Stop Stress: A Day of Panic (WiiWare) – Review

A WiiNintendo game review by hattrick.

Game – Stop Stress: A Day of Panic
Developer – Abylight Studios
Platform – WiiWare
Obtained – From Abylight Studios and TriplePoint (review copy)

Introduction
Stop Stress: A Day of Panic is unlike any other game I have played. As far as I can tell, you are this stressed-out guy who is taking it out on everyone and everything that gets in his path. Abylight Studios markets Stop Stress as a humorous anti-stress game where you let out your frustration by destroying everything.  You start off by breaking alarm clocks in your apartment, and continue from there to a traffic jam, your office, etc.

Gameplay
The gameplay takes a first-person perspective as you swing various weapons. As you progress through the levels, you move up from your slipper to a baseball bat, sledgehammer, axe, etc. Each has its advantages over the other. I went into this game, thinking that it was going to be something like Rampage, where you just destroyed as much as possible before moving on to another level.  Unfortunately, this is not the case. Instead, you are charged with finding and destroying hidden items (i.e. alarm clocks) in your apartment. All the while, you have enemies, in various forms (bees, bugs, spiders, toilet monsters, miniature stick-people, dynamite, old janitor men, zombie cops, traffic-light monsters, and rats), coming after you, adding to your stress, and ultimately keeping you from your goal. This is frustrating, to say the least.  Instead of alleviating stress, it adds to it.  In fact, if you do not accomplish your goal in the set amount of time or before the enemies attack, you get a “game over” because you were too stressed out.  There are 3 gameplay modes (easy, medium, and hard).  I did not try anything besides easy, due to it being difficult enough.  The most annoying part about gameplay had to be the bugs, rats, birds, spiders, and other random enemies that constantly stopped you in your tracks on your quest to just destroy things.

Controls
Using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk seems like a logical choice for a game like this.  However, once you start the game, you will quickly realize that there needed to be some additional testing done. While most first-person games on the Wii allow you to look around with the remote, and move freely with the analog stick, Stop Stress dares to be different.  You will look around with the analog stick, swing the remote to attack, and move with the control panel to pre-determined positions around the level. Later, you will also obtain the ability to throw items by holding down the A button and motioning a throw with the remote.  Not only is this confusing, but it often made me feel sick to my stomach. All the while, I had to deal with the numerous enemies coming at me from everywhere. To top it off, every time an enemy attacks, you are not allowed to move from that spot until you defeat every one of them.  Running is not an option in this game.

Visuals
Looking like it was taken right out of a comic book, Stop Stress is not a horrible thing to look at; however, it is also not something graphically brilliant. While there are limitations on the size of a WiiWare game, Stop Stress looks like it could have been easily done on the Nintendo 64 or Gamecube. The movements are a bit jumpy, and like I stated earlier, this made me sick to my stomach many times.  This was not only an issue I ran into, but friends who were watching also felt this sickness.  With that being said, everything looks like its real-life counterpart would in a 3D video game.  It is more the transitions, and overall blandness that I disliked.

Sound
Of all the elements of Stop Stress, I think sound was its strong point. Throughout the game, the noises and music added to the feel of being stressed out. I often felt as if I was really in the main character’s shoes. The beating heart increases the more stressed your character becomes, creating an intensity that is unlike other WiiWare titles.

Concluding Overall Impressions
While this might be called an anti-stress game, I felt more stressed by playing it. If the control method was changed to allow you to move anywhere with the analog stick and took out the annoying enemies, this could have been a great WiiWare title.  I believe making those few changes would have even made this game quite enjoyable, and it probably would have become the instant stress-reliever that they had hoped for. Instead, it suffers from being a difficult-to-control, lackluster title that will probably move to the bottom of the list, getting overlooked as gamers choose from much better games.

FINAL SCORE: 1 out of 5

For more information on Stop Stress: A Day of Panic, visit http://stopstressthegame.com/.

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