For many people, gaming is a form of escapism, a chance to get away from the ho-hum and humdrum
of every day life and do things they could never do in reality.
We live in a world that is sadly devoid of giant robots, but there are mechs a plenty
in video games, where we have access to our very own giant robots and and can live out
our destructive fantasies in the safety of our homes.
Beat 'em ups let us walk up and punch anything that moves without the risk of time behind
bars or a body full of broken bones.
And dating sims give introverted or shy people an opportunity to experience companionship
and gain the confidence to go out and speak to living, breathing human beings...or they
just get worse, whatever!
I've pretty much been and indoors person all my life, and because of that I've always enjoyed
action adventure games, especially ones that feel like there's something new and interesting
waiting around every corner.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link the Past, and more recently, Dark Souls, stand out to me
as two such games whose rich, fantastic worlds were a joy to explore and absolutely left
me in awe at every step of the journey.
But experiences like those are few and far between, and I'm always hoping to discover
a new game that fills me with a similar sense of wonder.
So when I happened upon Wonder Trek, I hoped that it may just fit that criteria.
I mean, “wonder” is in the title after all.
Embarking on an adventure always involves taking some degree of risk, and similarly,
I took a risk in purchasing Wonder Trek, a game that I had never heard of before.
OK, well, climbing mountains and buying video games aren't alike at all, but I wasn't able
to do any research on this game beforehand and made my judgment based on the cover and
the few screenshots and text blurbs on the backside.
For some reason, I just fell in love with the box art the moment I laid eyes upon it.
Two goofy looking guys decked out in full safari attire hiking in a lush, green forest.
Where is this beautiful place?
And what are these fellas looking for?
A simple, effective image.
And it wasn't even until later on that I noticed that ghostly figure subtly hidden in the background.
No, not that, I'm talking about this!
That's right, another Tommy Wiseau gag.
I do what I want!
Anyway, I wondered if this was perhaps an underrated, overlooked hidden gem on the PlayStation
One, a fantastic system that's often underrated and overlooked in the grand scheme of all
things gaming.
Was my gut feeling right about Wonder Trek?
Well, I guess the answer's pretty obvious since I'm making a video about it, but let's
go through the usual motions regardless.
Wonder Trek was developed in 1998 by Zest Works—you heard of them before?
Yeah, me neither—and published by Sony Computer Entertainment.
The game begins with a cinematic that introduces us to the main characters, Professor Favre,
a free-spirited and not-so-famous zoologist, and Nick, his reliable assistant.
The two of them have some ambiguous Bert and Ernie style living arrangement in the backwoods,
where they do some kind of research and enjoy simple lives, often made up of a stable diet
of eggs.
One day, they're visited by a gentleman named Murdock who tells them about the professor's
brother Amedio, who went missing several years previously, as well as a mysterious island
that is supposedly home to a legendary Phoenix egg.
Murdock offers to pay for them to travel to the island, and the two agree, of course...but
pretty much exclusively for a chance to dine on a Phoenix egg.
Seriously, these people love their eggs.
The duo crash land on the island, becoming stranded.
However, that's the least of their problems, since soon after they arrive and get settled,
they discover that the island is populated by animal species believed to be extinct.
What's baffling is that these animals also have the ability to talk.
And what's more troubling is that they are hostile toward humans...uh, very hostile.
Things only get stranger and more complicated on their journey, and what starts out as a
relatively simple quest to acquire an egg soon develops into a grand adventure full
of twists, turns, and yes, wonder.
At its heart, Wonder Trek delivers a message about the importance of preserving and living
in harmony with nature
Wait, wait, wait, wait, don't go anywhere!
Despite how that sounds, I assure you that this game isn't a piece of new age, tree-hugging
hippie propaganda made with the approval of those crazies at PETA.
No, no, it's got the approval of the WWF!
...the Worldwide Fund for Nature, formerly the World Wildlife Fund.
You know, the guys who fought the World Wrestling Federation, won, and forced them to do a name
change.
A game's gotta be legit when badasses like the WWF slap their logo on the back of the
manual.
But we'll talk a little bit more about that later.
Wonder Trek is an action adventure game in every sense of the term that takes place in
3D environments fixed at an isometric perspective, while most characters and objects are 2D,
prerendered sprites.
The art design, detailed textures, and animations of the heroes and NPCs all fit together so
well and create a visually rich experience, despite the very simple character designs
of the two protagonists.
In this game, players assume direct control over Nick, and the AI controls the Professor,
who closely trails the player.
Nick can perform a wide range of actions to help make exploration of the island easier.
The default controls use the D-pad or left analog stick to walk, while holding down R1
while moving makes Nick run.
Because of the fixed camera angle, I found the D-pad to be much more useful than the
analog stick in pretty much every situation.
The X button is of course used to jump, and keeping it pressed during a jump lets Nick
grab onto ledges.
Circle pretty much functions as the “action button,” used to inspect things, pick up
items, and engage in conversation.
You can push large objects like blocks by walking into them, as well as tippy toe around
by holding down R2, which is not only useful for things like sneaking up on enemies or
walking past traps, but also allows Nick to hang off the edge of certain areas and reach
lower ground safely.
Being in a less than hospitable environment requires the means to defend against attackers,
but since Wonder Trek is a game about preserving nature, the weight of the message would be
pretty lost if you could just kill every animal you see.
