A Game Review: Lost In Shadow (2011)

 While visiting my parent's house, I was poking through their Wii games and I noticed one called "Lost in Shadow".  The name obviously intrigued me.  Sadly, I didn't have time to play it then, but a few months later (I don't visit there too often).  I have to say, the game pulled me in pretty quickly.

The game's protagonist (at least I assume so) is a boy's shadow.  At the top of a tall tower, the boy's shadow is severed from his body and then dropped down to the bottom of the tower.  The boy then has to climb up to the top of the tower to retrieve his body.  The boy can only interact with the shadows though.  The entire part of the game that I have played has been entirely in the background of the environment.  It's a fairly interesting mechanic.

The game is fairly simple.  The player goes through each level searching for 3 locks.  Along the way, they must avoid or fight the shadow monsters as well as avoid the tower's defenses.  At times, the player is given the ability to manipulate the shadows by adjusting the angle of the light or moving 'real world' objects.

Overall, there isn't much else to the game other than that.  The game feels very simple.  The puzzles aren't too terribly difficult and the monsters (with the exception of a giant spider monster) haven't been too difficult to dispatch.  The environment and music in the game is very good for setting the atmosphere.  One of my complaints for the game is the controls.  One button controls both attacking and searching for objects to move. I found that to be somewhat annoying in some places of the game.  The tower itself is shrouded in mystery.  Most of the time, the game feels like a curious exploration of a new place.  At one point, it felt like I was in a terrifying escape from something I couldn't fight.  I am curious to see what mysteries the tower has yet to reveal.

The game is rated E (10+).  The game is probably appropriate for children of that age (who would probably find the puzzles more challenging than I did).  I would give the game a B rating.