Nintendo's best evidence that its E3 2009 showing was all "about the games" were the four kiosks dedicated to Sin And Punishment 2. Treasure's sequel to the Nintendo 64 shooter was given prominent attention at the front of Nintendo's booth.
A sequel to a Nintendo 64 game that wasn't offered stateside until the Virtual Console release of the original Sin And Punishment getting that much attention is a good thing. Because Sin And Punishment 2 feels right on the Wii. The on-rails shooter makes excellent use of the Wii Remote's pointer to queue up shots. Press B to fire your weapon, A to lock onto targets and charge up more powerful shots. Players familiar with on-rails shooters like Sega's Panzer Dragoon and Rez will likely be familiar with how Sin And Punishment 2's firing system works.
The only downside to the Wii Remote control implementation was for performing melee attacks, which must be done with a quick tap of the B button—a little harder to do, given the way one holds the Wii Remote.
On the Nunchuk side, players can use the C button to jump, double tapping C to hover. Z dodges. It's all pretty straightforward stuff. Fire and forget.
But the beauty of it all comes in with Treasure's multiplier system. That and the fact that Sin And Punishment 2 swarms you with enemies, filling the screen with things to queue up and destroy, dozens of bullets to dodge.
During our hands-on demo, we battled through a few of Sin And Punishment 2's "Commanders," one a massive heli-ship that spawned dozens of heavily armored soldiers. The other was a giant bird dubbed the Cock Keeper, which was supported by scores of seemingly indestructible enemies barrel-rolling towards us. In between these fights, our character hoverboarded through a futuristic city, the screen packed with flying creatures and mounted cannons. The action was intense, but nowhere near as challenging as some of Treasure's other shooters.
And like some of Treasure's other action oriented games, the depth of Sin And Punishment 2 may not fully illustrate itself until played more thoroughly. What we did glean from our E3 hands-on demo was that the game will most definitely appeal to fans of the original, with a clean, understated presentation that's unlike Nintendo's other published offerings.
The game won't be out until Q1 of 2010, so expect plenty of time to get acquainted with the title at upcoming events. For now, screen shots!