Nintendo introduces new social entertainment experiences,” read the press material. With the publisher’s showing dominated by Wii Fit Plus, Wii Sports Resort and New Super Mario Bros Wii, this statement was for the most part true. But curiously tucked away on a couple of television sets in the corner of the booth was Sin And Punishment 2, a game that practically epitomises that age-old antisocial stigma associated with gaming that Nintendo has seemingly been working so hard to shake off.

For many, Sin And Punishment 2 is Wii’s next great hardcore hope. Not in the same way that Halo and Call Of Duty have come to be classified as hardcore, you understand, but in the arcade-influenced, import-centric interpretation of the word… This is a Treasure game, after all, and that means you can expect reaction-based twitch gaming of the highest order, screens filled with bullets, huge multi-stage boss battles and a story that makes absolutely zero sense, no matter how closely you follow it.

Anyone who was lucky enough to play the original Sin And Punishment, either on Nintendo 64 or Virtual Console, will be familiar with the classic yet inventive run-and-gun gameplay of the franchise. Though the game was on-rails, like StarFox, the innovative gameplay allowed for character movement and aiming to be controlled independently of each other, with the D-pad determining movement and the analogue stick taking charge of the reticule. It took a bit of manual dexterity to get used to, but eventually gave way to one of the best arcade experiences of its time.

In the sequel, that same control scheme has been translated to the Wii controllers so naturally that it feels like the series must have been created with the console in mind all along. As you might expect, movement is controlled via the Nunchuk while the Wii Remote’s pointer aims your projectile weapons. And thanks to the physical separation of each controller, and the intuitive nature of the pointer, the barrier to entry is nonexistent, the learning curve reserved for everything that happens on screen, rather than in your hands.

Despite the pick-up-and-play controls, Sin And Punishment 2 is not going to be a walk in the park. Far from it. Be prepared to die a lot on your first playthrough, replaying the same levels and only inching further forwards with each attempt as you commit attack patterns and enemy placement to memory. Learning to avoid each attack is essential, and thankfully you’re equipped with several ways of doing so. As well as general movement, you can also hit Z to quickly roll to the left or right, tap C to jump straight up, or double-tap the same button to activate your jetpack and fly around the screen. As some attacks are unavoidable, however, defence will only get you so far and you’ll have to take out certain enemies before they hit you. For this, again, you have three options.

Holding B unleashes an all-purpose rapid-fire spray that’s good for taking down regular everyday enemies, tap A and you’ll fire off a rocket, hold down both buttons and charge them to release a special attack that differs from character to character. Lead protagonist Isa, the son of the first game’s Saki, is able to fire off a proximity bomb with a blast radius proportional to the length of charging time. The hoverboard-riding Kachi, meanwhile, wields a Panzer Dragoon-style lock-on for precision targeting of multiple enemies at once.

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