For an adult co-op fan, finding a kid-friendly game that isn't mind numbingly boring can be tough. This is especially true on the Wii, where all manner of "games" make it onto store shelves, and you never really know if you're finding a game as good as LEGO Batman or yet another awful waggle minigame collection. Spectrobes Origins is one of the better co-op games I've played on Wii in quite a while, and definitely worth a look.
Spectrobes Origins has a Saturday morning cartoon feel. In fact, I was quite surprised to discover that Spectrobes is not based on a TV show or comic book at all. It is strictly a video game property, and Spectrobes Origins is the first game in the series on any home console. The game feels very much like Pokemon or Digimon, with spiky haired antagonists who yell strange words in order to summon creatures both ferocious and adorable. It's super kid-friendly, but there's enough here to make it a good experience for adult gamers to enjoy cooperatively as well.
Spectrobes Origins is a 3rd person action game, with light RPG elements blended in. As the game begins, a pair of heroes named Rallen and Jeena, space patrol officers, land on a previously unexplored planet. There, they find their sworn enemies, the alien Krawl, who are terrorizing the people of the local system. By mastering new techniques of Spectrobe combat, the day can be saved, and all that. It's a standard plot, with few surprises, but it works just fine to tie the action together.
There are two basic types of Spectrobes, strange creatures summoned a la Pokemon. There are those used in battle, and also those used for exploring. The latter are cute little critters who are adept and finding buried minerals, which can be used to upgrade Spectrobes in various ways, such as the evolve mineral, which makes an adorable Spectrobe into a fighting beast. Anytime the alien Krawl appear, you selected battle Spectrobe pops out to assist Rallen in the fight.
At any point, a second player can pop in and out with the press of a button. While exploring, player two is limited to merely grabbing minerals that appear on the ground by using a cursor and a button press. That's not exactly immersive, but since you are supposed to actually be the Spectrobe, it's understandable. It's when a battle starts that things get quite a bit more interesting. Player 2 controls the battle Spectrobe, and can picks targets, attack, and even combo with Rallen by using special attacks.