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Ryan Lambie takes a closer look at the latest WiiWare releases, starting with one of the flagship titles LostWinds.
Looking back over the games released for the Wii so far, it’s hard not to feel a little disillusioned. First party gems like Super Mario Galaxy aside, there have been a pitifully small number of games that make full use of the Wii’s unique control system. Indeed, Ubisoft even took the unprecedented step of apologising for their earliest releases for the console, admitting that they’d been rushed into production.
It’s refreshing then, on a platform that is awash with lazy Gamecube and PS2 ports, to find a game as unique LostWinds, which not only uses the wiimote to great effect, but is also one of the finest looking pieces of software yet to appear on the current-gen Nintendo.
Better yet, LostWinds is one of the first games to be made available to download from WiiWare, and can be purchased for a paltry 1000 points (the equivalent of seven UK pounds).
In essence, LostWinds is a fairly simplistic 2.5D platform game – you guide Toku, a small boy with an unfeasibly big hat, across a verdant landscape peppered with monsters, chasms and platforms. This may not sound terribly original, but it’s LostWinds’ use of the Wii’s control system that really sets it apart; the nunchuck’s analogue stick moves Toku left and right, while drawing a line across the screen with the wiimote creates a gust of wind that can be used to waft your character onto otherwise unreachable ledges. There’s also a simple (but curiously satisfying) combat mechanic – a scribbling gesture picks up enemies and smashes them against the ground. Further abilities are unlocked as the game progresses, and there are some gently taxing puzzles to solve along the way.
While the game doesn’t exactly push back the boundaries of gaming, and lacks the epic scale of full-price titles like Grand Theft Auto IV, it’s clear that an enormous amount of care and attention has been poured into every aspect of LostWinds – from Toku’s detailed character animation to the calm, zen-like background music, this is a game that only the most cold-blooded FPS fan would hate.
Perhaps LostWinds’ only real problem is its brevity – most gamers will reach the final boss battle within three hours. Despite this, LostWinds remains an instant classic: a perfectly formed, matchbox-sized game of immense charm. If you own a Wii and it’s connected to the internet, buy it now – you won’t regret it.
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