LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias (Wii) Review

Poor little Toku has recently discovered that his mother has gone missing whilst on a trek. Upon taking up the mantle of finding her his adventure begins, taking him and Wind Spirit Enril through iced-covered locales around Melodia City and Summer Falls. Right from the start players are faced with challenges such as learning how to use Enril's power to despatch enemies and ensure Toku does not stray far from sources of heat for too long for fear of freezing to death. Other than the task of keeping Toku warm, the early stages are pretty much the same as the first game. Players take control of Enril, the Wind Spirit, who is basically a clever twist on the usual on-screen cursor featured in most Wii titles. Alone, Toku can merely wander from side-to-side, climbing up small steps. However, as soon as the power of Enril is utilised, the world opens up considerably, allowing gamers to explore the beautifully crafted land of Mistralis.

Pressing A and moving the Wii remote sharply upwards results in a gust of wind that propels Toku into the air, with repeated wafts lifting him ever so slightly higher, until Enril's power runs out. At this point it is imperative to swirl the Wii remote around to help the little guy back down to the ground without a sharp bump and consequent loss of energy. Objects can be thrown around, switches flipped, enemies thrown into the air and slammed into the ground, plus paths can be created to transport streams of fire or water around a limited distance, all thanks to Enril's windy abilities. These are features that all helped to bring the first outing to everyone's attention and help it remain one of the best games on WiiWare service so far. Winter of the Melodias takes that strong foundation and builds upon it considerably, adding plenty of new elements to please players of the original, whilst wowing newcomers to the series.

With the majority of abilities from the first game available from the get go this time round it has given Frontier the room to use Winter of the Melodias as a platform to try out plenty of new ideas, especially in terms of what Enril can bring to the adventure. As Toku makes his way around the world, he comes across special statues of Enril that open up moves such as cyclones (lift Toku higher or suck water out of pools, turning it into clouds that can then be blown around and re-deposited elsewhere) or being able to freeze fire-based enemies and create snowballs in snowy areas. There is even the ability to drive a cyclone down into certain types of ground and uncover new pathways further down the line. Whilst there are several puzzles dotted throughout, however, most are not taxing to the point of frustration, usually ranging from finding something to keep a switch pressed down (flinging rocks around a stage until they rest upon the switch, or forming a large snowball when possible in the Winter zones to temporarily open a door for Toku to slip through) to finding items for villagers.

Additionally, there are forty-eight idols to collect and twelve pages from Magdi's journal spread around the world, with a handy map to show not only where Toku is travelling, but highlighting how many items still need to be collecting and roughly where they are hidden. The main puzzle element, though, stems from the Spirit of Seasons, Sonte, who grants the ability to switch between the frosty settings to a far warmer climate. This brings into play the idea of not being able to pass specific sections due to, for instance, a body of water being completely frozen, yet in summer it can be swam through. On the flipside, if Toku cannot force his way through a raging waterfall, switching to winter freezes said flowing water, while snow can be turned into a ball to be flung at smashable icy walls and grant further progress. LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias may still only take about six hours to complete, but for the price of just 1,000 Nintendo Points it proves to be a massive bargain, given that Frontier has managed to take the initial concept that proved so popular and add in the various aspects discussed above without mixing in any negative points.