"People keep asking us if we're planning on making games like The Conduit and The Grinder for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3," High Voltage's Cheif Creative Officer Eric Nofsinger said, "they don't get what we're doing." As he spoke, The Grinder was being played by another of High Voltage's employees. A werewolf was darting around the level, taking swings at his character. As he fired at the mythical beast, blood splattered on the ground - a sight somewhat uncommon among Wii games. The goal of Eric Nofsinger and High Voltage is clear: to make games for Wii owners who want more mature titles.

The Grinder looks to capitalize on the recent resurgence of both Grindhouse horror films and cooperative experiences like the one found in Left4Dead. High Voltage plans on having the game playable online, with four players working together and chatting using the Wii Speak microphone. It's not something that Nintendo fans get too often, but it's something they've been asking for.


Saying that the game is a Left4Dead clone isn't really fair. It has many aspects that look to separate it from Valve's shooter, some of which actually seem to make it a somewhat deeper experience. There will be several game modes at launch beyond the story mode. They couldn't go into any details, but mentioned that they would deliver unique gameplay experiences, meaning there will be more than simple survival to playing the game.

Other aspects of The Grinder stood out as well. Instead of fighting waves of identical zombies and the occasional special infected, The Grinder will feature different types of mythical beasts, with several varieties of each. In the demonstration we saw during the show, the player fought against waves of demonic vampires, which served as the generic enemies in the shooter, werewolves, which appeared to be a bit stronger and quicker, and the Slasher, which might be one of the more interesting foes on the game.



The Slasher is is essentially The Grinder's Jason Voorhees. Appearance-wise, he looks to be a mixture between Resident Evil 5's Executioner and the killer from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He's big, he's bad, and, well, he cheats. "We cheat on the code with him," Eric said, "he actually teleports around. When he's not in your view he will sometimes appear behind you. He'll also jump up at you when you pass, even after you've killed him." They're going for the horror-movie feel, and aren't afraid to break a few rules in the process. To help that along, some graphical filters are thrown over the game's graphics, making it look more like a 70's horror film, which is a departure from The Conduit's slick, futuristic graphics. It's a tad bit House of the Dead: Overkill, but it fits the mood, and is less tounge-in-cheek. Beyond that, each enemy can come in different varieties, such as a Vampire Lord, which will be an enhanced version of the game's blood-sucking undead.

Oh, and the game will have a story. Again, they couldn't go into details, but insisted that there would be more characters involved past the four protagonists and Book, their radio guidance. In the near future, High Voltage plans on announcing more information about this, including celebrity voice-over for some of the main characters. Seeing as they've nabbed Mark A. Sheppard, Kevin Sorbo, and William Morgan Sheppard, there's a long list of potentials that could show up in the game. The placeholder college students we heard in the demo were good in their own right, but I'd much rather find out that another Firefly or Battlestar actor would make the cut.

The game is still in early development, but with Wii MotionPlus support, four-player co-op both online and off, and stylish graphics that push the Wii to its limit, it's hard not to be excited for The Grinder.