Given the critical reception of Super Mario Galaxy, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to any developer that any other Nintendo Wii platformer it happens to have in the pipeline will have a lot to live up to. Undaunted, Twelve Interactive has announced Cid the Dummy for both the Wii and Nintendo DS, an all-new title featuring the firm’s new running, jumping, puzzle-solving “star” mascot.

Cid is a crash dummy and Twelve Interactive describes him as “totally original” (Crash Test Dummies, anyone?) as well as charistmatic. He’ll come up against all manner of enemies, who players must help in dispatch with close combat and weapons. No surprises there, then.

Key Feature

• Interact as only a crash dummy can. Climb walls, swing on ropes, burn obstacles, destroy exploding barrels, use lifters, bounce on springs and with a neat head butt destroy walls all in stunningly realized environments. Game environment interaction is the most important part of the gameplay.
• CID’s world is swarming with a host of fearfully fun enemies like the Dumper, Cursed Dummy and the bizarre Failed Experiment.
• Apart from fighting enemies, the player will enjoy solving puzzles, avoiding traps and using acrobatic skills to get out of dangerous situations!

The words ‘extremely’ and ‘generic’ spring to mind, but we’d love to be proven wrong. After all, Galaxy was the first in a long line of Super Mario titles to push boundaries with its gravity-defying physics, whilst still sticking to tried and testing background settings. Published by Oxygen Games, Cid the Dummy is scheduled for released in the second quarter of 2008.