Back on the Nintendo 64, there was an on-rails shooter by the name of Sin and Punishment that was incredibly weird but playable, despite being a Japanese-only release. The only reason I know of it is because of this 1001 list, and my conclusions after playing it were along the lines of "well, that's was fun, I guess, but I don't really need more, do I?"
Apparently, damnit, we do need more, because it has a sequel on the Nintendo Wii, Sin & Punishment: Successor to the Skies, or your regional subtitle equivalent.
Last time out, mostly because it was all in Japanese, I had to hit the Internet to learn just what on Earth was going on. This time out... well, I've got to do the same.
Fun Times
I actually have a copy of Successor for the Wii, but my notes from playing it make little sense, even to me. I don't know why I keep writing notes if I'm apparently so damn bad at them. They're all stream-of-consciousness type notes, that's why. Can't work with that.
Can play Successor without a Wii Zapper, though. You can even play it with a controller instead of a Wiimote. I didn't even note down how I played it, but I'm going to guess it was with a Wiimote. For these screenshots, it's with a mouse and an Xbox 360 controller, but don't tell Nintendo.
Frustrations
You can choose to play as either Isa or Kachi, who differ in gameplay in terms of how they target enemies, but I'm more concerned about how young and stupid they look. I don't want to play as either, is that an option?
Their names don't ring any bells, so I don't know if this game's story is related to that of the first game. Let's see... "Taking place many years after" - no, then.
Our young heroes have made a valiant attempt to escape someone's clutches, with Kachi being the prize catch. Sorry, Isa. You're not special enough. Unfortunately, they're not going to get too far if their escape vehicle has crash-landed, and it very much appears to have done such a thing. I hope both of these kids are alri-
This game, so far, is awful. Granted, I've only seen menus and cutscenes, but they did not inspire hope for the rest of my afternoon. Voice actors can only take what they've been given so far, and what they've been given in Successor is drivel. You can't even laugh at it. I hate it.
Further Fun Times
Luckily, the gameplay of Successor is an awful lot better than its awful story. You control your chosen character using the analogue stick, and their weapon is aimed at whatever your Wiimote is pointing to, with various buttons initiating a lock-on or charged shot.
I know I'm playing on Easy, but it really couldn't be much simpler. Hold down a button until the bad guy disappears.
As you're pulled through the environment on rails, you're free to move around the screen both on foot and hovering in the air, thanks to your futuristic little jet pack. You don't even have to press any jump buttons to do so, just move the stick where you want to move, while you point your pointer at what you want to shoot at.
In two hands, this is a doddle, whether on the Wii or via emulation. For a brief moment, I wondered whether the Zapper would actually be weirder to play with. The way it's set up, your movement controls are at the back of the Zapper, and the shooting controls at the front.
The closest to the Zapper I've come is the PlayStation VR's Aim Controller, which reverses this and puts the trigger at the back and the movement controls at the front, which felt like it made much more sense. Certainly felt comfortable enough for me, when I used that a long while ago.
Anyway, let's get this tutorial section where we escape the ship done.
You're supposed to have the ability to reflect projectiles back towards the enemy using your melee attack, which is on the same buttons as your ranged attacks, you just need to be standing close to the thing you're targetting and deliberately, purposefully, hit the attack button.
I can get the melee attacks to work alright, but don't fancy my chances of deflecting anything without getting hit, and I've not seen an awful lot of health pick-ups yet.
We can't complete a level in a game like this without having a boss fight, and for some reason, this spaceship has a giant robot spider on board, which slowly waddles around the hangar shooting at pretty much everything except us.
With infinite ammo and no real danger, chipping away at its health bar is trivially easy, and when it falls over staggered, some swift slashes to the face with our melee attack will dish out a fair bit of damage.
The final thing to make note of is that we've got a fancy dodge roll that can be done both vertically and horizontally, and is the only way we've got to avoid some attacks that span the height of the screen, or that come towards us too quickly to do anything else about.
