Topic: First Impressions: Icarian: Kindred Spirits

So ok, I've played it for about an hour now and I can assure anyone who was one the fence about it, this is a really good game. At it's essence it is pretty similar to LostWinds in that it's a platformer with puzzle elements where you control your character with the nunchuk primarily and use the pointer to affect and manipulate the environment. Graphically it's not as vibrant and the environments are already starting to wear on me. However, the visuals are much more polished and artistically this is probably the best there is on Wiiware, along with World of Goo even though that game is artful in a completely different way. Think of it more like the Shadow of the Colossus school of thought, even though it in no way rivals that game.

The music however is excellent and everyone in the UK should really take a shot at that free OST. It has a very ambient sound to it and is filled with an atmosphere that's kind of a mixture solitude, sorrow and menace. Very effectful. Just that in itself bumps that game up a few notches and really immerses you in the game.

However, none of this matter if the gameplay sucks. But no worries, this game delivers here aswell. Mind though that I'm only an hour into it but so far it's been nearly flawless experience. The controls are surprisingly intuitive and the pointer controls are also much better than those in LostWinds (so far no waggle). So far the puzzles hasn't been too difficult but I'm sure they'll ramp up in challenge as time goes by. The thing I really like about it so far though is that many of the puzzles are bound to the artificial gravity engine and therefore there's some leeway to how you play the game, kinda like World of Goo although nowhere near as flexible. It all gives you atleast an illusion of freedom which is very satisfactory. In fact, the only thing that LostWinds had that this game doesn't is the freeroaming nature of it, even though the execution of it wasn't perfect in LostWinds really. So far this seems fairly linear but while my preference is openworld, it hasn't really bothered me at all so far.

Do note however that single player mode is not for people who are bad doing several different things at the same time. Things like trying the maneuver with your left thumb while holding the left index finger to glide and also the same time pressing the A button on the Wiimote with your right thumb while pointing towards the screen holding up a gigantic pillar with the B button... That can best the best of us. But no worries, in two player more the second player take care of the cursor and it then become a co-op game. And yes, player two can use blocks and fire balls and what ever to kill player one Double Dragon style so hilarity can ensue. Personally I like the "almost overwhelmingness" of the single player, it provides a challenge that inspires me rather than discourages me since it's my limits being pushed, not the game's and after playing through the game my ability to do several things at the same time will probably be improved.

The only negative point that so far discovered is that the game doesn't give you anyway really feedback when you grab onto things with your pointer. That does end up in a few cheap deaths where you thought you had grabbed onto a something only to have a giant pillar come down and flatten you. Some sort of on screen indication aswell as a slight rumble would have been nice. But it's not a big issue.

All in all I gotta say, this game is a winner. In fact, after Mega Man 9 and World of Goo, it's my favorite WiiWare title and I'm only an hour in so far. If you liked LostWinds this is a must have. If you like platformers in general it is also a must have. And if you like pissing of your little brother by throwing giant boulders on him constantly, this is a must have. Seriously, you should be playing this already.

Off to town now to grab some points and my tap box thingy. Thanks for being the guinea pig Djungelurban, thought I best check. I'll be back later with initial thoughts.

@Kadunta Just buy it dude, how long a game do you expect for a tenner.

SP is probably pretty short but it feels "denser" than Lost Winds, there's less filler and a whole lot of interaction. The puzzles aren't exactly brain benders and while dying is easy not dying isn't very hard and so far I've been progressing fairly steadily (I think I've finished five levels so far). I did take a few attempts to beat the first boss and since he came fairly early I suspect there'll be enough boss battles in the game, not a Lost Winds-style "level 1 complete, game over" feeling of incompleteness. I don't really mind the environments, make it easier to read what's interactive and what's not since you're not facing new looks for old things or anything.

My only gripe is that the game won't save mid-level checkpoints so if you quit you have to do the whole level all over again and the levels feel fairly lengthy (relics you already collected remain collected though). The puzzles feel better than Lost winds IMO since there's no precision blowing like in LW, you can grab a block and move it directly instead of having to repeatedly swipe across it to move it. There's also not as much in terms of getting different powers, the first five levels only had the "grab stuff" power, no tons of different abilities but the environments tend to use it fairly well.

Oh and there are 20 different relics to find throughout the game for some optional extra challenges. Some can be fairly hard to get. If you miss one you can select earlier levels from the title screen along with a display of how many relics there are.

I love this game so far, and whilst I'm not gonna give you all my first impressions just yet (wait for my full review - AHEM), I'll just let you know a couple of things:
It's aesthetically brilliant, the gameplay is really innovative and addictive, but there was one glitch that I found that killed me, where a fountain of burning sands that had supposedly been switched off decided to blast me to hell. There was also one incident where I was completely stuck, with no way of escaping or solving a puzzle, and had to restart the level right from the beginning again to try that puzzle again :S Otherwise, it's recommended.

Also: I wonder when Nintendo are going to get around to sending me that free soundtrack I should get for downloading it at 11pm last night :S

Judging by the number of treasures I've found so far, while assuming I've missed some, I'd say about 5-7 hours. Although if the difficulty ramps up in a big way, that number could rise as time goes by.

Great impressions, guys. I'm stoked. Sounds like what Lost Winds should have been, and that game was already good.

Just spent an hour with it and I really can't complain. Spent ten minutes in one level making a big pile of blocks, just so i could push it over, the physics are nice. Have to agree that at first the controls were a bit odd, but then before i knew it was moving a block whilst gliding underneath it (instead of squashing myself), very nice!

Off to play a proper game now, Let's Tap!

Wow, really pleased with the comments so far. If you're on the fence and have the Nintendo Channel on your box there's a new feature called "We are WiiWare" which is about the developers of this game and their work on it.

Hopefully we'll see more of these specials in the future because it's a great thing for the NC!

I just completed the game. I played through it all and found 15/20 relics and it took me 3 hours and 34 minutes. Today I decided to find the missing ones (one was quite tricky) and I also did the thing you get when you find them all. In total I've spent exactly 5 hours and I've had lots of fun. Might be a bit like Lost Winds in some cases but both are great games. I would say that this game is in my top 3 WiiWare titles so far. Last level was pretty crazy, but in a good way.

Yeah, I didn't expect more length than that but the game makes the whole time a good time, no endless looking for where you're supposed to go based on vague directions like in LostWinds.

Excellent; I like the fact that it's not too long and is a complete game. Depending on whether or not Fire Emblem hooks me too much I may give it a go tonight.

I really wish this would come out on the 22nd, but perhaps next Monday?
Icarian seems to be a real winner in the WiiWare division. I really want to experience the levels myself and get my cousins involved in this.

I wouldn't be surprised if it did.