LostWinds
Platforms: Nintendo Wii
Producers: Frontier Developments

LostWinds is a Wii Ware launch Title, It cost's 1,000 Wii Points, Is it worth the price and more importantly is it any good?

LostWinds is a fresh, enchanting adventure that lets you wield the awesome powers of Enril the wind Spirit - from raging tornadoes to the gentlest breeze to guide and protect Toku, our main hero of the story.

Story:

Enril is the current only Wind Spirit left alive in the vast world of Mistralis, One day Toku, wakes up from his sleepy spot in the forest, and Finds Enril, Enril tells Toku about The Evil Balasar, Who Enril and his ancestors sealed away years and years ago.

But whilst sealing Balasar away, Enril also got sealed in with him, now Balasar has broken free, and Enril needs help to seal him away again, and Balasar has cursed the land once again, blah blah, so far, story wise, nothing special, but it does pick up near the end, and hints that something amazing is about to unfold, but I'll get to that soon.

Controls:

Lostwinds use of the Wiimote is spot on. You use Enril to control the winds, you can make small gusts of winds to brush past bushes to get treasure, or make strong gusts of winds to make Toku jump, and even hold up boulders.

A simple wave of the Wiimote while holding the button you can fling Toku To make him jump further, You can also use it to fling your enemies from wall to wall till they are nothing but a big mess.

Just by waving the wiimote you can also mess with the elements of the World, including water,boulders, and fire.
Whilst playing Lostwinds I never had a problem controlling Toku or using the wind powers, it works like a beauty, I'd go as far as say it's the best use of the Wiimote so far.


Gameplay:

The gameplay reminds me of Zelda, in a way.. You go thought short dungeons, once you get to the end of each dungeon, Enril get's a new wind power, which helps you backtrack and find unreachable areas.

It's main focus is set on platforming and puzzle solving .
You Use the wind spirit powers to complete puzzles, which at first may seem a bit difficult but after awhile are very easy to figure out, which is a shame, as I'd like to have seen a bit more difficult puzzles, coming from such a unique and fresh game.

The game is 3D, but you play it from a 2D aspect..kinda like Super Paper mario, but without the lame 3D flip feature. I'm glad to report that it works perfect in 2D, i doubt it would work as good if it was a fully 3D adventure.

The main bad point about the gameplay is that, Lostwinds only lasts about 3 hours, just as the story really starts to kick off, you get a "to be continued" screen, It leaves you wanting for more, and you feel a little ripped of by the 1,000 points price tag, I think 500 points would be a lot better.

Graphics:

The graphics in Lostwinds are quite charming and simple, that's all there is to say about the graphics really, nothing really stands out graphic-wise, but that's not to say the graphics are bad, because they aren't. They do the job, and the graphic style fits well with the gameplay too, which is always a good thing.

Music:

In the whole of the game , I think I heard about 3 whole musical scores, They fitted well with the games theme, but don't go expect to be humming the theme as you most likely won't be. The Sound in the game fits very well, if you brush a small gust of wind past the grumpy man in town he moans, do it to the school kids and they giggle, everything seems to fit so well, even the little things, and it holds the game together very well.

Overall:

Bursting with new gameplay ideas that embrace the Wii controller, LostWinds really puts the power of the wind in the palm of your hand.
LostWinds is a Fresh and original Adventure that should be played by everyone, The 1,000 points price tag may seem like alot for a 3 hour game, but you will play lostwinds again, and with a sequel due out soon, you wouldn't really want to miss out on this.

Pros:

-Beautifully crafted world
-Well thought through gameplay
-lots of replay value, as it's such a fun game.

Cons-

- Too Short
- 1,000 wii points price tag
- Too Short -_-

Score:
8.2 out of 10

Yeah other reviews complain about the length of the game as well.

I also didn't read anything about it having multiple difficulty modes, so this is probably one of the downsides of replaying it as it will be the same difficulty all over again right?

That turns me off to it a bit. I like a long game.

GaMeR Wrote:Yeah other reviews complain about the length of the game as well.

I also didn't read anything about it having multiple difficulty modes, so this is probably one of the downsides of replaying it as it will be the same difficulty all over again right?

As far as i can recall, there isn't any difficulty modes, there is one sidequest which has you collecting a statue in each area, some are easy, others are hard.

As for playing all over again, it's so fun, you won't really care about not having a harder mode.

Deadpoll Wrote:That turns me off to it a bit. I like a long game.

I think the best idea is to wait for number 2, because i think it'll be a bit longer, as on the Lostwinds forum, the Producers are asking for ideas on how to improve, and making the game longer is the main focus.

But Lost winds is something that only really comes around now and again, if you have the spare Wii points by all means go for it.

I still have to get some points.
I think Nintendo should hold competitions every week or two and the winner gets 2,000 points.