Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth

"If ever there was a game that you had to import..."

Thank You Treasure! Here is the successor to Radaint Silvergun! If there was one game that you would have to import for your N64, Sin & Punishment(SnP) is that game. This is a very fun and unique game that will without a doubt blow you away! You start out controlling a member of a small rebel force that is fighting against some mega corporation. The game is a shooter style game that has some similarites to panzer dragoon for the saturn and NAM for the Neo Geo with a bucket load of innovations thrown in to measure.

Graphics and Presentation: 10
Great Graphics for the N64. The setting and artsyle is a cyber punkish anime type set sometime in the near future. Great character designs and enemies. There are ton's of flashy special effects and explosions that set this apart from other games. You will be amazed by how much goes on in the screen. The action is fast paced and camera movement in this game is outstanding. There are many different camera angles used and that is what makes this game so interesting. For the most part of the game you are behind your charater while they run foward but there are some stages where your point of view changes.

Control:10
The controls in this game take a bit getting used to but they are well worth it. you can hold the N64 controller two ways. One way is to have your left thumb on the analoge controller and you right on the buttons, or right thumb on the analog and left thumb on the direction pad. Aiming your crosshairs consists of using the analog button and moving left and right uses the d pad or c left or c right. Jumping is done by pushing R or L and the Z trigger is for shooting while double tapping the Z trigger uleashes a powerful sword attack.

Gameplay:10
The most important part of the game and what Treasure is so known for. Your main character runs through the stage while shoot everything in site. you also have to move left and right to avoid attacks and to avoid running into obstacles. You have to also jump to clear pits, obstacles and avoid bullets. Sound simple? Well the stage designs are done very magnificiently so you will be very busy running, jumping left to right and shooting and sword slashing everything that comes at you. A great innovation in this game is the sword slash. When enemies shoot projectiles at you, you can reflect them back at the enemy with a sword slash and it will attack what ever is in your crosshairs. The level design in this game is topnotch and gives a lot of variety in the stages. One example is the aircraft carrier stage where you are on a flying hover craft that flys in all directions around the aircraft carrier in all angles. Another stage you are side scrolling and in another you are running after a monster through a room where you have to run left and right to avoid hitting a wall and jump to not fall in pits. These stages blew me away and that is when i knew the hype surrounding this game was well deserved. It just has to be seen to really know how great this gameplay is.

Sound/Music:9
Great Music and Sound effects. Music fits the mood of the game and all the explosions fit in perfectly.

Overall:9
The only reason that i did not give this game a perfect 10 is because if has only one flaw, it is very short. This game can be beaten within 4 hrs time on easy. After 4 hours of incredible gameplay it suddenly ends. There is a lot of replay value though and it is still fun to play this game over and over again. It takes a while to get tired of this game. If you ever wanted an action pack fun game, you need look no further than Sin & Punishment. Get one while you can because it seem this won't be coming to the states. Also get one now while they are reasonably priced because there is a chance this will be one of those rare expensive import games that you see on ebay. Much like Radiant Silvergun (saturn), Dracula X:Rondo of Blood (pc engine cd), Faselei!(NeoGeo Pocket)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/09/01, Updated 05/09/01