LostWinds for iphone, ipad Review

Our rating:

By: Frontier Developments Limited

Version #: 1.0

Date Released:

Developer: By Frontier Developments Ltd

Price: $3.99

User Rating:

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Lost Winds, the whimsical adventure platformer game that has been a favorite of many on the Wii’s WiiWare store has been ported to the iOS and released as a universal app. The game garnered much praise on the Wii Platform with its unique controls and deep ambiance. Can Frontier Development bring that same magic to the small screen?

I remember loving this game on the Wii in spite of its short coming. It was a charming tale of a little boy that helps a wind spirit save the world from an evil spirit. You controlled Toku with the nun-chuck and remote, making swipes to blow wind that lifts you and other objects. This control is easily translated into swipes on the screen. I found some of the more advanced moves to be a bit challenging, but otherwise it was a good transition.

The game walks you slowly through the controls and has a nice linear difficulty increase. As you progress you gain different abilities that open up new areas of the world. Speaking of the world, the environment is intoxicating with peeks into an expansive world of cliffside houses and waterfalls. The little details like the villagers that react to your gusts of winds, help make this game a pleasure while traversing the map.

One feature I found helpful was the addition of a map that shows you where a new area that have opened up. Playing this game can be difficult in bright areas at time, since the darker cave locations make it hard to spot cliffs or paths when your brightness isn’t set to its highest.

The game gives you three save slots which is great if you have family that shares an iOS device. While this game is by no means long, there is plenty of content to enjoy and it lacks that dragging feeling that can sometimes crop up in the midgame of some adventures. I hope that the sequel is also brought to the iOS as this would make for a great combination.

There are many platformers on the iOS and many of them are hands down amazing. Lost Winds is one of those titles you can tell was originally a console game and its has the polish and attention to detail to be a hit on the iOS even at its higher price point. It should be mentioned that the original listed for $10 on the Wii app store so at $3.99 this game is a bargain. If you like Adventure games with immersive graphics and zen-inducing music then give this title a try.

We rate this app 4.5 out of 5 stars.