0
0
The immense popularity of the Nintendo Wii proved to be a double-edged sword. With its massive and diverse install base, publishers quickly flooded the market with low quality games, overwhelming players with disappointing options and ultimately tarnishing the console’s legacy. That’s why it’s a special feeling to come across a third-party Wii game with a lot of time and care put into its development, and that’s exactly what we found with Hudson Soft’s 2010 release Lost in Shadow, known in Europe and Australia as A Shadow’s Tale.
In the game’s opening, a dark masked figure approaches a captive young boy and separates his shadow from his body, tossing it over the edge of a soaring tower. Awakened by a butterfly-like sylph, the boy’s shadow must then make his way back up the tower through platforming obstacles, enemies, and environmental puzzles. The sylph assists with altering the foreground in order to move objects or properly align shadows.
Playing through this game is a rather peaceful experience, heightened by ambient use of audio and a a decided lack of dialog. Gameplay consists mostly of simple environmental puzzle solving while dealing with various enemy creatures found in the shadowrealm. It takes a short time to accustom oneself with focusing on background rather than foreground, but once it’s figured out, it’s a pretty neat concept.Unfortunately, combat is the game’s most notable area of weakness. While fighting is not overly difficult, it can be rather boring and usually involves little more than whacking them with a sword then backing away at the right time to avoid being struck. Enemies with blue eyes can’t be killed by melee attacks, requiring the player to use the environment somehow, which was admittedly more enjoyable than standard combat. The sylph is utlilized by pointing the remote at the screen and moving things around as necessary. Honestly, it’s a fairly intuitive and painless way to incorporate motion controls, which were a staple of games on the Nintendo Wii.
Critics were split on the game, some praising its originality while others found it underwhelming. I personally find it runs a little long for the concept, and the ending is quite disappointing. Still, if you own a Wii and are looking for something a little different to play, Lost in Shadow is a certainly worth putting some time into.
