Sin & Punishment: Star Successor

I played this game back in 2011 and as I played once more in 2019 I was remembering bit by bit why I liked so much and why It's easily in my top 5 favorite games.

I'm not really into shooters but I'm pretty sure that Treasure was in the zone when making this game because everything is on top and masterfully done: music, gameplay, character design, progression, story, challenge, everything. The story is a little convoluted and you need to play the first game to have the most of it (it's available in the Wii U shop for a very cheap price and is also a great game) and even then you also need to give it several playthroughs in order to organize all its bits and have them to make sense, it has some anime tropes but is really good or at least serviceable to an steller gameplay, and its filled with amazing moments, sometimes over the top and sometimes subtle and calm, yet they go so well with what's happening on screen, also the credits music is relevant to the plot so I'm really thankful that the localization captioned it for us.

About the gameplay and progression, you have a three basic attacks, rapid-fire shots, charge shots and melee attacks and that's it, no power-ups just your basic attacks, what is so brilliant about them it's that you need to use them creatively in distinct scenarios through the stages in order to have the most of them, things like deflecting missiles with your melee attacks, use charge shots in certain instances, you won't miss power-ups because you have plenty with your arsenal. The difficulty have a well-established rhythm and every stage and every boss seems more difficult than the one before, on normal difficulty you'll have a challenging time especially at the final levels but the real fun and punishment starts with the hard difficulty, you'll die a lot but you also will improve a lot, and because there are several checkpoints it's not an impossible task, you only have to apply yourself and study what you're making wrong or what to do in certain situation, and eventually, everything will make sense and you'll be dancing with the bullets, it's very cathartic and you'll truly feel amazing, it's not impossible to finish it in hard mode, because an amateur like me could finish it, the real real challenge might be to finish this game without even dying, good luck with that. There are several control options but the one you need to pick is the default one, nunchuck and wii mote, no matter what you've heard or thought about motion controls, this motion aiming is perfect and I couldn't think of playing it another way.

This game is a masterpiece, simply put, it only requires that you play a very short and cheap game to obtain the best of it, it has a lot of replayability and if you're into shooting arcades or scores this game will be a hit, my only problem and is really a nitpick are the characters faces, they're just uncanny and kind of remind me of Dark Crystal creatures, which is a shame because the concept art is beautiful, hopefully but almost impossible we can have a remaster or something and with some tweaks to the faces that make them look more like they're intended to. I recommend this game to everyone because it reminds me of why I play videogames in the first place. Don't play it on easy mode, at least not your first playthrough, just keep in mind that your resolve will be tested and you'll be punished a lot. Also, if by some miracle this thing has a re-release or any related media to Sin &  Punishment, please support the creators, this franchise needs to resurge and everyone needs to have the right to play it.