[Review] Lost in Shadow

Lost in Shadow was one of those titles that probably slipped under your radar in 2010, with major releases coming for every big name franchise it would have been very easy to miss this little gem. A platform puzzler exclusively for the Wii, Lost in Shadow tells the tale of an un-named boy who is forcefully separated from his shadow. The shadow is thrown over the side of a tall tower, presumably to it's death. Thankfully though the shadow lives and it becomes the players job to reunite the two.

Navigating your way back up the tower is no easy feat, being that you are only a shadow and  can only interact with other shadows, the game quickly becomes about manipulating light sources to move the shadows around. Some times this is as simple as simply swinging a light bulb while at other times you need to rotate the entire level around.

The rotating puzzles present the player with logic tests as a bad rotation can some times squash your character causing you damage in the process. Other times you need to move the worlds light source causing all the shadows to stretch across the screen. While on the surface the game may seem like a fairly straight forward casual affair as you progress farther and farther up the tower the complexity of the puzzles increases. Some players may find themselves quickly lost and wondering what to do.

I think Hudson made a very wise decision making this game a Wii exclusive, while it may have done just as well on the other consoles, moving it into HD probably would have caused some problems. Because you need to spend the entire game focusing on the shadows and not the actual world, players may have become confused often finding themselves to aggravated to continue playing. On the Wii however Hudson was able to find a very nice balance between maxing the system out and creating a world that looks good while maintaining playability. I personally found myself watching the foreground world instead of the shadow world, you might say all those years of playing video games were working against me here. After awhile though I was able to stop watching the world and really focus on the shadows, it was at that point I decided that I was actually having fun.

In each level there are "Shadow Corridors" the player will encounter that whisk them away to what boils down to a mini-puzzle. At first I felt like these were simply a way to lengthen the total time of the game but I quickly found myself having more fun in them than when navigating through the rest of the game. Essentially you are taken to a small area devoid of color and tasked with getting out. It is within these levels that you are required to rotate the world around in order to proceed, sort of like Echochrome on the PSP or PS3.

As you proceed up the tower you find memories, presumably left by your body on your original climb, these memories provide you with helpful tips along the way. The more memories you collect the more "you", you become. Two or three floors up the tower you find a sword and start fighting enemies as well turning the platform puzzler into something that plays much like the old Castlevania titles.

While Lost in Shadow may appeal to hardcore and casual gamers alike, it may not be for everyone. This is one title I recommend every try though, even if you simply rent it from your local rental store or Gamefly.