That's why the only method of attacking here is delivered by an item that just happens
to have been conveniently misplaced in Nick's bag, dubbed the Super Sonic Wave Hammer.
It was used by the Professor's brother in his clinic to calm down animals, and despite
the fancy name, I'm pretty sure this "weapon" is just one of those squeaky toy hammers that
are really popular with children in Japan.
Pressing square will execute this attack, a single whack with the hammer.
No combos, no fancy special moves, and no upgrades.
Just enough punch to get your foes to run away, no matter how big or small, or whether
they're animal or human.
No pain, no trauma, completely harmless...check it out.
Got your hammer, got your delicate egg, and we're just gonna...oh...
Well, Wonder Trek isn't just about fending for your life with a cheap, plastic toy—there
are places to discover, items to collect, and puzzles to solve as well.
Game progression is non-linear for the most part and reminds me a bit of another action
adventure game on the PS1 that just happens to feature 2D characters in a 3D world, the
excellent, excellent Tomba.
Anyway, the Professor will trail Nick as he explores the island, and pressing the triangle
button will make him wait or call him to follow when he gets shaken up by violence or distracted
by something that interests him.
If you move on to another screen without the Professor tagging along, he'll vanish.
But he's never gone for long, and eventually he'll be waiting up for you in another location.
The Professor can't reach certain areas with his pitiful vertical jump, so you'll have
to hang onto ledges and allow him to piggy back onto higher ground.
I guess that's why Nick has such gigantic, beastly hands.
The Professor does have a mean long jump, however, which will often cause some grief
as he slams right into Nick when he's in the middle of doing something important.
On the bright side, our AI companion has no life meter and can't die, so his presence
never feels like much of a burden.
Actually, having the Professor around is rarely necessary, as there are only a few times in
the game he's absolutely needed, like during certain puzzles or scenarios requiring a little
extra muscle.
Even so, I like keeping him around for the companionship.
A man gets lonely out there all by himself, if you know what I mean.
And you definitely do.
The Professor's main role is to teach Nick about the various objects they pick up throughout
the world, which can be done on a menu screen accessed with the start button.
From this menu, you can also use and inspect tools or artifacts, or consume restorative
items, made up mostly of different kinds of fruit.
Saving your progress can take place almost anywhere on the island, as long as you are
in possession of a single-use feather that's required to write a journal entry.
These are found in predetermined locations, and respawn often.
The game world in Wonder Trek is quite large for a PlayStation One title.
The pair's base camp is set up roughly in the center of the island, and acts as a hub
to access other areas, though there are hidden paths here and there to cut down on travel
time.
The island is home to many different kinds of locales aside from the jungle, such as
grassy fields, a mushroom forest, an ancient temple, and even the inside of a giant catfish-like
creature.
The L2 button will bring up a map showing the entire island.
At base camp, there's a tent which Nick can use to spend the night in and recover health,
and there are a couple of random mini events that may or may not take place the following
morning.
Most areas are occupied by a boss character whom Nick has to trade blows with in order
to move forward, and these bosses are usually pretty grand in scale.
Giant plant monsters, giant spiders, giant centipedes, GIANT ENEMY CRABS.
These boss fights aren't overly difficult, although they do tend to drag on a bit.
Aside from the bad guys, traps are set up all over the place that can hurt Nick, but
they can also be used to lure baddies into during combat.
You'll find a lot of animals caught in these traps as well, and you can choose to leave
them be or help free them.
Honestly, it's a good idea to free every animal you see—not just because it's the right
thing to do, but also because they reward you with a piece of fruit each time you save
one.
And even more important than that, saving every trapped animal will affect the final
outcome of the game.
Wonder Trek can be completed in three to five hours, so it is a bit short, but absolutely
worth every single minute spent on it.
Upon completion of the main campaign, an end-game bonus mode becomes available taking place
on an ark that was important to the story, but you'll find neither fanfare nor celebration
here.
Instead you'll get to meet each of the animals you saved throughout your playthrough, where
you'll learn the story of each species, including where their former homelands were, as well
as the circumstances and dates of their extinction.
It's a very somber, sobering segment that left me a feeling a bit down, but it really
got me thinking about some important real world issues and even motivated me to spend
quite a bit of time reading up on these animals online.
Like I mentioned before, the story here is about the preservation of nature, and Wonder
Trek is what I would consider an “activist game.”
It shares many of the environmentalist themes commonly explored in other popular media,
such as Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke and James Cameron's Avatar.
Though while at times those movies might have felt hokey or off-putting, especially with
the latter, I never got those feelings with Wonder Trek.
Well, except for that ONE time.
In that regard this game is somewhat like the Dreamcast masterpiece Lack Of Love, which
I covered early on with the third episode of Import Gaming FTW.
However, if you strip both games of their messages, Wonder Trek is a better stand alone
gaming experience.
A brilliant action adventure with a lot of heart and great game design, this is a Japan-only
PS1 hidden gem that I feel confident in recommending to just about anybody.
Knowledge of the Japanese language is required to progress in a couple of spots, but if you
get the game and get stuck, don't hesitate to ask this weirdo here for some help.
I got my copy of Wonder Trek at a Book-Off here in Japan for 500 yen, or under five U.S.
dollars.
If you don't have access to arguably the greatest used media chain in the world, no biggie,
since finding a copy online won't cost much more.
C'mon, take that small risk like I did—check this one out!
Well, as always, thank you for watching, and until the next episode.
This is Jimmy Hapa, take care.