Customer Reviews

Sin and Punishment: Star Successor

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is not the game to play when you get back from work and want to relax. This is an action-packed on-rails shooter guaranteed to raise your blood pressure. There are no side missions, no freedom battles; instead, you get an intense 6 hour long roller coaster.

You can move anywhere on the screen and the game has gorgeous visuals. The game packs a variety of action sometimes switching between 2D and 3D to angling the camera without a stop in the action. The boss battles are intense, wicked and immensely satisfying once you win. Overall the game is brutally challenging (difficult on the normal level and an absolute nightmare on the hard level). The game might feel short for some people (after 6 and a half hrs I'm about to finish on normal), but the action is so intense and there are so many challenges (from unlockables to beating a previous score) that the replay value is pretty high.

The visuals are gorgeous, the sound adds to the action. Controls are very sharp and it has high replay value.

Sin and Punishment 2 is old-school, and in most ways this is a good thing. There is no pretense about depth and complexity. You will do two things, shoot lots of stuff and dodge lots of bullets. That having been said, S&P2 is a shining example of a genre. In many respects I compare the game to Nintendo's Star Fox or Sega's Panzer Dragoon since those are the two closest modern comparisons I can think of.

GAMEPLAY: S&P2 sticks to the classic design of some of the oldest shooters out there. There are no power-ups, alternate weapons, or any other gimmicks. There are two characters to choose from. Both play very similar, but the difference is how their charge-up shots work. Both characters also have the ability dodge, jump, and fly. Beyond that, the concept is simple... shoot everything that moves and blast away massive boss enemies. This game relies on brilliant level designs and boss fights, which is a welcome breath of fresh air to the genre. Some levels are strictly 3D where you shoot everything ahead of you and others are truly old-school 2D scrolling levels. The transition between the two level types is seamless and I didn't even realize it happened until several minutes after slipping into a 2D level. Unexpected but very welcome.

PRESENTATION: S&P2 is basically a huge chain of impressive boss battles strung together with short sections filled to the brim with enemies. Killing more than 600 enemies on a single level isn't unheard of. The storyline that ties this game together is pretty bad, basically giving the player a taste of some of the worst anime script writing I have suffered through. The voice actors sound bored and it is pretty obvious they didn't put much effort into their recording. I couldn't tell you what is going on in the story only because the voice acting and script is so painful to watch I end up skipping it every time so I can get back to the shooting. But seriously, this is a shooter and anyone who picks up any game in this genre is going to buy it for the action, not the story.

GRAPHICS: Sometimes S&P2 is beautiful and sometimes it is just a little bit too old-school for its own good. Many of the graphic textures are very low resolution. The character models are stiff, bland, and jagged looking, especially on the menu screens and during cut-scenes. In many respects it looks only like a cleaned up N64 game. Other times the game has really impressed me with neat lighting effects that I didn't expect. The game shines the most when it is in motion.

CONTROLS: The Wii is a perfect choice for a game like this. The nunchuck controls movement and the pointer allows for precision blasting. Top notch.

DIFFICULTY: There are three levels of difficulty, Easy, Medium, and Hard. One thing that I like is that bosses seem to have different phases or patterns depending upon the difficulty, which is a nice way of changing things up. Kudos to the designers for this. On easy mode I almost never die. On medium I have found that I usually have to fight most bosses two or three times in order to beat them. The difficulty feels almost perfectly balanced to give me a challenging experience without frustrating me.

VALUE: This is a short game. Playing through on Easy mode will probably only take about 6 hours, maybe a bit longer. A two-player mode is present, but the 2nd player only controls another shooting reticule and doesn't have the ability to charge their shots. It is a nice addition but so much more could have been done with it.


THE SINFUL:
+++ Smooth, fast-paced action throughout the entire game
+++ Interesting levels with interactive environments
+++ Awesome boss battles with huge screen-dominating enemies
+++ Perfect controls
+++ A focus on quality levels and bosses that proves gimmicks and power-ups are not necessary.

THE PUNISHING:
--- Some of the graphics are pretty ugly, being only a step or two above N64 quality in parts.
--- The game is short, which is honestly pretty expected with this genre.
--- A terrible story with voice actors that sound bored out of their skulls.


