Shadows of the Damned – Review – Xbox 360

Shadows of the Damned is one of those games that just came out of nowhere. There was minor PR pushed for the game and, to be honest, it was not a game that was on my radar. The game is headlined by Suda 51, creator of No More Heroes, and Shinji Mikami, creator of the Resident Evil series. Once I knew who was involved, I knew it had to be good. The only lingering question is, with these two video game giants, can they create something great once again?

Story: This game is focused around a man named Garcia Hotspur, a demon hunter. While finishing off a demon he learns that his girlfriend Paula is not safe and quickly returns home to find that she is in fact in danger.  Garcia hops into action finishing off demon after demon only to find himself face to face with Fleming, Lord of the Underworld. Fleming knows all too well about Garcia’s hatred towards demons and, as punishment, he takes Paula to the underworld to be tortured and killed repeatedly. Quick on Fleming’s tail, Hotspur follows and enters the underworld to save Paula. While playing you will always be able to look on the horizon and see your end goal, Fleming’s Castle. While playing through the story you will find yourself meeting some interesting characters and going to locations akin to Dante’s Inferno. But do not fear you are not going alone or without any knowledge of the underworld. Your trusty companion Johnson is a small demon that can change shape to form vehicles and weapons. Boner is the name of a weapon Johnson can turn into and when upgraded it is called the Big Boner and the sexual euphemisms don’t end there. Johnson will help you by telling you tidbits about life and the political structure of the underworld. He also helps you by blowing away demons in your path. He can be a bit snippy and can offer a laugh here and there. Garcia and Johnson work well together . Conversations can be a bit corny and vulgar at times.

Gameplay: The game itself is your basic over the shoulder 3^rd person shooter. Aiming can be a bit sensitive but when your aim is on it can be quite satisfying. The gameplay itself can feel a bit slow at times and boss battles don’t present too much of a challenge once you know what you are doing. Bosses and dangerous enemies always have big red marks highlighting their weakness and figuring out a strategy to defeat them should not be a problem even on any difficulty. While playing through the game you need to try and find red gems and white gems. Red gems allow you to upgrade your weapons and health while white gems allow you to purchase health and items. When you beat bosses through the course of the game you will acquire blue gems that directly upgrade Johnson. The blues gems upgrade the weapons Johnson can turn into some can be pretty cool. One of the major roadblocks encountered in the game is darkness. The darkness in this game is so complete it tears away at the soul and injures Garcia. You must find ways through the darkness or to flood areas with light to keep it away. One method of lighting is the light shot. The light shot cannot only relight lamps but stun demons for an easier kill. There are other forms of torture you can implement but I will let you find out about them when you play the game. This game is rather basic and doesn’t require too much skill to beat even on the hardest difficulty. The main bulk of this game is the story. It is told like a B rated movie and it can be as corny as them too.

Graphics/Sound: The game runs off the Unreal engine and looks like any other Unreal. The art style is unique; it is very dark and light is rare commodity. This game tries to envelop you into the story by way of the locations sound and feel and I think it accomplishes this feat quite well.

Overall: I think this game can be overlooked by most and I don’t think it should be. At first I was not too excited about playing this game but at the end of the day I was glad I did. My only real complaint is that I wish there was a newgame+ mode so I can own dome demons and kick some ass at the beginning of the game. If you want a game that is fun and can be enjoyed over and over I suggest picking this up. Grab your Big Boner and cap some demons.

Score: 8 out of 10
A copy of this game was provided to the reviewer for reviewing purposes.

Popularity: 8% [?]