Sin and Punishment 2, based on the 10-second video clip shown at the Nintendo Media Summit 2008, looks to be an amped-up revisiting of the original game's mechanics. The video depicts a young man (who looks extremely similar to Saki, the protagonist of Sin and Punishment) moving about the screen, firing madly at hazards in the distance. Rather than transform the game into a free-running shooter, Treasure seems to be sticking with the on-rails approach, allowing players to move freely in the foreground as they advance into the battlefield.
The level designs look almost like beautifully rendered scenes from the first game: a ruined futuristic city, a devastated highway on which the hero is accosted by a number of rolling biomechanical creatures, massive bosses.
A satirical dialog regarding the treatment of niche titles like Sin and Punishment 2: Star Successor and Deathsmiles by mainstream gaming media.
Original title: Lolis Smile Back At The Star Successor: or How I Learned That Not Every Game Is Ikaruga and Loved Tyrannosatan
Game Revolution writes: "Few game genres summon the sounds, sights, and downright stink of the good old arcade days more than shoot-'em-ups. Back before the days of teh Haloz, these were the real “shooters”. But over the years, the genre’s been pushed further and further to the fringes of the gaming landscape, where shmup fans now have more in common with elderly shuffle-board players than with the youngsters pwning them in Call of Duty."
TGH writes: "Sin & Punishment Star Successor (Successor Of The Skies in Europe) is a direct sequel to Sin And Punishment for the N64 and recently WiiWare. The original as highly praised and loved by gamers of all ages. So does the sequel live up to the template that the first one set, or is this simply an upgrade, not a Successor."
