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When we first learned that both Suda51 (Killer 7) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) were joining forces to develop Shadows of the Damned, we knew that we would be in for a treat. A twisted treat, sure, but a treat nonetheless. Little did I expect this to not only be a treat, but a grand feast of twisted visuals and solid gun-play, all wrapped in a tale dripping with self parody and wonderfully constructed homages. Shadows of the Damned is, without a doubt, one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I've had all year. Want to know more? Read on.


Shadows of the Damned (Xbox 360)
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release date: June 21, 2011 (North America)

To say that you haven't seen this before would be rather disingenuous. In fact, you have seen much of this game before. Its very creation seems to have been a labor of love by the developers who endeavored to create a grand homage to all things which have inspired them throughout the years. There are inklings of B-Horror movies such as Evil Dead and Nightmare On Elm Street, the writings of LoveCraft, and a taste of Quentin Tarantino attitude, all told in Grindhouse fashion. The pieces, however, are woven together so beautifully that they never come off as mere adaptations or, worse, thievery. Instead they are imbued with a sense of self awareness and farcical humor that makes them seem as fresh as the first time you saw them.

This, at a fundamental level, is the beauty of Shadows of the Damned. It is a game that doesn't take itself too seriously, never forgets that it's really a game, and, in doing so, remains fun through some decidedly dark and precarious circumstances.


You're the heavily tattooed and wise cracking Garcia Hotspur, or as he calls himself, Garcia “Fucking” Hotspur, and you've just thrown yourself down into hell to save the love of your life. She's been kidnapped by Fleming, a father of demons and the only thing you can do is grab your leather jacket and give chase. Yes, you first grab your leather jacket. I love that this happens.

You are joined by your sidekick 'Johnson', a floating skull-headed demon who not only gives you random advice as you travel through the bowels of hell, but who can also turn into the variety of weapons you'll be using throughout the game. And this, my friends, is where the 'dick' jokes start. The very first gun you get is called “The Boner” because, of course, it shoots bones. Yes, 'Johnson' turns into 'The Boner', which later in the game will be upgraded to the 'Hot Boner.' And the dick jokes only go from there. In fact, Shadows of the Damned spends a lot of time making fun of men, and making sex jokes in general, in ways that are fantastically funny by their ability to be crass yet not mean spirited. By making fun of mans ability to be ultra sexual about themselves and toward women, without being demeaning toward either, Shadows of the Damned succeeds where recent games have failed so very miserably. It makes fun of common human sexuality in way that everyone can appreciate.

As you traverse the levels of hell in search of your love you'll find gameplay as diverse as it's influences, and some visages of hell which can easily stand their own next to any of the silent hill games. For a game that doesn't take itself very seriously, they've constructed some fairly horrific levels for Garcia to fight in early on. These give way to the extremely outlandish as you'll find yourself fighting in Red Light districts (which require you to go over bridges made of huge women in lingerie), underground caves, and finally to Fleming's castle itself. Within these levels you'll find yourself fighting off a variety of demons using any of Johnson's three gun forms (pistol, machine gun, and shotgun) which will all be upgraded as you go, giving them secondary fire modes. The game does a great job at making these secondary fire modes not just additions, but actually useful within the game. Boss fights especially make use of these, in some of the most fun and challenging boss fights I've seen in a long time.


The shooting in general just feels good. It's responsive, and the secondary modes of the guns go a long way to always giving you the edge you need to get out of tight situations. This is especially true when the 'darkness' mechanic comes into play. At many points throughout the game the level will be imbued with Darkness which takes health away from Garcia as long as he is in it. Shooting a Goats Head candelabra (yes that's right) with your gun's light mode will dispel the darkness but Garcia only has a limited time to do this before he dies. It ads an extra layer of gameplay that, honestly, I originally didn't care for. Each time I found myself in the Darkness I would panic, watching my life drain away and frantically trying to shoot the Goats Head or killing the demon that was causing the darkness to happen. Eventually, however, I learned to love this mechanic simply because panic and fear is what I was supposed to be feeling at this time. It was the game giving me an emotional and visceral reaction that I, at first, detested. It's not often a game can make you feel that way just with a simple fighting mechanic. Shadows of the Damned did.

