LostWinds Review

Game: LostWinds
System: WiiWare
Publisher: Frontier
Players: 2
Cost: 1000 Wii Points
ESRB Rating: E
Similar Games: Metroid, Zelda, Mario, Okami, Kirby

You are Toku, a small, village boy, and Enril, spirit of the wind. Together you set off on a short, 4-hour adventure to free the idyllic Mistralis from the curse of Balazar. The gameplay is all puzzle-based, 2D platforming, with a world map that flows from deep caves to high waterfall, Metroid-style. A feeling of calm pervades LostWinds. Its spare soundtrack evokes a natural beauty that complements its clean, simple visuals of feudal Mistralis (Japan).

The hook is the innovative IR controls. While you move Toku with the familiar nunchuk analog, Enril is a cursor that moves at the flick of your Wiimote. Holding A and flicking Enril up through Toku, will cause our little village boy to jump on a gust of wind. Flick up through Toku again, and he double jumps. Flick through Toku horizontally, and the wind (Enril) tosses him around like a sack of cherry blossoms.

Enril also interacts with the level in various ways, including moving boulders, attacking the occasional enemy and redirecting the elements in a blustery slipstream. Each new area you explore reveals new power-ups for Enril, keeping a fresh, brisk pace throughout. A few bug issues have cropped up, but when all is said and done, LostWinds is the crowning WiiWare launch title. Can’t wait for the sequel.

Quibbles

• Only one main musical theme - it’s good, but get ready to hear it a lot.
• Moving them damn boulders with the wind
• Lack of a map
• Joke of a co-op mode
  

Rating: