New Lost in Shadow screens and impressions

Last night's Konami Gamers' Day offered usthe chance to play a couple oflevels from Hudson Soft's upcoming Wii platformer, Lost in Shadow,which was described asthe "best shadow-action game." It's pretty easy to be the best thing-you-made-up-right-now, but humorousrhetorical fallacies aside, we were impressed by the clever platformer.

Everyone's initial reaction when seeing Lost in Shadow is, "Hey, this looks kind of likeICO, and plays kind of like Echochrome... it's ICOchrome!"

It's got a young hero, and a world so shrouded in mysteryyou can choke on the fog.It's got brain-twisty, but forgiving puzzles. It's got shadow bugs to fight with a shadow sword (the one-button combat isn't the highlight of the game, but offers variety). So it's similar, but there's no shame inbeing compared to two fantastic games.

In Lost in Shadow, you are a shadow (surprise), and can only interact with shadows. It took us a minute to kick the habit of trying to interact with foreground objects, a mistake that led toseveralclose encounters with some very pointy things.Once wegot comfortable with being a background element (a strange feeling, as games usually emphasize the protagonist),our progression smoothed out.

The effect of being a shadow can be pretty phenomenal,especially when you hit an angled surface, and you become stretched and distorted as you run. It looks nice too - the environments are colorful, bright, and dreamlike, and theshadows are believable extensions of the physical structures.

Some of the platforming we played was of thestandard jump, climb, and avoid spikes fare,but certainchallenges required clever geometric thinking. In one level,we used our little onscreen helper-buddy, Spangle, to rotate objects, changing their silhouettes and creating new platforms. Another level allowed us to move the light source itself,making big gaps small. Bonus levels, called Shadow Corridors, are scattered throughout the game, and allow you to rotate the entire structure of the level (rotate it the wrong way and you're engulfed in the cold, blue darkness).

The two levels we played seemed a little short, and offered some challenge, but forgave every mistake... but we only played two levels.It's a well-realized, charmingconcept, and assuming we've only just seen the start, it could be high on our list of recommendations when it's released later this year.

For more on the game, giveour first (more detailed) hands-ona read, and check out thefull-sized new screens in our gallery.

Apr 9, 2010