Sin and Punishment: Successor of the Earth

"Non-stop high speed shooting"

Treasure has returned with it's first foray into 3d action games and delivered a game which eclipses every other achievement on the N64 to date.

The gameplay is hybrid of shooter and action platformer, with the emphasis on shooting. And shoot you shall.

There are three modes for your weapon. Lock-on which inflicts weaker damage but tracks targets automatically. Free shooting which inflicts far greater damage but forces you to manually track targets and finally Sword. Sword is only for close range but inflicts terrific amounts damage and can reflect certain enemy bullets for even more damage.

Your player can jump and dive roll to avoid enemy fire. The ''run'' speed is determined by the game itself and requires no player input.

Somewhat like Space Harrier on a single plane, you follow the character from a chase view as you plow through the levels. For once, the camera never gets lazy or gets you killed. What a concept ^o^

There are no key cards to collect and no mundane jumping puzzles. Developers take note, because this in itself is a revolutionary concept in 3d action games. This game is an exercise in lightning fast blitzkrieg level clearing, against a wide variety of enemies and bosses, each sporting great designs and complex individualized animations. There is a story that you can follow, or skip. The story is rather...esoteric.

The dialogue, although entirely in English, is clearly written by someone who lacked understanding of the language. It also features typically slow spoken English, so that Japanese audiences can follow it with greater ease.

Each level and boss is totally unique, requiring different techniques, tactics and hand/eye action to surmount. Their are 3 acts, subdivided into 3 levels each, but like any full throttle experience it can only last so long. I think S&P's length perfectly compliments the gameplay style they've followed.

On Easy the game can be beaten inside of an hour. Normal takes about a full hour and Hard takes around an hour and a quarter, though it's doubtful you'll beat it on your first sitting.

Perhaps my only gripe with this game is that the Nintendo 64 controller hurts my thumb if I play on the harder difficulty settings causing me to not finish a play through in one sitting. But that's more of a gripe for Nintendo than Treasure ^^

Beating the game on each successive difficulty unlocks more and more extras, from sound tests to level selects, etc.

All in all a masterpiece. Indeed this an Bangioh are reasons enough to own an N64 and a import converter cart. Also, this was published by Nintendo, so it's relatively easy to find. In Japan, as of September 2001, copies can be acquired for under $25 a pop.

On a final note, it's interesting to know that this game was developed specifically for Western audiences and was promptly axed by Nintendo of America and Europe. Why am I not surprised :(

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/14/01, Updated 09/14/01