Import Review: Sin & Punishment (Wii Virtual Console)

In the near future, the population of mankind has radically increased and food supplies are at an all time low. To counteract this, scientists have artificially created beasts, which now serve as a new way of harvesting meat. They’re placed in Japan for testing, but mutate along the way, so things go horribly wrong for the populace. 

A group called the Armed Volunteers seeks to stop the creatures, whilst simultaneously oppressing the Japanese citizens. As the player, you take control of rebels Saki and Airan, two members of an opposing group that seeks to save Japan from the beasts and the oppressive militia.

Unfortunately, this is one of those games where you need to either read the manual or do some internet research to figure out what the heck is going on. In fact, most of the details above aren’t mentioned in the game it all. You’re thrown head first into the storyline and then expected to keep up. With that said, it’s an interesting concept with an equally winning plot once you parse it.

Many have described Sin & Punishment as “Star Fox on foot”, but that’s not quite accurate. While both games are on-rails shooters, the former is far more advanced in terms of mechanics. With gun in hand, you’ll take down hordes of Armed Volunteers and Ruffians as you attempt to liberate Japan. Your character has the ability to move left and right in the auto-scrolling environments and can double jump on command. Much of your time will be spent standing in one location as you dodge enemy fire, incoming obstacles, and take down massive machinery before advancing.

You’re given a time limit of 99 seconds in each stage, which can only be increased by taking down mini bosses or nabbing certain purple orbs amidst all the action. Instead of just firearms, the two protagonists also have swords at their disposal. These swords can deflect rockets (try that in real life), deal major damage to nearby rivals, or be used in skirmishes with sword-wielding bosses.

Along the way, you'll also run into several larger foes - bosses. These guys can be challenging, but they’re often one-note. To elaborate, this basically means that once you’ve learned what strategy takes them down, they become a walk in the park for subsequent playthroughs.

When all is said and done, you’ll probably be finished the game in a good hour or two. That sounds abysmal for a premium priced Nintendo 64 game (200 extra points for the translation on top of the regular 1000), but the game isn’t supposed to be too long. It’s just arcade action at its finest, with some cutscenes thrown in to form a cohesive experience. If you’re just here to play the story, Sin & Punishment may be a waste of cash.  

Instead, the source of Sin and Punishment’s magic is the way it manages to change things up so radically within that short amount of time. One stage might be a side-scroller, another may have you flying around at obscene angles on a makeshift telepathy-powered air-raft, and another gives you control over a Ruffian (the beasts bred for meat) in a sea of red, and one has a chase scene with platforming segments. Without spoiling the concept of the final battle, it’s arguably one of the best over-the-top fights in video game history. The game is choc full of so many memorable moments that you’ll feel genuinely compelled to boot it up every now and then even if you’re not one to better your high scores.

Thanks to an easy mode, the game should be relatively accessible to newcomers. So long as you’re not flailing about randomly in the hopes of taking down your foes, you should be able to beat the game without a problem. The game is powered by a continue system, but it’s a very generous one that gifts you new continues regularly. Heck, you can die to the last boss and gain a few.

Another reason the game gets compared to Star Fox is likely the presence of voice acting, a rare breed in the N64 landscape. Characters can sound a bit overdramatic at times, but the presence of voice acting really adds something. It also goes without mentioning that this is was of the most impressive looking titles on the system. Sure, it looks pretty polygonal in spots today, but the bulk of the game gets the job done nicely.

If you’re worried about potential language barriers...don’t be. Sin & Punishment is different from other import titles in that it was already translated into English, complete with voice acting, but never released outside of Japan. In a twist of irony, the language is more off-putting for the Japanese players. There’s no local voice acting and many of the Japanese subtitles appear for roughly half a second, giving native players no time to analyze the text in the story sequences. The ending is exclusively in English as well (though perhaps this was altered for the digital release). The only real change made for the Virtual Console release is the addition of translated menus, which probably took just a few afternoons to implement.

So long as the prospect of paying $12 USD for a short game doesn’t bother you, Sin & Punishment should satisfy your arcade shooter needs. It’s top-notch in terms of gameplay and presentation, so that should count for something.

-Clark A

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Retro Review: Mario Party 2 (Wii Virtual Console)

Mario Party is still alive and kicking after nine main entries and a handful of offshoots. Regrettably, it’s now accompanied by increasingly vocal disappointment. Many feel the mini-game quality has degenerated and that the gameplay has become far too focused on chance rather than ability. For those who feel this way, Mario Party 2 might be your best shot. Sure, luck is as present as ever (most irksomely in the single player), but its role is downplayed in multiplayer and most of the mini-games are high-quality.

To those not in the know, Mario Party is an inventive blend of several small games with a larger board game as the focus. Characters move around the board by rolling a die and picking a direction to move if prompted. Your goal is to collect the most stars, which is done by gaining coins (the game’s currency) and buying them from a random location. A star goes for 20 coins a pop, which isn’t cheap, so how do you go about getting more of that precious currency? Nearly every space you land on rewards you with three coins, but winning a mini-game will reward you with 10. Mini-games pop up every turn, so you have optimal opportunity to build a stash of coins if you can master the games.

To add some spice, there are several events and board-specific happenings. For example, landing on a battle space forces everyone to deposit a certain amount of coins into a bet, where the winner takes most of the total. Another space causes Bowser to come wreak havoc on the players. If you’ve got the cash, you can head to a shop on the map and buy an item. One particularly handy tool is the magic lamp, which immediately takes the user to the space with a star.