The darkness mechanic comes back many times throughout the game and is even used to add extra complexity to some already difficult boss fights. One boss, for example, can only be damaged in darkness, so you need to constantly gauge how much life you have with how many more shots you can get off on the boss before trying to return to the light. Having said that, I should mention that Shadows of the Damned is not an easy game. Even on normal I found it to be very challenging and Hard Mode has been described as 'enraging' at times. There is no aim assist and even though you can shoot while moving, you'll find yourself slowed down quite a bit and enemies willing and ready to take advantage of that. Still, though, the game gives you the tools you need to succeeded and the difficulty has an almost “Demon's Souls” feel to it.


If you think you'll just be shooting demons in level after level you're dreadfully mistaken. There are areas where the level will turn into a paper-craft side scrolling shooter, you'll have to go bowling with your shotgun bombs, play tower defense with your 'big boner', or play a game reminiscent of the game Plinko on The Price is Right to move forward. And even though these games can seem a bit unbalanced –I found the side-scrolling shooter to be the weakest of all of them– their addition goes a long way to breaking up the gameplay and incorporating a sense of absurdity just when the game might have been getting a bit too heavy.

There are even large storybooks to be found in the game which will have either Garcia or Johnson reading intertwined tales, in a sort of dark storytime session, which are extremely well written and wonderfully enjoyable. This lighthearted feel threads its way through the entire game. Though you'll be blowing the heads off of demons, you'll also be collecting giant gems in classical Mario style, and finding hidden fruit to open doors. Shadows of the Damned is a game that never, for one moment, forgets that its first and foremost duty is to be a game, and be fun. Even when you have to smash little brains into baby's faces to open a gate. Seriously.

There are some small issues with the game however. Levels are especially linear, and though they are well paced I would have liked to have seen areas which offered little more exploration. Also, the aforementioned side-scrolling level is not especially fun. It goes on way too long and even incorporates one of the more important boss fights, which was surely a disappointment.


That notwithstanding, Shadows of the Damned is brilliant game who's sense of self-awareness, and ability to pay reverent homage to its roots, results in a game which revels in both pure campiness and unapologetic fun. It brings the player on a exciting joyride through its various dimensions in ways that only the combined talent of Suda51 and Shinji Mikami could construct. By intermixing grandiosely eccentric situations with solid gun-play, they have created an experience like no other. A game that is a joy to play and a necessity to own.

Score 95%
(90-95%: Phenomenal; transcends all issues)

(A grand feast of twisted visuals and solid gun-play, all wrapped in a tale dripping with self parody and wonderfully constructed homages.)



 

 

Comments

  • Avatar
    oplock
    12 years, 9 months ago

    You had me at "boner." That was all the convincing I needed to give this a try.

  • Avatar
    GamerBeck
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Great review Joseph, really wanted to play this game after seeing Brad play it, and now even more after reading your review.

  • Avatar
    Nakamura
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Good review Joseph, I pretty much agree wholeheartedly with your score. It's a wonderful game.

    And just a few little things I noticed, the main villain is Fleming, not Flemeth, and it's Shinji Mikami, not Mikame. x_x

  • Avatar
    Tim Green
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Is it me or has Joseph been doing most of the posting so far on thr 4pp website?

  • Avatar
    SgntJamjars
    12 years, 9 months ago

    WOW what a great review Joseph!! I may just go out and pick this one up now. I fucking loved Killer7 and Mikami is a given, so this seems like a no brainer now :) Cheers brah

  • Avatar
    IRLestardeD
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Great review Joseph I think I might get this game now after seeing it on the feed and reading this review.
    Just a minor mistake at the top though I think its Suda51 not Suda41. It looks like you combined Suda with Sum41 or some shit.