I only note that because otherwise you'll wonder why I'm rolling into fire.
Robot Spider defeated, level complete, we escape the ship by falling into an underground city. What other way of escaping a ship is there?
Well, it's been nice knowing you, Kachi. Isa knows better, however, asking her if she's ok, with absolutely no sign of alarm in his voice. She's perfectly fine and just removes herself from the giant spike that has impaled her as though nothing has happened.
I guess she's some kind of superhuman or something? Is Successor going to fill me in here? Let me know just what kind of kid she is? Can we get any amount of backstory to help us out, or is this absolute nonsense just here to give us something to look at while the next level loads in?
I mean, it's quite clear that the story just doesn't matter.
 |
| Just some soldier, we're told, by the way... |
If the story doesn't matter, let's just kill hundreds of enemies in an underground city in an on-rails shooter that is, at least, making sure the gameplay matters.
There are enemies that seem to only exist to increase your score multiplier, explosive barrels to reduce numbers of opponents in an instant, boss fights around seemingly every corner, some of which come back for another round, others that make absolutely no sense, even in context... Why am I shooting a giant white eagle? I don't know, I don't care, it's attacking me until I've defeated it, so let's crack on.
You'll be whisked around the entire city, it seems, the environment taking you along a highway, only to twist around so that you're now upside down to attack creatures clinging to the bottom. Your jetpack doesn't care which way is down, you're just hanging in place as the rails keep moving beneath you.
I continue to know nothing about what is going on or why I'm doing any of it, but Successor is nevertheless fun. Hold down the fire button and just go to town, watching your score increase as the explosions keep coming.
The weird guy who wants Kachi won't take no for an answer and returns for a boss fight of his own. Clearly, I've not quite got the hang of self-preservation, but defeating him was easy enough, and our reward is another bonkers cutscene that doesn't clear anything up at all.
From what I can tell, this sentient spinal cord was controlling that boss from afar and is watching over escape intently. It's a knowledgeable character as well, knowing where we're heading and the inevitable trouble we'll face when we get there.
What is the Keeper?
The Keeper is a killer, that's what. Coincidentally, this is where I called it quits on the Wii itself, too. Easy is only easy when you've got enough health to spare and enough skill to know just what is happening in this boss fight.
Shoot 'em up and bullet hell enthusiasts can mock all they like, but this pattern just wasn't clear enough to me, and after thirty minutes hold essentially holding down the trigger and watching the fireworks, I know where I stand when it comes to Successor.
Final Word
"It's alright, but", in short. It's alright, but it's stupid. It's alright, but there's not much point to it. It's alright, but I don't know why you'd go out of your way to play it.
Successor to the Skies plays really well. It was difficult for me personally, but these kinds of games haven't ever been easy for me. If you swapped out the character models and stripped out the story, it'd be a game worth looking at for sure, almost arcade-like in its simplicity to get going, but requiring some level of mastery to keep going.
But we haven't got a heavily edited Successor. We've got baggage. We've got a story that is a waste of time. A villain who looks more interesting and likable than the heroes. A game that shines in one department, and utterly stinks in another.
The gameplay, though I am not good enough to get too far with it, is enjoyable, even with Wii controls. If you can ignore the story and enjoy the gameplay, Successor is probably going to offer you a good couple of hours of shoot 'em up entertainment. Does it have legs after that? For the fans, probably. For the rest of us, I doubt it.
If the story was any good I might watch it, but after playing it twice now, I know this isn't a game for me, technically impressive and well put together though it may be - with the exception of the story, obviously. Have I made that much clear at least?
Fun Facts
The plot write-up on Wikipedia seems to be an entire paragraph dedicated to the backstory, and a single sentence dedicated to the events of the game itself. It, too, makes very little sense, even when explained to me. Did I miss a really important cutscene or something?
Sin & Punishment: Successor to the Skies, developed by Treasure, Nintendo SPD, first released in 2009.
Version played: Nintendo Wii, 2010, also via emulation.