LIT
From the developer that brought us such gems as Shantae and Contra 4 comes a game that could easily be described as the best WiiWare release of 2009 so far. LIT follows Jake, an emo teen who becomes trapped in his high school when creatures of the darkness invade. His task is to navigate through thirty darkened rooms armed with a flashlight, a slingshot, and whatever he can find in his environment. The goal? To meet up with his girlfriend, Rachael, and escape the encroaching blackness once and for all.
Each room is a self-contained puzzle. You’ll quickly find that Jake is only safe when he’s in the light – the moment he steps into the shadows, bony arms from the depths of… somewhere… will drag him to his doom. In order to successfully navigate a room, you’ll break window panes, turn on lamps, flip TV sets on and off, and more. Every light source behaves differently, and you must discover how to make them work together and illuminate your path to the exit.
LIT’s puzzles are assembled in such a way that they require not only thought, but in many cases, speed. Even so, once you know how each light source assists you, it’s generally pretty easy to evaluate a room by standing at the entrance and sweeping your flashlight around. Most of the time, it’s entirely possible to complete a room in one try – but rest assured, you often won’t. Trial and error is a natural part of the game, and although you might find yourself cursing the more challenging levels, trying them again and again is less an exercise in tedium than it is an opportunity to master your surroundings.
Every five levels, a boss will show its face in the form of various faculty members that have been twisted by the darkness. The first boss is a piece of cake, but any strategies you learn during the battle will be useless later on – each boss creature reacts differently to light (and sometimes different light sources), so each encounter remains fresh and surprising. The last couple of them will have you pulling your hair out over the difficulty, but in a good way. One of the best parts of the game, including the bosses, is that death doesn’t set you back so far as to be discouraging; on the contrary, the levels are short enough that all you’ll notice is how much better you play on each attempt.
As far as storytelling goes, the phone calls between Jake and his girlfriend are what make the narrative of LIT come alive. As you enter roughly every other room, a phone will start ringing somewhere nearby. You’ve got six rings to make it there before Rachael gives up, and when you pick up the receiver, you’ll hear a superbly voice-acted Rachael through the speaker on your Wii remote. The effect is satisfyingly chilling in combination with the game’s eerie atmosphere.
Lastly, it’s important to note that LIT does have a fair amount of replay value, which is good for a title that offers only thirty levels to solve. Once you’ve completed the game for the first time, you’ll unlock a time trial known as Dark Mode. Rather than having a numeric timer, however, the entire screen will begin dimming the moment Jake enters the room. Once it goes black, you’ll have to try again. In addition, there are both good and bad endings to be found – not to mention an unlockable character (hmm, wonder who it is).
The controls are the only real source of potential frustration, which will surprise you since they’re terrific in so many ways. LIT uses the Wii remote + nunchuk combination, which is the perfect design choice for this game. Even the motion controls are wonderfully executed – your flashlight’s dead? Shake the Wii remote to recharge it. Need to toss a cherry bomb? Aim, hold A, and make a throwing motion. But problems come in when Jake’s standing next to a lamp or computer terminal. You see, the A button normally activates the items in your inventory, but it’s also context-sensitive; You have to press A to turn lamps on and off, or to pick up items. On a fairly regular basis, you’ll be standing at what you expect to be a safe distance from a nearby lamp, attempt to turn on your flashlight, and promptly plunge yourself into blackness (and therefore death) by flipping the lamp switch instead.
All things considered, WayForward Technologies has another hands-down winner under its belt. LIT might not take you more than a handful of sittings to complete, but it’s still one of the most solid titles available on WiiWare. The use of the light/dark theme, the terrific sound work, and the impeccable control design all contribute to an overall atmosphere that you can really sink your teeth into. If you’re ready to experience some of the best content that Nintendo’s download service will offer this year, you can’t possibly go wrong with LIT.
| Graphics | 6.0 | The art style itself is cool, but poly counts are low, textures lacking in detail, and effects kept to a minimum. (Hey – something had to suffer given WiiWare’s size restrictions.) |
|---|---|---|
| Sound | 8.0 | The voice acting is flawless, and the music is what keeps the game’s horror themes alive. |
| Experience | 8.0 | The control design nears perfection, and only somewhat lacks in execution. The absence of a tutorial will confuse some. Having to read the story’s premise in the manual? Not a good move. |
| Lasting Value | 6.9 | Worth multiple playthroughs, but at the same time, it’s pretty short. |
| Overall: 7.4 (Not an average) | ||