  • Avatar
    KrayzeeGloo
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Fantastic review as usual, Joseph! Just thought I'd note that "Street" in "Nightmare On Elm Street" wasn't capitalized in the first paragraph after the information on the game.

  • Avatar
    Schimdidy
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Holy shit. Didn't think you'd like it that much. lol. Great review as always, Joseph.

  • Avatar
    birday
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Been watching the achives on Achievement Hunter and the game looks absolutely brilliant. This review solidifies it.

    Now I just need to wait for it to hit the bargain bin..... -.-

  • Avatar
    Shazza1990
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Have been looking forward to playing this for awhile, great to see you gave it a good review.
    :)

  • Avatar
    PryoZero
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Atleast one reviewer got this shit right.

  • Avatar
    GaiusBaltar
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Great review man. I was interested in this game for Mikami alone but was turned off by the B movie horror script. I never understood how people watched bad horror movies for comedic purposes. I find it extremely tedious and boring. A short game without multi is hard to warrant a 60 dollar price tag these days. Ill give this game a second look when it goes into the 30 dollar range.

  • Avatar
    Rendrak
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Nice review Joseph. I'll definitely be picking this up once it drops in price.

  • Avatar
    Comradebearjew
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Wow, guess I'll give it a shot

  • Avatar
    StrykeBlayde
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Joseph, I wonder if you had any problems with the shotgun's lack of spread? Brad brought it up during a broadcast or podcast(I can't remember), and it sounds like a legitimate complaint.

    Or did you like the characteristics?

  • Avatar
    WolfLightning
    12 years, 9 months ago

    I like the review :) I've only been fortunate to see some gameplay but never with me behind the controller. I hope i can buy a copy for myself soon. But yeah needless to say, you gave me more a motive to. Keep on doing your thing Joseph :P

  • Avatar
    SonyXp82
    12 years, 9 months ago

    The crappy aiming in this game ruined it for me & I've now got to a point where I can't take no more, I got up to the 3nd part of 4-1. I liked story & everything so I'm really pissed off about not finishing it.

  • Avatar
    MasterVader
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Great review. I loved the back stories of the demon world and the storybooks for the bosses in the game. Not much to complain about the game except for the turret section that was kind of frustrating. But it's still a fantastic game.

  • Avatar
    zekana
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Something I love about the lead villian, Fleming, is that everything he does, from his voice to how he talks, even the weapons he uses, screams "I HAVE A TINY PENIS!" to me.

    not to spoil anything but there are many times throughout the game that just made Fleming feel like some guy whose trying too hard to over compensate from having a tiny penis. Even how he talks to Garcia, again, it sounds like he's trying way too hard to be the "bigger man" when in all honesty, given his position, he really shouldn't care.

    Knowing Suda51, I can see this being his idea for this villian. I've always imagined that a lot of those evil badguys you see in movies or villians are just compensating for their short comings. its not really about making the world their slaves, they just want to feel like their penis is bigger then everyone elses.

  • Avatar
    SJ_1S8
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Another one of those good Joseph reviews. Glad to hear their is solid, if a bit flawed game under the aesthetics and humor. I'll put the on the list of games i keep an eye out for on CAG.

  • Avatar
    lemith
    12 years, 9 months ago

    Ill give it a shot for suda

  • Avatar
    helelo
    12 years, 8 months ago

    Your review got me to buy this game. I'm not disappointed. :)

  • Avatar
    joetm
    12 years, 8 months ago

    I've never heard of this game before except when I listened to the recent podcasts were the guys are talking about it. This review definitely sparked my interest in this game.

  • Avatar
    ‘Lollipop Chainsaw’ is a new Suda51 th
    12 years, 8 months ago

    [...] what the game can be. Rumors hint at an Xbox 360 and PS3 release so long as the horrible sales of Shadows of the Damned don’t get in the way of its development. #gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 [...]

  • Avatar
    Ivyseed12
    12 years, 7 months ago

    Good Read. The Game seemed pretty cool. Now i know i'll get it.