Back at the end of the Nintendo 64 era, Nintendo and Treasure (Gunstar Heroes, Ikaruga) teamed up for an on-rails shooter called Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Earth featuring a sci-fi anime aesthetic and a nonsensical story to match. The game was wildly popular with those who got to play it, and eventually the game found its way onto the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007. More people got to play it, and one thing became very clear: it’s gameplay would benefit greatly from Wii controls. Thankfully, these two companies have delivered the Wii sequel fans wanted, even though it really doesn’t fit Nintendo’s branding at all. This isn’t a game for ‘casual’ players; even easy mode can be pretty damned tough. There’s no handholding or tips during boss fights, just a very basic tutorial in the beginning. Memorizing patterns, experimenting with attack techniques and good ol’ trial and error are necessary to figure out how to proceed. All of this, combined with the again incomprehensible anime story, can be a bit of a shock in contrast to modern game design, but it’s also a hugely fun throwback for those of us who grew up on this kind of design in the NES era.
The core Sin & Punishment: Star Successor gameplay is akin to Star Fox where the player, in this case one of two characters who can fly, progresses forward through the environment automatically, while the player shoots everything that moves and avoids obstacles and enemy fire. One of the unique aspects to the Sin & Punishment series (it’s officially a series now!) is the sword attack. When enemies are close you can slash at them instead of shooting. There will also be enemy attacks that can be deflected or even reflected back if you time the attack properly. This adds some nice variety and often strategy during more chaotic moments or boss fights. Sometimes it’s better to let an enemy missile survive until it’s close to you so it can be knocked back at a target of your choosing for more damage than your laser delivers. There’s also a dodge function (keeping with the Star Fox comparisons, think of the barrel roll) that lets you slip through enemy attacks without taking hits. Dodging and jumping (when/if you are running on the ground instead of flying) are controlled with the nunchuk’s buttons while aiming, shooting, slashing (quick tap of the shoot button) and charging shots are done with the Wii remote. Outside of the pointer function, the game doesn’t use any other motion controls.
Killing enemies in succession without getting hit yourself increases your score multiplier, giving you more points each time you destroy something. Get hit, and the multiplier drops a point or two, but it’s nice that it doesn’t reset completely if you screw up once. After beating the game, this will prove to be the most important mechanic as beating your own high scores, and other people’s on the online leaderboards, will be what gives the game longevity. Even without actual scores, it’s fun to replay stages and master the enemy patterns and get into a zone of blowing up everything in your path while dodging bullets, which at times will easily number in the hundreds. That last point leads to the game’s significant degree of difficulty. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game so challenging on its easiest setting. You will face swarms of dozens of enemies that might all be firing upon you. Bosses can have some complicated attack patterns that aren’t always easy to figure out how to exploit. Levels are also pretty long, so even on easy your health can be a concern. Game overs won’t be a rare sight even on the easy setting, but it’s never too discouraging. There’s even an optimistic little chime that occurs upon death that helps ease any frustration.
Beyond the difficulty, which – as in all rail shooters – decreases as you replay the game and learn its patterns, perhaps the other possible problem is the game’s length. This is an odd complaint, but it’s perhaps too long, at least to play through in one sitting. For most games, that would be a good thing, but with a rail shooter that ultimately finds value in encouraging replays for beating high scores, it’s a little more complicated. Doing a score attack on individual stages is simple enough, but if you’re trying for a high score for the whole game, it’s just physically tough to do. Halfway through, my hands are cramped and my brain is getting loopy. There’s a save feature, but there’s something unsatisfying about taking a break while going for a high score. It doesn’t quite let you get the bliss of getting into a zone and ripping through a game you’ve learned inside and out. Not like, say, Star Fox 64 or even Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Earth. The likely result is that doing score attacks on individual stages will be the preference for most gamers. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a bit different to the genre’s history.
It also needs to be said that there’s a lot of variety within this game. Each stage has a radically different environment and its own set of enemies which have their own unique attacks. The second stage throws you into an inexplicable tube of air flowing through the ocean letting you fight all kinds of marine life, submarines and giant eels. There’s even two scripted moments where your velocity throws you outside of the tube on turns for a few moments before swinging back in. It’s just a pretty cool view and a moment’s respite from the action, that is, if you don’t choose to keep shooting at the enemies still inside the tunnel. Stage four features a haunted forest that’s largely pitch black except for the area around where you’re aiming. Some stages progress to the right instead of into the screen, further shaking things up. Another stage puts your character in a vehicle, and so on. There’s also a huge score of bosses, several per stage that all present unique challenges and patterns. It’s really quite amazing for a rail shooter to have so much fresh material spread across a couple of hours of gameplay.
If you enjoy blistering rail shooters and find satisfaction in achieving high scores, you can’t go wrong with Sin & Punishment: Star Successor. Treasure specializes in making intense and challenging action games, and they haven’t failed here. I doubt the game has very significant commercial appeal in the modern market, but for gamers who can still enjoy an old school approach to design, or willing to take the plunge anyway, this game is a real gift. I quite strongly recommend it.
* Buy Sin & Punishment: Star Successor from Amazon.com
