Grind house meets gaming
I have been having a rough time when it comes to the video games I have played this month. After the walking abortion that was Duke Nukem Forever, the unexpected tediousness found in Alice and the dull, unsatisfying Transformers: Dark of the Moon I was about to right this entire month off. Then without warning, Shadows of the Damned walks into the room, standing erect and exploding with charm. Suda 51, the creator of No More Heroes and Killer 7, does a great job of entertaining us with Shadows of the Damned's overtop grind house style even if there are a few bumps along the way.
Gamers play as Garcia Fucking Hotspur, a demon hunter who is on a quest to rescue his lovely girlfriend, Paula from the ruler of the underworld, Fleming. Essentially the games plot is Mario saving the Princess, but with more dicks, tits and gore staining decor. Along for the ride is Garcia’s sidekick, Johnson, who is a shape shifting demon that takes the form of a floating skull, then a torch but most of the time as a gun. Garcia and Johnson make a great duo as it will often feel like a buddy cop film with just much more inappropriate banter between them. The story boils down to Garcia trying to reach the tower that Paula is being held in, but he will often be plagued by visions and demons preying on his devotion by pretending to be Paula. The main story doesn’t have anything we haven’t seen before, but it occasionally sprinkles in some creepy bed time stories that will leave you giggling and horrified at the same time. I will say that while the story isn’t new I actually found myself liking Garcia, and was even slightly touched by his undying devotion to Paula.
The writing in Shadows of the Damned is actually one of the best reasons to play the game. The writing is in no sense good and can often be seen as very childish, but the game constantly acknowledges how ridiculous it is to the point where it is actually funny. The game finds every tight fit to throw in a penis joke and it simply bathes in the eccentric things that spew out of every characters mouth. I mean, when your standard weapon is called the Boner, which later becomes the Hot Boner as well as the Big Boner, you can probably guess what kind of jokes you will encounter. The game features so much crudeness that it will often censor or criticize its own writing. Suda 51 has a fucked up mind and best part is he just doesn’t care what you think.
Now, when the game isn’t trying to insert a phallic joke at every turn it is often trying to creep you out with how twisted the world is. The games locales have a very European feel that you never shake off, with the towns, sewers and forests covered with dark and disturbing imagery, such as undead babies hanging from trees or corpses eating each other. The games standard enemy concepts are a bit weak, but its non standard enemies keep the warped mentality alive. This isn’t a bad looking game from a graphical stand point, but it isn’t pushing the bar anywhere. There are some moments of serious screen tearing that will often happen when there are too many enemies on screen or you get caught in a corner. Akira Yamakoma, sound designer for many of the Silent Hill games, creates a great sound track that goes well with the games style. Overall Presentation of this game is fantastic, and will keep you wanting to play more, over what its actual gameplay can offer.
The gameplay design was done by Shinji Mikami, who is known for his work on the Resident Evil franchise. Shadows of Damned is a third person shooter with occasional puzzles. Typical combat encounters are the same as Resident Evil, but the twist they add is the darkness element. Whenever you are in darkness, enemies become immune to damage and will eventually decrease your health. The only way of stopping this is by finding a golden goat head and shooting it with a light shot. The game changes encounters by placing the goat head in certain places or having enemies that will corrupt the goat heads. Combat in the game feels better than any Resident evil game but still feels a little wonky, especially when beating enemies off with your Johnson torch. It’s nice to see Japan allow us to move and shoot at the same time but the aiming still doesn’t feel right. The game also features a half demon merchant named Christopher that will convert gems that you pick up into ammo, health and enhancements for your Johnson.
Shadows of the Damned is broken up into 5 acts and can be beaten in 7-8 hours depending on the difficulty. Some may find the length of the game to be inadequate for their “special needs” but I feel that the game does a good job at satisfying the average gamer. It doesn’t feel artificially enhanced with unnecessary game design gimmicks and is refreshingly honest about its intentions. If you have made it to the end of my review and have not been completely turned off by all the superfluous puns and innuendos I have thrown in, then I believe Shadows of the Damned is definitely right for you.
