Sin and Punishment: Star Successor - Cannon Swords Locked and Loaded

quote Dragon ZERO

Heh. Looks like Ngamer beat Akira to it

quote Dragon ZERO

I might as well get the S&P off the VC. I didnt get 2000 points for nothin'.

quote IGN

Perhaps the biggest announcement of Nintendo's fall conference last year was the out-of-the-blue debut of Sin & Punishment 2 for Nintendo Wii. As a sequel to a Japanese-only N64 release, we were surprised to see this seemingly dead franchise revived by a partnership between the Big N and developer Treasure. Even more surprising is the fact that Sin & Punishment 2 - supplemented only by the release of the import, still-Japanese original version as a Virtual Console download here in the US – is in fact headed to the States, and is also playable here at E3.

Being a huge fan of the original – and all-around Treasure junkie – I made sure to jump into the Wii-bound sequel as fast as possible, and after time with both Isa and Kachi – the male and female playable characters – in the demo level I'm back with every gritty detail.

First off: online connectivity. Nintendo hasn't mentioned anything in printed materials, but I did have a chance to confirm with the on-floor game reps that online leaderboards will be supported for those looking to get top scores and post them against the best in the world. No other details have been mentioned, but online is in, and quite frankly it was needed. This game is all about points, and high scores mean nothing without the bragging rights that come with them.

Speaking of high scores, the game's combo system is back and in full effect. As long as you don't get hit, killing enemies stats up the score, and contributes to a multiplier that in turn boosts every kill you pull off. As you'd expect, Treasure has littered the game with dozens and dozens of enemies at a time, often making use of "flocks" of flying targets that serve little more purpose than helpless combo-boosters. One hit though, and you're back to the original scores for each kill.

As for the controls, Sin & Punishment 2 was born for Wii IR blasting. Dare I say the game was too easy at times, as the slick movement of the in-game sights made for really, really fast targeting. I'd assume the game was running on an easy mode, and I was nowhere near close to killing full waves of enemies, but health was rarely an issue at all. The same general controls make a return, now enhanced by the Wii's pointer. You've got fire assigned to the B trigger, a quick tap will start melee combos instead of shooting, holding A preps a huge alternate attack (with Isa it's a huge blue sphere of energy great for taking down bosses, while Kachi's is a multi-target missile that makes multiplier raising a cinch), Z plus a direction dodges, C jumps (and hovers with a second tap mid-air), and you point to aim. Pretty simple.

With huge special attacks (hold A to charge, and release) there's a very subtle HUD system used to show not only how powerful you charge is, but also when the shot can be fired again. Holding A starts a blue ring circling around the aiming sights, and releasing cashes in that charge time – which takes the place of firing – for blasting power. Once shot, a red ring takes its place, and begins to dissipate until the charge is ready again. As one minor complaint – it's a small one – the charge will kick in the second it's finished if you just hold A, and since general gunplay is also a hold-to-fire affair you could technically grip the remote really hard (holding in A and B) and shut your brain off until wanting to fire your special shot each time. Release A once, and then just go back to holding both buttons.

It's a very minor issue though, and the overall gameplay demo was pretty dang fun. There was only one mission (and one difficulty) available, but the game mixed up plenty of bullet-hell moments with huge foreground melee enemies, swarms of flying creatures, mini-bosses that would scatter before being destroyed, only to return again later in the level, and a conclusion "boss rush" of sorts with three heavy opponents at the end. As a few other random notes, I haven't seen any real reason to not fly around the whole time (your jetpack is infinite in the demo, though that might just be the stage itself) and the demo level today was very wide open, giving it a half Sin & Punishment feel, and an almost Star Fox-like backdrop. I can't wait to play more – or see if there are any punishingly difficult modes included outside of the main game – but with a Q1 2010 release date it may be a while before we see more on Nintendo's ode to the hardcore.