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I was annoyed with Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, until I turned it down to Easy mode.
Nintendo's latest Wii game, released Sunday, is a follow-up to a little-known shooter that became a cult hit. The original Sin & Punishment for Nintendo 64 was developed by Treasure, developer of stylish and brutally hard action games like Gunstar Heroes and Mischief Makers. Released exclusively in Japan in 2000, it became a sought-after import for its gorgeous graphics and "bullet hell" shooting action. (Three years ago, Nintendo made a downloadable version available for Wii worldwide.)
In Star Successor, your character flies through the levels automatically on a pre-set path. Your only job is to evade enemy fire by moving around the screen, then pick off the bad guys.
The action is intense. You've got to constantly keep track of enemies flying around, the hailstorm of bullets and environmental hazards. There's never a lull in the action. But it can get brutally difficult. Even on the game's easiest mode, it's no cakewalk. That's where I soon found myself. Star Successor wasn't the good kind of difficult, the kind that keeps you going. It was the kind that makes you frustrated and annoyed. Around the third level or so, I hit a complete roadblock and started over on easy mode.
I'm glad I did.
Star Successor is still a hard game even on Easy, but it's no longer overbearing. It's difficult, and you still have to pay close attention, but it's absolutely doable. It's still greatly satisfying to finish a level.
Because I was less frustrated and stressed out while playing on easy mode, I was able to focus more on the game's level designs, some of which are excellent. Even though your character follows a predetermined path through the levels, you still have to navigate them well.
For example, one level took place in an air tube completely surrounded by water. That was cool on its own, but what really got me was the fact that if I took the bends in the tube too sharply, my character would careen out of the tube and into the water. There, my vision was blurred, my movements slowed, the sound muted.
Some levels offered offer slightly different takes on the core game mechanics of aiming and shooting. My favorite level in the game was a horror-themed stage. The first section of the level was pitch-black; in order to illuminate the environment, I had to aim the targeting reticle like a flashlight at the dark areas.
Later in the level, enemies hid themselves in big patches of overgrown grass. To force them out of hiding, I had to mow down the grass with bullets.
I don't think I would have found as much fun in these levels if I was playing on a higher difficulty level. When I was playing on a higher mode, I was too concerned with keeping myself alive. That might be alright if Sin & Punishment: Star Successor was just about making it to the end credits. But it's not.
Star Successor is about four hours long, but it's the kind of game you replay several times in order to beat your own high score. Each time you kill an enemy, your score multiplier goes up. Because of the sheer amount of enemies on screen at any given time, your multiplier is almost always rising, resulting in a constant stream of positive reinforcement.
The game also has worldwide leader boards where you can track how you stack up against other players across the world.
However, the game's higher difficulty levels put the focus on just trying to clear the levels rather than trying to improve your score. After all, once you're struggling just to keep your health up, you're not going to be paying much attention to raising your score, which practically defeats the purpose of the game's design.
The original Sin & Punishment had a decidedly clunky control style that made playing the game more frustrating than it should have been. Its sequel solves that by allowing players to use the Wii remote to aim their gun and the analog joystick to move their player.
The increased mobility that comes with the new control scheme makes things inherently easier, and so the designers have been forced to come up with even more fiendish level designs and challenges than in the original.
The original Sin & Punishment had a bizarre, indecipherable story, and so does its sequel. The English voice acting is also absolutely horrendous, but again, this isn't anything new for series veterans. But while the original game's story might have felt so-bad-it's-good, Star Successor's story is so-bad-it's-awful.
One of the things I liked about the first game's story was its surreality. In one memorable scene, the main character spontaneously turned into a giant robot and started fighting some huge monster while the city they were fighting in filled up with gallons of blood. There's nothing so daring in Star Successor.
Above all, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor once again proves Treasure's mastery of making games in which lots of things explode. The action is fast and furious and the game's supershort length makes it perfect for several playthroughs. Even if it can be a bit too difficult for its own good.
WIRED Fast-paced, exhilarating action that never stops. Smooth controls.
TIRED Higher difficulty levels undermine what makes the game good. Awful story, and not even in the good way.
$50, Nintendo
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