Video Game Review [Flashback]: “Sin and Punishment: Star Successor”

Many people will question my choice in consoles, mainly for the fact that I do not
own a Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360. (I am referring to Mr. Marciel in particular, who has
questioned why I do not have an Xbox on numerous occasions. If he wanted me to
review Gears of War 3 so badly, than why doesn’t he just buy me an Xbox from money
out of his own pocket? Checkmate, Mr. Marciel.) Sure, it would be nice to review such
games as Left for Dead and Bioshock (but not Modern Warfare, because you people
would be expecting it, and that is not how I roll), but the fact of the matter is, I don’t have
the kind of money to purchase such consoles. But I still have the Wii, so I can do my
share of modern games. The Wii isn’t so much a child’s console as it is a casual
console, but it has its fair share of hardcore games, and I think I have one of the best
examples yet – Sin and Punishment: Star Successor.
The story of Sin and Punishment is mostly convoluted, but here is what the story
is like based on the game’s Wikipedia article: “Taking place many years after the
Successor of the Earth, Star Successor reveals that there are two dimensions present
within the universe: Inner Space and Outer Space. In Inner Space, there are multiple
Earths, watched over by beings known as ‘The Creators’ (literally referred to as ‘God’ in
the Japanese version). The creators have guided mankind to defend these planets and
fight, destroying mankind whenever it strays from its destined path by attempting to
bring peace. Outer Space sends invaders to deal with Inner Space, and sends an agent
in the form of a human girl to infiltrate Earth-4. An agent of Earth-5, Isa Jo, is sent to find
and kill the Outer Space infiltrator, only to find that the girl has become infatuated with
humans due to amnesia, aside from knowing that part of her name was "Chi." Naming
her "Kachi," Isa decides to protect her and help her live, something which goes against
the creators' wishes. As a result, the creators send out a group known as the Nebulox
(G5, or the ‘Group of Five Countries’ in the Japanese version), led by Isa's former ally
Deko, to kill Kachi and Isa for his betrayal.” Or something like that.
To be honest, the story doesn’t really matter, because this game gets insane in
its gameplay. I mean it. This game goes out of control in terms of presentation. Let me
try to sum up the first two levels of the game: Isa and Kachi (who, I just have to point
out, look like the puppets from Dark Crystal) crash their ship, and they have to escape
before it explodes. This is the basic tutorial level. You blast through small drones by
holding the B button, cut up enemies by tapping the B button, target enemies by tapping
the A button on an enemy, and use a charge shot by holding and releasing the A button,
all while the screen flies your character through the level automatically. After taking out
several large enemies by knocking their rockets back at them, you go on to face a large
robot spider, which fires lasers and bombs at you while it tries to crush you with its
robotic legs. However, you can easily avoid the legs by dodging, which makes you
briefly immortal.
After escaping the ship (and ending the tutorial), the game takes you to an
underground city, in which you fire upon enemy soldiers, jet fighters, and flying goldfish

monsters. After killing a giant attack plane on the wings of which soldiers fire rockets at
you, you start to fly upside down, deflecting rockets fired by rocket-launching vehicles
and killing more flying enemies. You then go on to destroy a number of laser-blasting
robot arms on the building the player flies around, defeat a samurai on top of one of
said rocket launching vehicles, and then take on Orion Tsang, a master of
psychokinesis and one of the Nebulox.
As soon as you defeat Orion and watch a cutscene involving a brain with a
camera in it, connected to a disembodied nervous system in a container of questionable
fluids, you then begin your fight with the first level boss in a large, downwards tunnel, a
gigantic, magma-spewing turtle, which will take large swipes at you, fire rings of
projectiles at you during freefall, and launch a barrage of rocks upon the screen. After
defeating the beast, Isa and Kachi both go down the tunnel, and that ends the first level.
All of that was in the tutorial and the first levels. This game is full of creative ideas
and challenges in terms of level and enemy design, and it throws so many different
challenges at you, that you will never see the same thing twice. No one will ever be able
to complain that this game is repetitive.
This is normally the part of the review where I point out some of the negative
aspects about this game. There are only three that I can think of: the length of the
game, the difficulty, and the targeting. But when I really think about these issues, they
all seem kind of moot. The game is a few hours long, but the experience is just so solid
and crazy that it doesn’t matter how long it is. The game has been known to be very
difficult, but Easy Mode seems to have that perfect balance of difficulty, and the liberal
use of checkpoints takes out the frustrating of dying multiple times. Targeting is finicky
sometimes, but you will get the hang of it. So, in retrospect, I have no complaints with
this game.
I just adored this game. There is nothing more to say on the matter. It’s chock full
of all of the Japanese Anime-based insanity one would come to expect from these kinds
of games. The controls are solid, the gameplay is insanely fun, and the presentation is
just gorgeous. After playing a game like Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, I feel
somewhat better about the fact that I don’t own an Xbox. If you ever find this game, buy
it. You will not be disappointed in the slightest. Now excuse me as I gush my feelings
about this game to Tumblr.
The Good: Great controls, awesome presentation, addictive gameplay.
The Bad: The story could have been a bit more refined.
The Ugly: Isa and Kachi really do look like the puppets from Dark Crystal. I am not even
joking.