Despite the limitations to their size, Wii had its fair share of decent to great downloadable games (called "WiiWare"), and LostWinds was a game released relatively early in Wii's lifespan that received a lot of acclaim. I only just got around to playing through it, and although it's fairly short at just a few hours, it's a polished and enjoyable light platforming adventure game. The puzzles are very simple, most being of the "put boulder on switch" type, but the game oozes charm. The main character is cute and the supporting characters and enemies are well designed as well, but the environment and the atmosphere are what really makes the game memorable. The way the titular wind rustles the grass and the trees is incredibly effective at bringing the Peruvian-esque setting to life, and when combined with the motion controls that you use to draw paths for the wind to follow the game feels quite magical. Drawing paths with the Wii remote take a bit of getting used to, particularly when you're trying to make your character jump, but once mastered work fine.
There are only a handful of environments, and the game makes you travel back and forth through many of the same central areas in order to reach new paths, and there's only a single boss fight. Retries are only a minor setback, and with the music and pace it's quite a relaxing game overall. All in all this isn't a revolutionary game, but the acclaim is justified and I'm looking forward to trying out the sequel.
Relax with these LostWinds links:
- Official site
- The game and its sequel are also available on Steam
- Review at NintendoLife