Wildwood Down Review
Wildwood Down is a humorous point-and-click mystery, rooted in the love between brother and sister.
Title-Screen representing menus in front of block letters that say “Wildwood Down” Against a sunny blew sky waging war with angry storm clouds.
Crashable Studio’s Wildwood Down is a fun point-and-click adventure. Its epic story tells of the devotion between brother and sister. Its characters are brought to life through great animation and voice acting. They challenge adventurers with a variety of fun and interesting puzzles that invigorate problem solving skills. Although the inability to label saved games may make it difficult to remember where adventurers left off after a break, A handy hint system insures that adventurers won’t be stuck for long. The characters live in lovingly-crafted pixel-art settings that tempt adventurers to enter their screens and become part of the location. The music is appropriate for a summer celebration. It fits the scenes. Wildwood Down is a great game adventurers will immensely enjoy.
Wildwood Down starts with a road trip to the beach. It wisely introduces adventurers to the core cast and teaches them how to use the interface in a relaxed way. The mouse controls all of Daniel’s actions: movement, speaking with characters, gathering and using items, and saving and loading the game. Wildwood Down ingeniously teaches adventurers how to play without separating them from the story
Daniel and his sister Becca are driving with friends, Dakota, and Josh, to Wildwood New Jersey for some sun and fun during Senior Week. Left-clicking on a character compels. Daniel to speak to them. During the conversation, Adventurers learn that it’s Becca’s birthday. Daniel wants to give her his present. Adventurers aid him by left-clicking on the inventory box on the lower-left corner of the screen, then left-clicking on the sweater, the left-clicking on Becca to give it to her. After Becca receives it, a conversation occurs where we learn that Danial sees the world differently from others. This is because Daniel lives with Down Syndrome. The character is inspired by a real person. The game shows that despite the condition, Daniel is capable of looking after himself, with a little help from adventurers. Pressing "Spacebar " reveals all the clickable hotspots on the screen. One such hotspot is the window. Left-clicking on it makes Daniel lower it. After hearing disparaging comments from Josh, Daniel decides to to teach Josh a lesson by throwing his stupid hat out the car window. Adventurers help him out by left-clicking on it, then left-clicking on the window to lower it. Once it’s open, Adventurers help Daniel complete his task by left-clicking on the box, left-clicking on the hat, then left-clicking on the open window. These actions cause Daniel to throw the hat away. Once its gone, the story progresses. The tutorial is a wonderful starting point for this epic adventure. It does a great job of introducing the love between Daniel and Becca. That familial love provides the catalyst for all of the challenges to come.
Four Pixel-Art Characters, Daniel, Becca, Dakota and Josh Driving to the beach at Wildwood
Sometimes it’s necessary to take breaks, especially after a long car ride. Wildwood Down has a way to save the game and return to it later, The save slots are organized by date. Adventurers save their game by pressing “Escape” Left-clicking on “Save” and left-clicking on an empty slot. There is a helpful “Autosave” function. Adventurers access it by left-clicking on “Continue” from the Title-Screen. It saves at the moment the software is shutdown. Although this feature is helpful It would be easier to remember where adventurers left off after breaks if they could type their own homemade labels using the keyboard. The hint system helps keep adventurers on track a little bit but homemade typed labels would be better.
Adventures load the game by pressing “Escape;” Left-clicking on “Load” and left-clicking on an occupied slot. Hints are accessible when adventurers left-click on the light bulb in the corner of the inventory box, or by pressing “Escape” and left-clicking on “Hints.”
Daniel’s arrival at Wildwood intensifies the story. Becca disappears while Daniel gets snacks for the group. He needs to find her by exploring Wildwood. It's filled with bright colors that evoke summer. Blue, yellow, red green. At night it’s shrouded in darkness softened by the moon’s silky white light. My favorite time is day because everything is brighter.
Image of Daniel standing in front of a closed beach on a bright sunny day
Daniel’s arrival at Wildwood intensifies the story. Becca disappears while Daniel gets snacks for the group. He needs to find her by exploring Wildwood. It's filled with bright colors that evoke summer. Blue, yellow, red green. At night it’s shrouded in darkness softened by the moon’s silky white light. My favorite time is day because everything is brighter.
The music fits the story. It was too loud for me so I lowered the volume at the options menu. It also allows adventurers to skip timed events, that is helpful for those with slow reflexes.
The wonderful voice acting gives each character a soul. It helps adventurers care about them. I enjoyed the interplay between Daniel and his conscience. “Don’t patronize me conscience!” is my favorite line in the game. It provides insight into Daniel’s mischievous yet heroic and independent nature.
Daniel meets many different characters during his adventure. They are animated well My favorites were Willy and Miggy. Willy zooms about in his wheelchair. He gives Daniel a map of the area. When adventurers left-click on a location the map depicts, Danial finds himself transported there. It makes traveling more efficient. Willy’s valuable gift makes backtracking efficient.
Miggy also helps Daniel with transportation. She drives him to places beyond Wildwood. My favorite place is the car crash. Despite the tragic event, I enjoyed the crisp brown and green colors of the grass and dirt. Daniel also captures a turtle using a statue. I have never captured a turtle before. It was a unique experience.
Image of Daniel and Miggy talking at the beach. After Daniel thanks her for helping him, Miggy says, “You would have done the sane for me.”
I also enjoyed the wrestling competition that occurs near the finale. Daniel’s opponents give subtle clues about how to defeat them. Adventures will enjoy deciphering the correct strategy to defeat each opponent.
Image of Daniel Wrestling. All of his moves Low, Medium, and High, await selection with the mouse on the left side of the screen.
Wildwood Down is a fun game to play. It’s brought to life with great graphics and sound. Interesting puzzles challenge adventures. Wildwood Down is an enjoyable summer romp that shouldn’t be missed.
Score: 9/10