''The Kore Gang: Outvasion from Inner Earth'' is an

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

. The game is notable for its very prolonged development cycle over the course of ten years, during which many different companies became involved and the game moved from being designed for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

console to the Wii. In the game, the player takes control of three different characters stuck inside robotic suits that amplify their individual abilities. The gameplay is centered on the player's ability to switch between the three characters at any time and thus utilize and combine their abilities to solve puzzles. The story revolves around the Krank Brothers, evil rulers of a civilization that exists in the center of the Earth. The player, with the help of the three playable characters Pixie, Madboy, and Rex, must stop the Kranks from carrying out their plan to conquer the surface of the planet as well. The plot alludes to the subtitle, "Outvasion from Inner Earth". After being released in August 2010 in Germany through the now-defunct publisher Pixonauts, general international releases followed through distributors such as

Atari Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...

Plot

After a series of earthquakes, a drill-shaped vehicle emerges from the ground, the Krank Tank. It is commanded by the Krank Brothers, who intend to conquer the Earth. Pixie, Madboy and Rex use the Kore Suit, invented by scientist Dr. Samuelsen, to stop the Kranks.

Development

The game was originally conceived by designer Klaus Lyngeled, formerly of

Shiny Entertainment Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry (game developer), David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim (video game), E ...

. He quit his job at Shiny to found his own company,

Zoink Zoink AB was a Swedish video game developer based in Gothenburg. The company was founded by Klaus Lyngeled in 2001 and formed the Thunderful group with Image & Form in 2017. In 2020, Zoink was integrated into Thunderful Development. Histor ...

, in order to be able to work full-time on this project. Zoink began to develop a version of the game for the Xbox. In 2003,

CDV Software CDV Software Entertainment AG (formerly CDV Software GmbH, stylized as cdv) was a German publisher of video games founded 1989 in Karlsruhe. On April 17, 2000, cdv became a Frankfurt stock market traded company. In the beginning of the 2000s, C ...

obtained the publishing rights, but had to drop the project soon after due to financial difficulties. In 2006, independent production house Games Foundation obtained a license to further develop the game, and announced a version for the Wii. The PAL version is multi-language and contains English, German, French and Spanish voices-overs.

Reception

The game received mixed reviews. Critics such as those for ''Wiisworld'' praised the madcap sense of humor and colorful graphics but criticized the clumsy camera control. The game's aggregate score on Metacritic is 70/100. Alexander Winkel of ''GameZone'' gave a game 8.4 out of 10 saying that "Nevertheless, this title is one of the best Wii games and captivates above all with a beautiful art design and a good dose of humor." Thomas Nickel of ''Eurogamer'' had compared the game formula to ''

Banjo Kazooie ''Banjo-Kazooie'' is a series of video games developed by Rare (company), Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo & Kazooie, Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Banjo & Kazooie, Kazooie, who are both controlled by the p ...

'', ''

Crash Bandicoot ''Crash Bandicoot'' is a video game franchise originally developed by Naughty Dog as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. It has seen numerous installments created by various developers and published on multiple platforms. The series co ...

'' and ''

Rayman ''Rayman'' is a franchise of platform video games, created by video game designer Michel Ancel for Ubisoft. Since the release of the original ''Rayman'' game in 1995, the series has produced a total of 45 games across multiple platforms. The s ...

''. Lars Peterke of ''Nintendo WiiX'' gave it a score of 8.2 out of 10 and compared it to '' Mario Galaxy''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kore Gang, The 2010 video games 3D platform games Adventure games Atari games Cancelled Xbox games Video games developed in Germany Video games developed in Sweden Wii-only games Wii games Single-player video games Zoink games