I strolled over to my bookcase, started to reach out my hand and then, it hit me, the game I was about to play wasn’t with my other more “traditional” games, this game was already on my Wii, in the form of a digital download.
LostWinds, part of the first batch of games to hit Nintendo’s new WiiWare service, is a breath of fresh air. It is a game that truly could not be conceived in any other form than as a WiiWare title. It’s games like LostWinds that prove the potential that digital distribution services like WiiWare have and it’s games like LostWinds that show the potential for letting developers take risks and try out new ideas.
In LostWinds, you play as a young boy named Toku, who, along with the wind Spirit Enril, must restore peace to the world of Mistralis by ridding it of the evil creature known as Balasar. At the beginning of the game, you learn that Balasar threatened Mistralis in the past, but the spirits of Mistralis sealed him away inside the Spirit Stone. However, one of the spirits, Enril, was trapped inside the stone alongside Balasar. After much time had passed inside the stone, Balasar was able to break free, but Enril remained trapped within the shards of the stone. It is your job to help Enril recover the “LostWinds”, while at the same time help to protect the land of Mistralis from Balasar.
The minute you start playing LostWinds, you will know this game is special. The first thing that hit me was its unique and appealing art style and its beautiful and soothing music. LostWinds is both a 2D and a 3D title, similar to New Super Mario Bros. You play on a 2D plane, in that you can only move left and right, but all of the backgrounds for the game are in 3D, you can even see characters going about their daily business. LostWinds is one of the prettiest Wii games out there, thanks to a great cell-shaded look and superb art direction. The game is very bright and cheerful and the special effects are very well done. At one point in the game, you are tasked with helping a small plant grow. To do this, you must utilize the power of the wind to spray water onto it from an adjacent stream. After using Enril’s power, I sat back and watched as a glistening gyser of water emerged from the stream and poured over Toku’s head and onto the thirsty plant. This brings us to the power of the wind.
As the title of the game suggests, wind plays a pivotal role in LostWinds. While your powers are relatively tame at the beginning, in time, you are able to grow those powers and learn new ways to harness the power of the wind to your advantage. While a great deal of the time you will be using the wind to guide Toku around Mistralis, from gliding across a chasm to reaching a seemingly inacessible ledge, the wind can be used to manipulate all aspects of the environment around you. From uncovering secrets to causing a boulder to hover in mid-air, you will have to use the wind in various ways to progress through the game.
In addition to its style, LostWinds also excels in terms of gameplay. In essence, you play as two characters at once, Toku and Enril. The nunchuck’s analog stick is used to control Toku while the Wii Remote is your tool for using Enril and his various powers. Let’s say you want to create a vertical gust of wind. To do this, you would simply “draw” a vertical line of wind with the Wii Remote by holding “A” and pointing the remote up. Throughout the entire course of the game, you will be utilizing these control methods in tandem, using Enril to help Toku along his way. This control scheme works very, very well. In fact, I once stopped while playing and thought to myself, “could anything like this be accomplished with a traditional gamepad?” The answer is no. LostWinds is one of those games that is a perfect fit for the Wii, one that features controls that do not feel tacked on, but rather, that feel natural and fluid. While the concept may not be totally original (think Kirby Canvas Curse or Yoshi Touch & Go), the execution is flawless and I could not imagine playing LostWinds any other way.
Because you are playing as two characters, LostWinds is able to throw some pretty creative puzzles at you, where you will need to use Toku for one task and Enril for another. And while the puzzles may not be overly difficult, some can be challenging and all of them are almost always fun to solve.
Seeing as how LostWinds is an adventure game, you will be doing a fair amount of exploration. In fact, there are many points in the game that are reminiscent of a Metroid title, such as receiving a new power. There were several points in the game where I couldn’t figure out how to go on, but, upon receiving a new power, I immediately knew what to do and had to backtrack to that place where I was previously stuck. That being said, the game can get slightly confusing at times, seeing as how there is no in-game map. However, there are characters that will point you in the right direction and you can call upon Enril to remind you where you should be going.
Many of the game’s environments (and even the music to a certain extent) seem to be influenced by South America, especially Peru. Whether it be Toku’s headdress or the villages tucked in amongst mountains, LostWinds has a very unique feel to it, one which I have not felt before and one which was very enjoyable to experience.
While the game may be a joy to look at, play and listen to, don’t expect it to last forever. LostWinds clocks in at around two and a half hours, approximately three if you are trying to collect everything (there are 24 statues you can collect during the course of the game). While some have complained that this is too short, I for one was not disappointed at all. In fact, I wish there were more games like LostWinds. If you think about it, paying $10 for a three hour experience is not so different than paying $50 for a 15 hour experience. You are actually get the same amount of entertainment for your money, $10 for three hours. In our hectic lives, it’s games like LostWinds that we can turn to. We can experience something completely new, but at the same time, don’t have to invest dozens of hours to get that experience.
From its compelling gameplay, to its beautiful and serene environments, LostWinds is a game that can be appreciated by virtually anyone. It’s easy to pick up and play, has a nice story that’s easy to follow and uses its unique control scheme to offer some very imaginative and fun puzzles. If LostWinds is any indication, WiiWare has a very bright future indeed.
Filed under: Nintendo, Technology, Uncategorized, Video Games, Wii Tagged: | LostWinds, Nintendo, Wii, WiiWare
