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds, and Dizzy-style "use the item in the right place" puzzles.

 

You play as an explorer, accompanied by an elderly professor, exploring a jungle island. There's lots of animals, many of whom will attack you, and you fight back by hitting them with a piko hammer until they get annoyed and run away. Sometimes there's plants that'll attack you, too! Sometimes, an animal will talk and ask for help, like the giant catfish with an upset stomach who asks you to go inside and fix it. It turns out that he's inadvertantly swallowed an ancient golden harp. Plus he's also full of aggressive parasitic worms.

 

It's the open world element that really impresses in Wonder Trek. When you start playing, you'll find a set of giant bird footprints going down a particular path away from your camp, encouraging you to go that way. But you really don't have to! Once I'd figured this out, I started going down the other paths and found all kind of interesting things: a spider-infested fungus forest, a dungeon with traps and seemingly man-made traps in a volcano, a very aggressive pitcher plant (which was also a boss I've not yet been able to beat), and more! Most importantly, every path I took either resulted in my reeiving an item that could be used to go further down a different path, or a dead end where a specific item is obviously necessary to go further. So it's a game that's actively designed around encouraging exploring the world its built for you.

 

The movement and platforming were both a little surprising, too, and they take a little getting used to. I call this an isometric game rather than a 3D one despite the world being made of polygons because the camera is always in that same position diagonally above you, plus you can only move in the four cardinal directions, but shifted forty-five degrees. So every time you load it up and start playing, there'll probably be a few seconds where you re-orient yourself with which cardinal on the D-pad correlates to which diagonal for your character's movement. When you're paniccing in some of the more complex platforming/climbing situations, you're also likely to wiggle the pad a little, attempting to make precise movements in directions that don't exist in the game. Or at least I did.

 

As for the platforming, like I said: it's kind of like Prince of Persia in 3D. You can jump a certain distance and height, and the distance is a little further if you're running when you do so. You can also grab onto the edges of platforms and vlimb up onto them after jumping, as well as climbing down to grab onto the edge of the platform on which you're standing, to drop down a little more safely. Sometimes, there'll be something high up that the professor wants to see, and you have to escort him there. He's not as agile or strong as you when it comes to jumping and climbing, so how this works is that whenever you're hanging from the edge of something, he can jump far/high enough to cling to your back and you can then climb up with him on you. It mainly just makes things a little more time-consuming, and it's a slightly unusual take on the concept of the escort mission. But it is still an escort mission, and those are always worse than just letting the player get on with things.

 

Though it's got a few little shortcomings, like escorting the old man every now and then, Wonder Trek is a game that's definitely worthy of your time and attention. It's fun, interesting, and full of charm. I don't really have much more to say about it: seek it out, and play it!