Lost Winds

I recently bought Lost Winds for $10 on the Wii Virtual Console (a downloadable games service) and think it was worth it. In the game, you take control of both Toku, a young boy who you control with the control stick, and Enril, the spirit of the wind, who you control with a pointer via the Wii remote. You use the wind to pick Toku up, cary him accross chasms, fight enemies, and solve simple puzzles (pick up rocks to throw at closed doors, for example). The game is a 2D sidescroller, but rendered in a 3D style which is simple but still impressive.

In the game, you’re tasked with finding four chests to restore Enril to full power. The first two are hidden in nice little dungeons, each taking about 45 minutes to an hour to complete. So you’d think by that the whole game would be three to four hours. Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. The big disapointment is the last two chests each take about 10 to 15 minutes to find. The game then ends on a (rather predictable) clifhanger, pointing to a sequel.

Even with these flaws, I still think the game is worth $10 – I’ve paid more than that to go to movies that weren’t half as good.

Read on for an ‘Okami’ mini-review.I went garage sale hopping with my mom and a friend of hers yesterday, and managed to pick up a couple of Nintendo DS games for $5 that I then sold to EB Games for $35. Not bad! I used that credit to buy Okami, a game for the Wii that got high reviews and was styled a beautiful Zelda-like adventure.

I should have used the money on something else and just replayed Zelda.

Okami has a beautiful art design. I readily give it that. It’s set up like a more sophisticated Wind Waker, with visuals meant to represent drawn or painted art on parchment paper. Unfortunately, the TV I’m playing on was a little big for the visuals on the DVD, so everything looked washed out and fuzzy. I don’t fault the Wii for this, as Zelda and Mario Galaxy both look great on the TV. It’s definitely the game.

Likewise, where Zelda eases you into the game and the story, providing ample oportunity to figure out what’s going on while you’re playing the game, Okami started with a twenty minute cut-scene before I even touched the controls. Miserable. Then, the game itself spent another ten minutes explaining more backstory with in-game graphics. Even more miserable.

I finally got a chance to play the damn thing, and did find the controls to move your character, a wolf, very responsive. But by that point I didn’t really care and was already pissed off by my Navi-styled companion who constantly bothered me with commentary and obnoxious observations. (Not endearing at all, like Midna in Twighlight Princess…)

After about two hours of game time, which was probably only an hour and fifteen of actual play time, I gave up. I simply don’t care what happens to these people, I’m confused as to why I’m a goddess and no one seems to recognize me (which would have been solved by a simple “Your power is week, so no one sees your true form.) double confused why I’m a goddess and need to go around earning powers (again, would have been solved by a simple, “Your slumber has made you forget your powers), and uncomfortable by the game’s occasional sexual jokes (your Navi-like companion comes from out of the forest spirit’s cleavage). All in all, I think I’m taking it back and getting Lego Star Wars, Mario Kart Wii, or Boom Blox. We’ll see…

-R