The Grinder - High Voltage Software's 3rd Wii Game

Development studio High Voltage Software made sure its presence was seen and felt at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. Not only was the company's acclaimed first-person shooter, The Conduit, on prominent display at SEGA's show floor booth, but High Voltage itself erected its own exhibition display complete with playable kiosks of The Conduit and behind closed doors demos of both Gladiator A.D. and The Grinder. Of course, IGN has already exclusively written about and provided our readership with first-ever footage of both games in action, but at E3 2009 we got to see The Grinder's ambitious two-player cooperative online mode in motion. So how was it?

The answer is seamless and smooth. High Voltage demoed The Grinder's first stage -- the same one we've posted a direct-feed walkthrough for -- with two players. The developer setup a closed network and linked two debug Wii units together for the demo, which played out on two TVs set side-by-side. Although art director Matt Corso warned prior to the demo that some of the art assets were not yet being loaded properly between both screens, we didn't notice the issue. Indeed, as far as we could tell, the action unfolded flawlessly between both TVs as two players -- hero and heroine -- ran through the stylized B-movie environments blasting at vampires, werewolves and slashers.

The cooperative mode ran with only two players, although four will be supported in the final version of the game, which isn't set for release until sometime late next year -- it's clear HVS has some time left. In some areas, the developer is promising up to 65 enemies on-screen at a time, but in the cooperative demo we never saw the number climb higher than, say, 20, which is already impressive. Vampires hang from ceilings, fall to the ground an attack. Werewolves are ultra-powerful mini-bosses and charge at the heroes without fear. We noticed that the wolves are so ferocious in their relentless attacks that it can be difficult to break away from them. HVS is still pondering whether or not to add a quick sidestep mechanic to avoid attackers like these.

Control is straightforward. Nunchuk's analog stick is used for forward/backward and left/right strafe movement while the Wii remote enables extremely precise gun aim. As with The Conduit, players will be able to fully customize their control configurations beyond just about any other WIi game out there. In fact, High Voltage's creative officer Eric Nofsinger told us that the studio hopes to add even more control freedom to the customization process by way of MotionPlus; it continues to ponder the possibility of using the peripheral to allow for off-screen fast-turns -- even when the pointer's reticule goes off-screen, experienced players could continue turning at an increasingly rapid pace. Melee attacks are mapped to a button this time around because they are used so often. However, gamers can still toss grenades with a simple flick of the nunchuk, which actually feels very good.

Based on our play time with the title, the controls already felt pretty tight. If we could ask for just one improvement, it would be for an option to really speed up the run pace of the main character. It is possible, however, that the four playable heroes will boast unique run speeds, some faster than others.

Asked if High Voltage had plans to include competitive online play in The Grinder, Corso said yes, that a number of features are being planned and that the team hopes to up the ante over The Conduit in this regard. We immediately suggested the ability to play as the various monsters against the heroes -- for example, a mode in which three of the heroes hunted a vampire controlled by the last player. Of course, the vampire would have the ability to crawl up and traverse ceilings, see in the dark, etc. Corso liked the idea and admitted that HVS was already headed in that direction.

We don't think we need to tell you that The Grinder looks great on Nintendo's console, both because of its pleasing art style and also because of the technology behind it. The enhanced Quantum 3 engine and impostor system allows HVS to draw more characters on-screen than ever before without sacrificing the framerate, and there's all sorts of new lighting effects and advanced particle systems in addition to crisper textures and more realistic guns and animations.

The Grinder does not yet have a publisher, but we don't think HVS will have any trouble whatsoever finding one. We'll have more on the title soon, but while you wait be sure to check out our E3 walkthrough videos if you haven't already.