LostWinds - WiiWare

While the Wii certainly has its fair share ofAnubis IIandRock 'N' Roll Adventuresdross, it’s also got brilliantly innovative games coming for the price of a couple of pints; games such as Frontier Developments’ stunning-looking LostWinds.

It’s possible it’ll launch along with WiiWare, although no official release date has been set. In it you use the Nunchuk to control a boy’s movement, while the Wii remote controls the power of the wind, which can pick him up, sweep away enemies, whisk along useful objects and generally create havoc. Although LostWinds is only intended for single-player, it feels more like a fully fledged co-op game, with you guiding the young boy through 22 different levels to lift the curse from the magical world of Mistralis.

The character design is immensely cute, and the levels are lavishly painted with vibrant colours. While essentially a 2D platform game, certain elements are rendered in gorgeous 3D, and it should be a joy to play with the intuitive double controls. There are also elements of a Zack & Wiki puzzly kind here, with open-ended challenges facing you in the wide-open game world, giving access to new areas and new powers. With titles that look as strong as this coming to WiiWare, it would be fair to say that we’re very excited about it indeed.

Apr 18, 2008