For any fan of the old scrolling shooter genre or any fan of Star Fox or Panzer Dragoon: Buy this game. This is a shining example of a dying genre that definitely deserves a little more love. Everyone else should probably just rent the game to see if they like it.

fans of the original sin and punishment will remember it as an avant-garde shooter that pushed the limits of the n64 both graphically and gameplay-wise to the breaking point, resulting in one of the most memorable and intense shooters ever made. star successor does all that over again and more on the wii, building on the foundation of the original to create a game that surpasses it in every way.

if you've never played the original, you're in for a real mind warp; the hallmarks of the series- the fast pace, high difficulty, ever-changing gameplay and sheer number of enemies on screen at once- are incomparable to anything else out there and the extra power provided by the wii has been used to it's fullest to absolutely drench the screen in robots and gunfire; starfox, even on it's hardest levels, is a walk in the park compared to this.

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the game is played by controlling one of two human(ish) characters, isa and kachi, by either walking and jumping on the ground or hovering in the air with a jetpack. you'll be penalized with a halt of your score counter while using the jetpack (it climbs continuously while on the ground), but otherwise you're free to make the choice to take to the air anytime without any restrictions, and the ability to do so is extremely liberating.

your main weapon is a rapid fire laser that can be charged periodically to unleash devastating attacks, with each character's attack being charged in a different way; kachi will lock onto multiple enemies at once and deliver moderately powerful missiles to each, while isa fires a single atomic blast. in addition to different charge attacks, each character's laser works a little differently as well, with kachi using a slightly more powerful blaster that automatically locks onto nearby targets and isa using a fully manual gun. both have their advantages, and after completing certain events in the game you'll even be able to mix between the two.

the gameplay has an arcade feel to it, although no arcade shooter would have the balls to be this difficult- even on easy, the game will overwhelm a new player. the goal is to shoot as many enemies as possible to build up a high score, with multipliers awarded for destroying more enemies while keeping your character unharmed. your weapons are unlimited in their ammo, and you also have a ever-useful sword that can be used to cut down those who get too close and even deflect enemy projectiles back (and get mega points in the process).

the game supports any controller you can plug into the wii, with gamecube and classic controller setups faithfully mimicking the controls of the original. however, it's not likely that you'll be using anything but the wii remote; of all the shooters out there that demonstrate a pointer's advantage in speed over dual analog, this game makes by far the clearest case for wiimote superiority. the remote also simplifies the utterly complicated controls that had been necessary for independent aiming and character movement in the original, giving a game that was once a challenge just to control a comfortable and clean scheme.

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the game is technically on rails, with your character advancing through the level automatically while you focus on shooting, however calling it a rail shooter does the game a disservice. having a character that you can control on screen makes a world of difference in the amount of depth to the gameplay, requiring you to dodge attacks while simultaneously aiming and firing, giving the player so many tasks to do at once that manual advancement through the level would be a brain overload. there are, however, side scrolling moments where the game is taken off it's rails and you're allowed to progress through the level yourself, unexpectedly shaking up the formula and landing the game into a genre all of it's own.

each stage is enormous and constantly changing, rarely going more than one to two minutes without a change in scenery, enemies, or entire perspective for that matter- like mario galaxy, the game will effortlessly switch between 2D and 3D multiple times within the same level. you'll find yourself flying through an underwater tunnel made of nothing but air one moment, navigating a side scrolling weapons factory full of robotic horrors the next, and riding a hovercycle on a post apocalyptic highway and fighting a warship in an ocean of lava after that. boss fights are so frequent that you'll typically be facing 3 or 4 within a single level, with some stages having as many as 8; simply put, the game makes it hard to get bored.

the graphics throughout every level are amazing, not just for how good they look but also because of the sheer amount of work going on behind the scenes to handle such a technically ambitious game, and this can be considered one of those games that shows off what the wii is really capable of. the art direction is just as impressive, with unique character and enemy designs, inspired settings, and astonishing detail put into even the littlest facets of the enormous levels.

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each of the game's 8 stages typically last 20 minutes, and with the unyielding intensity of the gameplay you may have to remove your fingers from the remote with a pair of pliers by the end of each one. the entire game can be beaten within around 7 hours, however, a game like this isn't made to be beaten. it's made to be beaten, memorized, and beaten again until you reach the highest score you're capable of. seeing just how well you can do and pushing yourself to improve your performance is where the real fun of the game lies, and those who take up that task will find limitless replay value- as of this writing i've clocked in over 130 hours and i'm still not bored.

the game is not without small flaws; at times it seems to be too ambitious for it's own good, with some camera changes taking place at the wrong time, shots failing to register or deflected missiles flying in the complete opposite direction of where you were aiming, but these only become noticeable when you play the game obsessively and even then they're a minor nuisance. overall, the game is a challenging, rewarding, and uniformly excellent masterpiece unlike anything you've ever played before or will likely ever play again. it's exactly what wii owners have been demanding, a game made for and by only the most serious players out there, and if you consider yourself to be one of them this game is a must have.

Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is a perfect arcade game. Its controls are tight and intuitive, the action is utterly relentless, and it is brutally challenging on Normal or Hard difficulty. There is no filler in this game, every moment is worthwhile and leaves you desperately wanting to play it again.

It is also a perfect Wii game. You aim with the Wii remote and move your character with the Nunchuck while the game handles the on-rails camera. You'll be raining destruction upon enemies assaulting from every angle at once with smooth, satisfying flicks of the Wii remote's pointer while simultaneously dodging massive counter-attacks and more bullets than you can comprehend. And Easy is forgiving enough that new players can enjoy the game without being thrashed - for the first few stages, at least.

These qualities also make it a great game to play with friends. The game's intuitive controls mean they'll be into the action in minutes and you can pick up a second Wii remote to assist them. Player two acts as a second gun, and cannot use charged shots. Despite this, you never feel hampered playing this way because there is plenty of shooting to be done and strategies to be devised between friends.

Alas, the game is a flawed masterpiece. It has a cringe-inducing story cut-scenes which, mercifully, can be skipped. A couple of fights require unintuitive tricks to beat, sending you to the Game Over screen several times even on Easy mode. However, its most significant flaw is its length - a few short hours (4-6) and you're watching the credits roll. That said, this is not a game you buy to play once - you'll play it again and again, pulling friends into it, shooting for high scores on the online leaderboards, and trying to put a dent into the monstrously difficult Hard mode.

Have you ever dusted off an old console - an NES, Genesis, etc - to relive a game so great that it stands up on impeccable design when technology has left it behind long ago? Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is destined to become that sort of game - a game that will forever be a cherished part of your library even when the current generation of consoles look quaint.

Summary:
+So intense, you'll stop blinking
+Intuitive, satisfying controls
+Fun, though limited, co-op
+Challenging but (usually) fair
+Easy difficulty is easy enough for new players
+Highly replayable
-Short, 4-6 hours
-Uninteresting story

I had a friend tell me about this one and I picked it up. Jebus it was hard at first... on easy. YOU WILL DIE... A LOT.

Once I started to get the hang of it I was just concerned with beating the levels. Once I was able to beat the levels on easy, I moved to normal, and am about to finish up the hard. It was amazing how easy the easy levels had become after the hard... and finding out about how much I missed the first time I went through.

It was like I was playing a whole new game! (SCORE)

Then... I figured out the point system for levels and the entire game... yet another intriguing game. I worked my way to the local leaderboards, regional, and then international. Instead of playing to survive... I was playing to beat out all the other chumps (me being one of those chumps). It's SWEET to know you're one of the 100 best players of the game in the whole wide wide world or the top 10 in the US.

It's me versus myself, and I dig that. Suprisingly driving through multiple lanes of traffic at high speed is a cinch after playing this a few times and I'm pretty sure my girlfriend had seizures watching me play from everything that was going on, flying around, exploding, etc. She definitely had to take her ADD meds to watch. Believe it or not... this was a much added bonus!

Once you get the hang of it, it can get pretty addicting and frustrating at the same time. I couldn't belive that I'd get upset that the phone rang and took my concentration off it for 2 seconds that got me waxed. Sometimes I can only take so much of it before I have to just give up for the day... or a few. I've not played anything like this in some time, but I definitely appreciate it's cathartic properties. It forces you to focus on what's important instead of what's urgent in order to succeed. So true.

This is definitely worth checking out as this is my first ever review on anything.
Dooooo iiiiiiit.

PS, the story? who cares... just fast forward and vaporize everything.
Your MOM wants you to vaporize everything... and clean your room.
Why not do both?

This game is almost exactly what it should be. The graphics push the Wii like few other games do. At the time of writing this, the only negative review I see on here is from someone who apparently did not know that it is a rail shooter and probably had no idea what to expect before playing it. If you take any time at all to educate yourself about the game before you buy it, then chances are very low that you will be disappointed. My main complaint is just how short the game is. I played through it on normal pretty quickly and felt very little incentive to replay any of the stages for a better score. The real trouble is that going for a higher score isn't as fun in my opinion because it means staying on the ground as much as possible and dodging so much that you barely have time to do anything else. It's more fun just to fly around the screen and not worry too much about taking a little damage here and there. So while I loved it the first time around, I think I'm ready to trade it in already.

