PixlBit

What do you get when you cross Time Magazine, mini-games, and a mysterious, finicky, miserly cat?

I'm not quite sure, but I certainly know the reality of the hybrid would be much more enriching than whatever it is Sukeban Shachou Rena provides. The game begins with the cat I'm assuming is Rena sleeping on her (his?) desk. Forgive me for not knowing much about the cat's gender, but I'm pretty sure Rena is female. Anyway, I believe the cat finds the two subordinates are mostly incompetent, and thus determines that a new intern must be hired to compensate for how foolish and inept the first two human workers are.

And that's where you come in. Or me. Or whomever is playing the game. A new employee is hired, and the player is allowed to enter in his or her name, even though, if I recall correctly, there's no real choice to be a female employee. As a new employee, it seems Rena has really warmed up to you, considering you more intelligent or better than past employees... or perhaps she just acts mischievous in order to get you to work harder. Whatever she's doing, I have to say it works. The three humans, together, seem to follow nearly every whim Rena has, and it's made clear through some of the wacky cutscenes, mostly, and a little less so in the mini-games.

And that's where the game really begins to fall apart: The mini-games. There's only a few in total and most are uninspired, uncreative, and definitely underwhelming. In one, almost definitely the worst (from the perspective of an English-speaking player, at least), Rena spins a magical floating cube with Japanese characters attached to each face. The player points to one of four answers to a question that asks about this cube to absolutely no special effect, reaction, or comedy piece. Of course, this is all in Japanese, so I can't be too harsh, but truthfully, even if I could read what was there, it feels like the game is just a dull, ordinary quiz.

Unfortunately, this isn't the only game that falls flat. One of the more recognized games involves playing the piano with Rena, and I'd say this is the one with some of the most potential, but unfortunately, it fails to live up to any of it. The player must shake the Wii-Remote or Nunchuk on certain beats that correspond to pre-arranged music, with a chime sounding each time he or she succeeds. That's it. Rena will scratch the character playing the piano if he doesn't do so well, but that's the only "cute" or interesting interaction there. She's certainly no keyboard cat, I can definitely say that. Hands down, the surprisingly, but absolutely most wacky game involves some kind of interpretive dance meant to cheer Rena up, I believe. Players are meant to move the Wii-Remote and Nunchuk, following the motions on the screen at home. This game offers no fun, and is one of the longest and most confusing of the bunch.

Even though most of the mini-games are forgettable, there's a few that do stand out. Hands-down, my favorite game is the one where the character tries to catch Rena, but avoid other cats. He stands at the end of a hallway in the office while various boxes and items shake, when suddenly, a cat flies out toward him! Players have to tilt the Wii-Remote to dodge non-Rena cats, but make certain they catch Rena, and upon catching her, they're treated to a brief, crazy cutscene of Rena jumping into the character's arms in a field of sunflowers and a joyful mroorwoowr-type noise before the game continues.

Unfortunately, still, some of my other favorite games seem to be too story-based to be selectable and replayable anywhere else! In one game, players have to create a path for all the cats in the office to reach their food dishes, creating a simple puzzle-style game that isn't all that bad. In another, there's tens of cat-cut-out duplicates and one real cat, which will move slightly on rare occasion. I was challenged to find the authentic feline through all the duplicates in a "Where's Waldo" style challenge. These two games were fun, but never reached the mini-game selection screen, even though the two less fun games mentioned before did.

North American gamers aren't missing out on much, even though the title will very likely never reach their shores. Sukeban Shachou Rena is an entirely shallow title with very little there to keep a player interested aside from a few wacky cutscenes and just a few games. All-in-all, it lands among several other mini-game collections on the Wii, being yet another forgettable Wii title based on mini-games.