For those who haven’t heard of this unique title heading to the Wii from Hudson Entertainment; Lost in Shadow is a puzzle platformer that puts you in the shadows. You are the personification of a young boy’s shadow who is, in essence, trying to climb a tower to reunite with his body. To get to his body he has to climb a giant tower before nightfall, and the only way is to interact with the shadows, climbing them, and interacting with them.

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At the 2010 Nintendo Media Summit, there was nothing on display – not even the behind-closed-doors demonstration of Metroid: Other M – that looked quite as good as Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. Every other game I sampled due to curiosity or a sense of duty; but with Sin & Punishment 2, the reason I chose to play was because I simply couldn’t keep my eyes off the screen.

The rainbow of brightly colored projectiles, beams and explosions, the fluidity and grace of the character animation and the huge quantity of detailed foes on screen made other Wii titles on display look drab by comparison, and the screenshots you’ll see here don’t do the game justice. Graphics are hardly the only reason to be excited about Star Successor, of course. But for those to whom “Sin & Punishment” sounds more like the title of a Nietzsche book than a video game, let me digress: (more…)

Space. Wreckage. An storm of asteroids or possibly energy particles, destroying the remainder. And in the midst of the chaos and nothingness, a familiar-looking yellow-haired child encased in a sphere of energy, rendered in beautiful CG. Cut.

“Why am I still alive?” speaks Samus in a cool, computer-like voice, dejected yet curious, as she stares out the inside of the translucent jelly of a giant Metroid. Her entire Varia Suit floats in midair, half swallowed by the creature. “The baby?” she thinks aloud, as the giant alien cyclops Mother Brain recovers from its stunned state and prepares a final, fatal attack. The eye-fired laser beam lances out, but Samus is no longer in danger, quickly dropped to the floor below as the Metroid takes the brunt of the attack for her. As the Baby Metroid withers away, shrieking in agony, Samus’ heartbeats echo in our ears. As the teardrops of iridescent Metroid fluid rain from the sky in the chamber, her resolve strengthens, as does the orchestrated music that surrounds. “Mother, time to go!” she says with quiet rage, as the camera plunges deep into the depths of her Arm Cannon — where among the myriad mechanisms, a new power has been awakened. She unleashes a ball of destructive energy… and all goes white.

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