When the WiiWare service launched in 2008, people wondered whether it would find its legs or not. Of the games that launched with WiiWare, one in particular served to justify its existence: Frontier Games' side-scrolling adventure LostWinds. With its neat presentation and cool wind-based gameplay, it earned many a favorable review among the top critics in the industry. Now, LostWinds has been re-released for iOS devices everywhere, which begs the question: how does it stack up on a touch screen?

The game begins with its young protagonist, Toku, asleep beneath a tree (a sign that destiny is close and unavoidable) when he is awakened by a breeze. Following it, he soon comes across a strange stone and discovers that the stone has a wind spirit, Enril, sealed inside. Enril relates to the boy how she sealed herself away with a powerful demon inside the stone, and how, through sheer malice, said demon broke free (hardcore stuff). Without going into much more detail, Toku and Enril have to work together and explore the world to find a way to stop the demon. The journey will take you through villages, over waterfalls, and underground, and as you go, you will make use of Enril's powers to help Toku solve puzzles, fight enemies, and access normally inaccessible areas.

Touch controls take the place of the Wii pointer-controls in LostWinds for iOS, and they work well, for the most part. Toku can be moved with a simple tap on the left or right side of the screen, and, with a simple swipe of your finger, you can use the wind to blow Toku upwards, downwards, and all around, an ability that makes up for the fact that Toku can't jump on his own. As time goes on, you'll unlock new wind-based skills, like making slipstreams (a skill that allows you to direct the path an object goes through the air) or trapping objects or enemies in vortices (allowing you to then catapult them into the sky or into walls).

While, all in all, the controls work well, occasionally, I had a little difficulty with them. That's not to say there are issues with LostWinds' control scheme, it's just that it might take a while for some to get use to it. Aside from that, my only real complaint is a lack of much to do outside of playing out the game's plot. There are no side-quests and no real interaction with the NPCs strewn throughout. It's actually somewhat lonely sometimes. There are, placed throughout the game world, several collectable statues, usually placed on hard-to-reach ledges, but the only reward you get for collecting these is game art that you can use for the background of your iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch.

Unfortunately, the game is short. Most who play LostWinds will be able to finish the game in only three to four hours. Plus, the game ends kind of abruptly, with the final boss springing up on you before you realize the fun's almost over. This doesn't bother me too much, though, as it just feels like it's gearing up for the sequel (LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, which, hopefully, will make the jump from WiiWare to iOS in the near future).

If you've played LostWinds on WiiWare, I doubt the iOS version will bring anything new for you to try out, but if you lack a Wii and own an iDevice (or simply didn't play the game when it first came out), now is the time to give the game a try. See for yourself if you find LostWinds a breath of fresh air, or simply hot air (see what I did there?).

GameDynamo's Score for LostWinds (Mobile)

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