A tale of love, demons, and phallic jokes.
Shadows of the Damned is the second joint project of game making crazy people Goichi Suda and Shinji Mikami. Joining the crew this time is sound design genius Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame. Any fan of Suda and Mikami should have a certain expectation for this game going in, but it's up to you if that expectation is met.
When I first started playing Shadows of the Damned I was fully expecting a crazy, weird, creepy in several senses of the word, and downright absurd game. About half way through I realized that this game was not Killer 7, No More Heroes, or even God Hand. Now, to some this might be a disappointment, but I urge you to get past that so you don't rob yourself a really enjoyable experience because of expectations attached to a name.
The story presented is fairly simple and straightforward. Our hero of the game Garcia Fucking Hotspur(yes, his middle name is Fucking), must venture to hell and slay the lord of demons Fleming to rescue his girlfriend Paula. The game is light on cutscenes, but plenty of conversations between Garcia and his partnerguntorchmotorcycle Johnson sufficiently add flavor to the world and characters. To me, the most interesting part of the game from a story standpoint was the storybooks. Either before or after a major boss fight you will find a large story book that when interacted with will be read out loud by either Johnson or Garcia(with a little bit of commentary). These stories are about the bosses before they became demons and I was eagerly looking forward to each one after reading just the first one.
Garcia and Johnson make an interesting duo. The way they interact makes it come off as though they are purely friends of circumstance, or just simply tolerate each other. That said, there are times when I felt that they were legitimately friends. Speaking in terms of the game they have a great chemistry. Garcia is the hardened badass where Johnson is the loudmouthed educated one.
Shadows of the Damned is a 3rd person shooter much in the vein of Resident Evil 4 and 5. Garcia Hotspur has some moves on Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield though. That is, he can move while he shoots and dodge roll. Your weapon defaults to a torch which you can melee with, but whenever you aim, Johnson will transform into whatever you gun currently have equipped. Unfortunately, Shadows of the Damned is only host to 3 types of gun. You have your Pistol, your high impact weapon(like a shotgun but not really), and your machine gun. Throughout the course of the game the guns will upgrade to more unique forms as you defeat bosses. but after the initial three you don't receive any more permanent guns.
Aside from the shooting there are some light puzzle elements to Shadows of the Damned. In certain scenarios the world around you will be engulfed in darkness and you must find and use your light shot on a goat head to bring light back to the area. During these sections you're unable to defeat enemies and your health will slowly drain. Other puzzle sections will require you to be in the darkness to shoot certain spots. The third primary type of "puzzle" will have you finding a certain item to feed to a demonic baby head in order to unlock a door. None of these puzzles are very difficult as the game is completely linear. In most cases just going forward(or what you think is forward) will find you what you need. The linearity ultimately works out for the better. The shooting is satisfying and story bits are interesting. The inclusion of tedious puzzles or perhaps even difficult puzzles might slow the game too much and end up being a hindrance.
Unfortunately, Shadows of the Damned doesn't completely escape gameplay elements that take away from the game. Three times throughout the game you will be placed in a side-scrolling shooter. The first time it's interesting and kind of funny in a weird way. However, the control of it just doesn't feel good and isn't very fun. They aren't horribly difficult, but they go on a bit too long and I found myself not wanting to do the third one. Fortunately, I persevered because the game really is fun outside of that.
Ok, now let's talk about the dick jokes. This game has a lot of them. Your main gun is called the Boner, your partner's name is Johnson, your protection from the darkness that forms around your health meter looks like condom. I am not averse to jokes related to the crotch region, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of them either. However, Shadows of the Damned somehow manages to pull them off well all game long. Maybe it's the commitment, but I never found myself shaking my head thinking "ok, dicks, I get it". I don't recall ever actually laughing out loud, but I was always amused. If you're opposed to these sorts of jokes or are incapable of finding them funny in the slightest though, this game may not be for you.
The graphics in Shadows the Damned are fine, nothing extraordinary but nothing to be disappointed. Strangely, the game isn't as stylistic as you might expect, but the art is still interesting to say the least.
I'm usually not someone who thinks much about sound design, which strange considering how much I love videogame music. However, what I did notice is nothing short of exceptional. I can't say I have any particular fondness for Yamaoka having never played the Silent Hill games, but I understand why he receives the praise he does.
For those of you who enjoy multiple playthroughs, this game does support new game+. Don't let this be a deciding factor though, the game isn't structured in such a way that carrying over data would make subsequent playthroughs much easier.
Shadows of the Damned may be a bit more tame and lacking in Luchadores than one would expect of his works, but it's still a great ride and a lot of fun. It may be a bit dark in atmosphere, but the game is fully aware of what is and embraces it's silliness in all the right ways. Anyone with even remote interest in this game should check it out.
