I got a delightful surprise in the mail on Thursday: Hudson sent over a demo disc for my E3 game-of-the-show Lost in Shadow. (Hudson typically sends out Wii demo discs to press ahead of their games' releases.) And while there weren't any new levels to experience over what I played at E3—in fact, the demo disc experience was a good deal shorter than what was on display at the show—I really enjoyed revisiting its first handful of levels again in the quiet and comfort of my own home.
For a starting point, I'm going to go ahead and build off my extensive E3 piece on the game, so read that first if you haven't yet. (And when you're done here, read our Q&A with director Osamu Tsuchihashi.) The demo ended just before 9F; the last level was the 6F-8F area, where I'd eventually fallen to the shadow spiders and wall-mounted crossbow bolts at E3, a performance I repeated in my own home before finally clearing it on the second try. With the shadow boy's simple repertoire of jumps, sword-slashes, and sideways movement, combat can get somewhat tricky... particularly when the level puts spikes (which are, appropriately, shadows cast from a fence) directly over your head and traps you between baddies.
The demo was clearly intended to show off as much as possible of the game without being too long; indeed, even without much in the line of shadow-puzzling challenge present, it still took me over an hour to clear. Represented were several light-based mechanics including the swinging lamp (which made the shadows of platforms sway, making certain timed jumps possible) as well as manual, context-sensitive positioning of light sources. Also making their reappearance were the challenge rooms, which you need to rotate in 90° increments on their y axis to change the shadows and clear your way to the top. These were probably my favorite, particularly now as I've got it down which way I need to press the d-pad to avoid crushing the shadow boy between the rearranging shadows of the structures.
I did catch a couple new things, though. First, the challenge rooms—these are accessed by little shadow doorways that appear in the main areas; you enter these and they vanish once you've cleared their challenge. I did note for the first time that you can actually leave these at any time; however, doing so would leave the door intact and reposition you on the side you approached it from, and most were positioned in a way so that you'd have to clear them to progress. Combat is tricky, as I mentioned, but I found out one key thing that will make it a bit easier than I had experienced at the show: the purple bar beneath the boy's shadow weight meter is experience, which he fills as he defeats more beasts. Leveling up makes him stronger, and eventually lets him fell the beasts with fewer strikes—particularly useful when they swarm. Finally, one thing that I'd passed up at the show, but finally tackled: a purple shimmering memory (which both levels up your max HP via shadow "weight" and gives you bits and pieces of the story) in one level that had looked inaccessible. Getting this required going up higher and taking a bit of a leap of faith through a trap door, then dropping off a ladder (which had been just out of sight) back onto the main path to continue on. I wonder how much of this sort of thing there will be as I continue on.
I don't recall if I complained about the TVs Wii games were being shown on at E3, but not many of them were particularly flattering. Finally playing the game on my own plasma helped Lost in Shadow—which did already look pretty good at the show—really unlock its beauty. This is a really cool-looking game in a number of ways, with its HUD typically entirely invisible unless needed, letting its overexposed look (at least, in the outdoor areas represented here) believably convince that the shadows are being cast by a bright, glaring sun. The soundtrack is mostly ambient and appropriate, though the theme from the trailers makes an appearance in the "opening" title sequence (which actually comes a good bit into the demo!)
When it came to playing this demo, I'd seen almost all of it before, but I was very happy to get the chance to check it out again before the game's eventual January release here in the States. It looks like it will be another one of those essential titles for the discriminating Wii owner; both special in gameplay and atmosphere. I wish everyone could get the chance to play this demo; but since that's not meant to be, I hope some of you will give this game a shot when it comes out this January.
For a starting point, I'm going to go ahead and build off my extensive E3 piece on the game, so read that first if you haven't yet. (And when you're done here, read our Q&A with director Osamu Tsuchihashi.) The demo ended just before 9F; the last level was the 6F-8F area, where I'd eventually fallen to the shadow spiders and wall-mounted crossbow bolts at E3, a performance I repeated in my own home before finally clearing it on the second try. With the shadow boy's simple repertoire of jumps, sword-slashes, and sideways movement, combat can get somewhat tricky... particularly when the level puts spikes (which are, appropriately, shadows cast from a fence) directly over your head and traps you between baddies.
The demo was clearly intended to show off as much as possible of the game without being too long; indeed, even without much in the line of shadow-puzzling challenge present, it still took me over an hour to clear. Represented were several light-based mechanics including the swinging lamp (which made the shadows of platforms sway, making certain timed jumps possible) as well as manual, context-sensitive positioning of light sources. Also making their reappearance were the challenge rooms, which you need to rotate in 90° increments on their y axis to change the shadows and clear your way to the top. These were probably my favorite, particularly now as I've got it down which way I need to press the d-pad to avoid crushing the shadow boy between the rearranging shadows of the structures.
I did catch a couple new things, though. First, the challenge rooms—these are accessed by little shadow doorways that appear in the main areas; you enter these and they vanish once you've cleared their challenge. I did note for the first time that you can actually leave these at any time; however, doing so would leave the door intact and reposition you on the side you approached it from, and most were positioned in a way so that you'd have to clear them to progress. Combat is tricky, as I mentioned, but I found out one key thing that will make it a bit easier than I had experienced at the show: the purple bar beneath the boy's shadow weight meter is experience, which he fills as he defeats more beasts. Leveling up makes him stronger, and eventually lets him fell the beasts with fewer strikes—particularly useful when they swarm. Finally, one thing that I'd passed up at the show, but finally tackled: a purple shimmering memory (which both levels up your max HP via shadow "weight" and gives you bits and pieces of the story) in one level that had looked inaccessible. Getting this required going up higher and taking a bit of a leap of faith through a trap door, then dropping off a ladder (which had been just out of sight) back onto the main path to continue on. I wonder how much of this sort of thing there will be as I continue on.
I don't recall if I complained about the TVs Wii games were being shown on at E3, but not many of them were particularly flattering. Finally playing the game on my own plasma helped Lost in Shadow—which did already look pretty good at the show—really unlock its beauty. This is a really cool-looking game in a number of ways, with its HUD typically entirely invisible unless needed, letting its overexposed look (at least, in the outdoor areas represented here) believably convince that the shadows are being cast by a bright, glaring sun. The soundtrack is mostly ambient and appropriate, though the theme from the trailers makes an appearance in the "opening" title sequence (which actually comes a good bit into the demo!)
When it came to playing this demo, I'd seen almost all of it before, but I was very happy to get the chance to check it out again before the game's eventual January release here in the States. It looks like it will be another one of those essential titles for the discriminating Wii owner; both special in gameplay and atmosphere. I wish everyone could get the chance to play this demo; but since that's not meant to be, I hope some of you will give this game a shot when it comes out this January.