Nintendo made a wise decision enlisting Treasure to develop this game. They are know for their nonstop crazy action games, and this is no exception. It's much more frantic than the 1st game, and the added control given by the wii remote/nunchuck make it a blast to play, but it's by no means easy. I should have picked easy mode since even normal can get a bit difficult at times. Playing two players can help, as do the unlimited continues (youll need them). The audio is top-notch comprised of a mix of orchestrated pieces and techo-anime. It works perfect. You wont be playin this game for the story, either so I wont go into that since its hard to describe. Graphically it's beautiful to look at as you zoom from scene to scene. I only wish the character models were a little less rough. Overall, S+P 2 is a great games and a good add for shooter fans and Treasure fans alike.

If you're a more experienced gamer with a Wii that's been collecting dust because of a lack of new software, you should definitely give this title a go. It's a great shooter that barely gives you time to breathe between the crazy levels and the formidable boss fights. There's nothing else like it on the Wii.

While it's incredibly fun, there are just a few things to be aware of before you buy Sin and Punishment. The game is very hard. Even on normal mode (easy and hard are your other options), I found myself dying A LOT. If you love a good challenge, dive right in. If not, try starting out on Easy, or you may find yourself wanting to pitch your Wii remote through your TV in frustration.

Also, the game is short. It'll only take you 5-10 hours to play through it once. Know as well that the story isn't terribly compelling, but that if you buy this game, it won't be for it's intriguing plot. It'll be for the stellar gameplay.

I was a bit skeptical about this game since it has been labeled short and difficult for some. Lets get a few things straight, this game is meant to feel like an arcade shooter and with the perfect shot or wii blaster. The challenge is ridiculous at times and sometimes I wonder if it is possible to complete solo. It is, but you have to die a million times before getting really good. I think the length is just right since challenge is so high and collectables are meant to be discovered by replaying completed stages. Completists will find twice the amount of gameplay if one intends to complete 100%. Remember my ratings are for the wii and not to be compared with high def systems.

Ratings 1-10 with 1 horrible and 10 the best ever.
Graphics: 9.0 Very brilliant, creative, and sometimes scary. Not realistic, but more artsy.
Sound: 8.5 Sound effects are on point, music makes you feel like you are in the arcade.
Gameplay 8.5 Easy to pick up, not too difficult to master. Only hard thing for me is with perfect shot using the c and z buttons to dodge and lock on at same time can be a bit difficult in heat of battle.
Length: 8.0 Some would say it is too short if you just play straight through.
Replay value:8.5 People who are hard core gamers will find plenty opportunity to replay for months, especially with friends.
Co-op 8.5 While playing with a friend, only one person controls a character and the other just a cursor for shooting, this makes the game easier for two players without getting confused who is who. I would like to see a battle mode online and at home for friends.
Overall rating: 8.5 While this game is great in my book, there are a few things that could be worked on, but overall is worth the money.

Sin & Punishment on the N64 was a strange beast. It's story was told in a slap-dash manor, nothing was quite explained or concluded and the characters never anything more than a means of interacting with the game. The story was a mess but this isn't why I played it. The inventive take on typical on rails action was refreshing and exhilarating but, in this modern age there was one thing [besides the graphics] holding it back and that was the control.

Sin & Punishment 2 is a strange beast as well but it is, in every way, glorious. This game comes almost a decade after the original and it maintains the confusing, rushed story that nobody cared about. It's better told but the graphics don't hold up in the poorly produced [and unnecessary] cinematics. This game is all about play-time. I thought that the original had held the bar in terms of on-rails shooter action but it doesn't even come close to what Treasure has done here. To some, a description of the game would sound repetitive, and while it's true that u basically dodge, shoot and slash through every self level the variation in which these mechanics is used is incredible. From inventive boss battles, to side scrolling action the game always surprises and never lets up. The difficulty makes this game addictive, you will die a lot, you will keep playing.

On the graphics side when things get up close and personal in the rather wooden cinematics the game looks rather unpolished and disappointing, save for the environments. That said though when the camera pulls back and you're flying over a vast city, flowing lava, or even underwater it's nothing short than gorgeous. Enemies and characters animate with convincing subtlety and some of the boss designs are fantastic.

The fast paced quality action and great graphics should make this a must play for any treasure or shooter fan out there. This is not a game you play for story.