Stop Stress: A Day of Fury is a WiiWare title from independent developer Abylight, which sees you taking on the role of Jack, possibly the most stressed out man on the planet.  Awakened from a peaceful slumber and pleasant dream by a cacophony of sounds - including a baby crying, doors slamming and an alarm clock -  Jack’s day does not get off on the right foot.  This is a man with very high blood pressure and very little patience and it’s enough to send him over the edge.

What follows is a relatively straightforward tale showing Jack’s movements throughout the day in four chapters: “A Nightmare Wake Up”, “Big Traffic Jam”, “At the Office” and “At the Airport”.  Each scenario sees you being given a simple goal to achieve (such as destroying all alarm clocks or phones) within a set time limit.  However, in each scenario you’re hampered by opponents, including malicious spiders, vicious policemen and even a killer toaster.

During the game Jack picks up several weapons: a slipper, a baseball bat, rocks to throw, an axe and a hammer, some of which are more effective than others in given situations.  The hammer, for example, will fell a rogue cop in one hit, whilst the other weapons need more hits to do the job.  However, the weapons also serve other purposes: doors can be smashed open with the axe, hammers can be used to destroy boxes and stones can be used to hit things from a distance.  The handheld weapons are wielded by swinging the Wii remote, whilst the rocks are thrown by pressing ‘A’, aiming with the nunchuck and then shaking the Wii remote to release the projectile. You can also dodge and duck to try and avoid attacks and, if your aim and timing are good enough, you may be able to hit objects that are thrown at you back at the enemy to cause them damage.

Instead of having a set amount of ‘life’, Jack has a stress level (shown by a heart).  As Jack’s stress levels get higher, the heart fills up and – as stress levels become critical – begins to beat rapidly.  If you can’t control his stress, he eventually flips completely.  Stress levels rise whenever Jack takes a hit; however, you can reduce the level by destroying objects.  Destroying objects and boxes can also yield bonuses, such as herbal tea (which also reduces stress), hourglasses (which provide extra time) and money (which provides extra points).  Explosives can also be revealed, which will cause you some damage if you swipe at them.

Stop Stress: A Day of Fury does lack a little clarity at times: although basic instructions are given there are times when it is unclear what you need to do or how you can get out of a particular situation.  Trial and error does work well but every time you reach maximum stress you either have to try again or continue on the same level with a time penalty bonus (and the loss of all your points).  One advantage to the game, however, is that you can progress to other chapters, even if you haven’t completed the full previous chapter.  In this way, if there’s a section you’re really struggling with you can either skip it and forget about it or return to it later when you’re a bit more skilful.

The only other flaw to the game is the length: it is fairly short and can be completed quite quickly.  However, in its favour I would have to say that the low price (just 800 Wii points, approximately £5.60) means that the game still offers value for money.  Additionally, it is the type of game that you could return to again as the central theme of the game is not really Jack’s journey but the opportunity to hit enemies and smash things up, which I think we can all certainly enjoy more than once.  The game also has three difficulty levels – Easy, Medium and Hard - which makes it accessible for most players (as long as they’re twelve or older!).

I found Stop Stress: A Day of Fury well worth playing and would certainly return to it again even though I’ve completed it.  The short length of the game is offset by the low cost and whilst it might not offer great longevity it can guarantee an entertaining diversion.  The comic style graphics are well suited to the title and well designed and the supporting rock-style music and sound effects are also fitting.  Most of all, I think we can all recognise that there are moments that we’d love to do nothing more than let rip – it might not be practical in real life but at least this game will let you indulge your fury for a short while!

**Review by Donna Haw**