The actual mini-games are divided into various categories, such as free for all, 1 vs 2, and 3 vs 1. Each game has its own set of instructions that need to be learned before you jump into the action (it’s no Wario Ware learning curve). Fortuitously, you can choose to practice a mini-game before jumping into the real thing, which is very useful for multiplayer sessions with newcomers. On average, these games should take about thirty seconds.

With so many variables to take into account, Mario Party 2 throws a lot of luck into the equation of who takes the crown at the end. However, much more skill is required than the latter chance-heavy instalments. It’s a mostly comfortable balance, which is refreshing in the era of the “everyone must be on the same playing field” approach. You can choose to turn off the bonus stars (stars awarded to the person who did the most of a certain thing during the game), which often makes things unpredictable at the end.

In terms of content, Mario Party 2 remains a tremendous value even after all these years. For 1000 Wii Points, you get six different game boards and a solid 65 mini-games. Granted, some of them are rehashed from the first game, but objectives and controls have been altered for a less blister-inducing experience. Additionally, not every mini-game is A-grade material, but the vast majority are both pleasant and accessible. 

As you might have guessed based on the title alone, Mario Party 2 truly lends itself to a multiplayer “party” environment. The more pals you can rack up, the more enjoyment you’ll get from playing the same games repeatedly.

While multiplayer offers the true experience, you can still take the single player game for a spin. It’s just a shame that the computer’s intelligence seems rigged to ensure your demise in an otherwise fair game. You’ll spend a while trying to complete your mini-game collection so you can play them all at your own discretion when your mates come to your flat.

Graphically, the game is beginning to show its age. Character models look noticeably worse than other Nintendo 64 games starring Mario and the gang. Fortunately though, the game boards and environments are solid enough to make you forget about their somewhat shoddy presentations. One nifty feature is that characters wear a different costume depending on what board you’re playing on (i.e. Yoshi will be a pirate in Pirate Land).The soundtrack is as good as ever and should ensure a smile stays on your face.

Other Mario Party games may hit the Virtual Console, but number two belongs in your collection regardless. The variety of mini-games offered is immaculate, head and shoulders above several other entries. It could be a tough sell for the lone wolves of the world, but perhaps it’s worth the gamble.

-Clark A

Our Scoring Policy

The hypocrisy of western gamers and sex

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Serious Sam HD Second Encounter DLC announced, free multiplayer to be released on May 15th

While Serious Sam: The First Encounter embodied almost everything fun about the purely twitch-based shooters of the 90s of PC gaming, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter was almost undeniably better. It was more crazy, more varied, and a bit more brutal. It's also not hard to argue it may be the best game in the series, as Serious Sam II went overboard in its humor and Serious Sam 3 borrowed a handful of modern game designs that went against the otherwise classic gameplay. If anything, The Second Encounter is worth playing for any FPS fan that loves realism being thrown off of the roof of a 10-story building. On May 15th, many people will be able to experience more of that joyous disregard for reality and everybody else will be able to enjoy a good chunk of that original greatness.

Announced today on the official Digital Revolver website, a DLC pack for Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter titled "Legend Of The Beast" is planned to be released on May 15th. This DLC will contain three new campaign missions, three new survival mode maps, and three new versus mode maps. No other information besides the above has been released by Devolver Digital or Croteam. However, the ever-snarky Fork Parker had something to say as to why the DLC exists; "Just the thought of all that extra cash is making me download some content into my pants," he concludes, as continuing on with the rest of the statement would most certainly not make this post have a PG13 rating.

Looking further into the issue, it appears that Croteam has had this DLC planned since the beginning of the launch of the game. However, due to working on Serious Sam 3, the DLC had to get shelved and just now has been completed. The DLC is to be released on Steam at the price of $5 USD, which is not bad considering that other games are asking $15 USD for a small handful of multiplayer maps for a game that will be abandoned next year (yes, I'm pointing the finger at you, Call Of Duty).

Other than releasing the DLC on the 15th, the non-campaign multiplayer portion of the HD version of The Second Encounter will also be released on the same day for free. While technically only the modes 'Capture the Flag', 'Deathmatch', 'Team Deathmatch', 'Instant Kill', 'Last Man Standing', 'My Burden', 'Survival' and 'Team Survival' will be available to everybody,  last I checked those were all of the non-campaign multiplayer modes. While it's true that I've always found the non-campaign multiplayer modes to be the weakest part of the Serious Sam games, their core is still quite enjoyable and this inevitable boost in players might reel me back in to play a couple of rounds with the renewed community.

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Jane Jensen Kickstarter hits the bullseye

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Skylanders updated on iOS

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Blockbustering: Blockbuster UK lists 25 Wii U games for preorder, some not even announced

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It might not be Friday, but check out Digitally Downloaded's #FF Website list anyway!

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Anyway, the most recent rumour is that Retro Studios, the company responsible for the Metroid Prime series and Donkey Kong Country Returns, will be creating a new Star Fox game for the Wii U. The game is supposedly planned to be revealed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 for short) during Nintendo's press conference. This rumors comes from Techtroid, a site that doesn't necessarily have any positive or negative traits about it except that it's a video game news site. So, is there any potential slivers of truth in this rumor?

The fact that Retro Studios made Donkey Kong Country Returns and helped oversee some of the track designs in Mario Kart 7 seem to suggest that Nintendo has put faith in Retro to be able to play around with some of Nintendo's other franchises besides Metroid. Retro has also stated numerous times that their next project is, “a project everyone wants us to do." I also can't think of a series that hasn't seen some love in a few years besides Star Fox. Well, there is always F-Zero...