Wetrix is a puzzle game that was released on the N64 in 1998 and the Dreamcast in 1999. This game was also released on the Game Boy Color and PC. It is an interesting puzzle game and has a lengthy backstory concerning the game’s development.
It is always fun to stumble across a game that was well received and sold well. Wetrix wasn’t a huge success, but it did sell well enough. None of my friends talked about puzzle games that I can remember. If they did, then they didn’t bring it up. Most of these games weren’t really party games or had four-player modes.
Just because I didn’t hear about it when I was a kid doesn’t mean this is a terrible game. There are plenty of games I didn’t know about because I never really paid attention to video game news. I didn’t have a subscription to video game magazines for very long, and the few that I did have didn’t leave much of an impression on me.
Looking at the demo screen for the game, this looks like it should be a fun game. There are a few things that I don’t like right off the bat, but I’m going to give the game a shot. Let’s see what Wetrix has to offer.
TLDR: A Great idea that doesn’t result in a good game.
Narrative
Wetrix is one of the many puzzle games that doesn’t have a story. This is one of the games that doesn’t really need one because the gameplay is self-explanatory. All you need to know is that you have to build up the playfield and form lakes.
Gameplay
I have no idea if I like the gameplay or not. Wetrix has some great ideas, but I don’t think this is one of the games I’d want to come back to. The controls are good, and the game is challenging. There just isn’t much of a reason for me to want to keep playing this.
You drop things onto the playfield much like other puzzle games. With Wetrix, you’re trying to create crates to hold water. It is one of the more interesting takes on a puzzle game that I’ve seen. Besides the Tetris like pieces that can raise or lower the ground, you also have some special items.
These are kind of cool, and don’t always help you. Here is a list:
- Fireball – Drys up lakes
- Bomb – Can blow a hole in the playfield
- Water – This is what you’re trying to trap on the map
- Icecube – These freeze a lake that you’ve created
There are quite a few game modes for you to mess around with. They’re standard modes that you’ll find in most puzzle games. There isn’t a story mode, but I don’t mind that here.
This gets mentioned in the reviews for the game, but I have to say I agree with it. Wetrix is missing a four player mode and something like a battle mode. Not having these is really keeping the game from being an awesome party game.
Overall, the gameplay was okay. It felt like I was looking for a reason to enjoy this game because it felt like I should. This is one of the games that I like the idea of it, but don’t enjoy the gameplay as much as I initially thought I would.
Visuals
Wetrix uses an isometric angle to fake a 3D look. It is a little confusing when you’re first looking at the game, and lining up your pieces can be rough. This isn’t a terrible looking game, but it does take some time to get used to how everything falls.
The developers gave everything a shadow effect to let the player know where things were going to land. While this is a good idea, it takes a while for you to get used to it. I didn’t find it to be as useful as it was intended to be. It was still hard to line everything up in a way to contain the water.
There are some animations in this game that look great. I like the fire effects, the bombs, and how the water falls. These effects look very good, and I kept thinking about how a battle mode could’ve used these. Like dropping bombs on another player’s grid.
I do like how the playfield looks, and it is easy to tell which direction you’re moving parts of it. The game tells you when a piece raises or lowers the ground. Some stages are easier to see than others.
Wetrix is a bright game, which is a good thing! It helps the shadows stand out. This is one of those cases where the muddy look of the early N64 games works for me.
Overall, I don’t like the graphics that much. It feels like it makes the game harder at the beginning of the game. I did eventually get used to them, but it made the game very frustrating. It isn’t all bad, but I did feel that the graphics had a negative impact on the gameplay for the first few games I played.
Reviews of Wetrix at the Time
Wetrix received a lot of reviews when it was released. The scores are mostly positive, with only one outlier that I can find. It received scores between 5.5 and 9/10. I looked at four publications for this.
EGM had four people review this game. Their scores were three 5.5s and a 6/10. They didn’t like the game, calling it “frustrating” and that the game played “too randomly.” The reviewers also called the game “solidly average.”
GamePro gave the game a 4/5. For some reason, Wikipedia treated this like four people reviewing the game, when it is just the publication giving you its scores in four areas. The reviewer recommended this game over Tetrisphere.
GameSpot gave the game an 8.8/10. The reviewer called it a great game, and then went on to give some suggestions for a possible feature. They did enjoy the game, but wanted more from it.
IGN gave the game an 8.4/10. The reviewer called this a “high quality puzzle game.” They pointed to a few flaws in the game, specifically calling the camera “a pain in the butt.” What they really liked was how Wetrix showed that there is still room for “innovation and originality” when it comes to puzzle games.
There weren’t too many puzzle games on the N64 at this time, so they didn’t have a lot to compare this game to. The reviewers brought up similar problems with the camera sticking out to me. This was a common problem in games at this time, as many developers were struggling with bringing their games into 3D.
7/10. Wetrix is an average puzzle game that has a lot going for it. I really wanted to like this game more than I did. The graphics were my biggest problem with this. There were also a few features that could’ve pushed this game in the right direction. The gameplay is fun, but not fun enough for this to be a great game.
Pros
- The gameplay is fun
- Challenging
- I like the idea of the game
Cons
- Confusing Graphics
- Unclear end goal
Conclusion
Wetrix was a little disappointing. It has much of what I enjoy from other puzzle games, but none of it really came together for me. I would rather go back and play other games, such as Pokemon Puzzle League, Tetris Attack, or Kirby’s Avalanche.
Even though I got used to the graphics after a few games, I never really warmed up to them. This does look like a generic puzzle game that has a cool premise. It doesn’t help that it took me longer than it needed to for me to get used to the game.
While none of my friends talked about this game back in the 1990s, if I had known about it, I don’t think I would’ve played it. This would’ve been a disappointing weekend rental. There is something here; I just don’t think it elevates this over the other puzzle games.
I’m not sure if this game got a sequel, and I didn’t come across one when I was looking up information on it. This is a little disappointing because it would be interesting to see where the developers went with a second Wetrix. This has the bones for a great multiplayer game, and it would’ve been fun to play a battle mode of this game.
If you liked this post, check out some of my other posts about Puzzle games. Such as Pokemon Puzzle League or Dr. Mario 64.