Mini-games have always been popular as additions to fully fledged titles, but recently collections of these "time wasters" have become incredible best sellers. Part of the success can be attributed to testing everyone's reaction time, providing addictive tasks intermingled with short, satisfying bursts of gameplay. Another facet of it could be a large dose of humor, often with strange or weird visuals that startle and engage players. We recently got to take a look at the latest game to capitalize on this game concept, a quirky title from D3Publisher of America originally known in Japan as Baito Hell 2000 that will come to these shores as WTF.
While you may find yourself exclaiming this phrase in a profane manner as you play the game, the letters actually stand for
Work
Time
Fun, although you might question your sanity with the tasks assigned to you. You'll receive a number of random tasks from the game's Job Demon, a spirit that gives you different jobs on a whim. Your goal is both to figure out what you are supposed to do and successfully complete each task. While there are instructions attached to every mini-game, don't be surprised if you fail multiple times as you try to get your timing down at each job. However, it's still set in a format that just about anyone will be able to pick up and understand. For instance, it took a number of times before we got used to the Drunken Mayor job, a game that had a city official who'd had too much to drink attempting to cut a ribbon at a ceremony.
There isn't a specific type of game that you'll face as you play the game either. In fact, we ran into a burping "Simon Says" game, a chopping wood title, a chicken counting task, a timed karate fighting game and lots of other strange missions to complete. Each game will progressively increase its speed and difficulty, literally probing how fast you can respond to the situation placed in front of you. We also weren't limited to playing the game horizontally; one game in particular had us turn our PSP vertically as if we were reading down a notepad while we took food and drink orders from a table of customers.
Accomplishing each task earns varying amounts of money, which you can then redeem at a gumball machine. Sometimes you'll unlock additional mini-games, while sometimes you'll unlock little prizes and trinkets that you can keep in a gallery. You can also unlock what the game considers to be "tools," little items that you can use in real life. For instance, you can set the game up to be a top ramen noodle timer, or potentially check on what time it is in another part of the world via the world clock.
With more than forty mini-games that you'll unlock and play, there should be some replay value to WTF when it comes out later this year. What's more, if you get bored of taking on the games alone, you should be able to invite a friend to play through at least five titles thanks to the included adhoc play. For now, check out some of the weirder mini-games that we managed to capture as we try to figure out more about this quirky title at E3.
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Originally Posted by munkieNS
