Today, WiiWare went live on the Shop Channel. I actually didn’t know what to expect from WiiWare. I thought maybe I would have to download another channel to host WiiWare titles, but instead its only a section in the Shop Channel. I’ve been looking forward to “Lost Winds” so I gave that a shot. It downloaded rather quickly and took up around 256 blocks which is a sizable little chunk of my system memory.

“Lost Winds” is clearly inspired by “Okami” as you control a Spirit who can manipulate the wind to help little Toku get through the game’s world. The Nunchuck is used to move the main character around while the Wii Remote is used to send gusts of wind to help Toku get up to higher ledges, splash water on withered plants which then serve as a boost, and at this early point in the game to blow flames from a torch on the wall to smite a little blobby bad guy. So far, I’ve gotten past the early introduction of the game and I was having a good time playing.

It moves at a slower pace which I actually find very welcoming. I can see this being an awesome game to just chill out and relax with. Sometimes, I can only kill so many aliens and get pissed at online Mario Kart races so much. “Lost Winds” is a nice alternative and a great change of pace. I hope some of the later levels feature a bit complex puzzle solving than just getting Toku up to a high ledge, but so far what I’ve played is very promising.

Graphically, it looks clean and is well designed if a bit muted. There’s not an overly amount of detail, but what is there is nice to look at it. The music is soft if only a tad bit repetative, and Toku makes the same grunt sound as he climbs up a ledge over and over again. The game does lack a certain level of polish one would expect from a retail release, but considering its small file size and its price of only $10 (that’s 10,000 Wii points), its a good bargin.

“Lost Winds” I give you two thumbs up.