LostWinds

With the launch of WiiWare in the US players are finally getting a chance to sample to wares of the smaller developers we've been waiting for for a while now.
LostWinds is one of those titles that doesn't come along very often. It's a brilliant effort for a new service that shouldn't be overlooked. This game is everything many big retail games aren't.

First off let's start with controls. You control the main character Toku with the nunchuk. Toku is a small child that isn't your typical "hero". He can't fight the toughest enemies or leap the largest canyons. He's a child and as such doesn't do much other than walk. The brilliance though lies in the "second" character that you control. Enril, the Wind Spirit. With the remote you create gusts of wind or slipstreams that propel the young hero along the environment. It is also how you fight. Lock onto an enemy create a wind gust and throw them against walls or cliffs to defeat them. The controls are about as good as you can get on the Wii. They are responsive and do pretty much what you want them to do. There's not a lot of having to repeat yourself, which is a good thing.

Visually this game rivals anything you'll see on the system. The 3D backgrounds and vibrant colors contrast greatly to the drab environments you see in the biggest games out now. Bright pink blossoms, brilliant green grass are amazing to look at. The contrast is the underground environments in the game. While they are duller, and less colorful they are no less beautiful. Frontier has done a great job of bringing some character to the less pretty areas of the world. Swipe your Wii Remote across anything in the environment and they react to the light breezes you create. Do the same thing while creating a gust of wind and they're reactions change accordingly.

The music is some of the most peaceful I've heard. The soft tones of obviously Asian inspired music are the perfect tunes to listen to when you want to go to sleep. They also fit wonderfully into this game. While there aren't many different tunes, you won't get "tired" of hearing them. They're not best music in a video game of the year type stuff, but you will remember them long after you've played this game.

The only real complaint I have with the game is the lack of a map. It can sometimes be hard to remember exactly how to get to certain areas. You will do a lot of backtracking across the environments, but there are no noticable landmarks to point you on your way. Hopefully in the sequel this may be addressed.

You're not going to spend a lot of time with this game on your first play through. My final time clocked in at exactly 3 hours and 11 minutes. Not long by todays standards, but every minute of it is something you'll remember and for the $10 you pay to acquire this game it's a perfect length.

This game looks to be the first in a possibly long series of games so you very well could end up getting 20 hours of play time once you've spent $50 on the subsequent sequels.

In short, if you own and Wii and can log onto the internet you should buy this game...yesterday. Don't wait. Everyone should experience LostWinds at least once.