At least from the initial reviews, this game is getting, surprisingly for me, very high scores. A 9.0 from Eurogamer and two 9.5 from Destructoid and Gamer Limit(?).

"The fantasy world built within this game is one of the richest I’ve ever encountered in any medium."

"Sine Mora (...) is one of the boldest and most fascinating games of this generation, period."

That's some big words.

So, are there any duders here that have played Sine Mora? How do you think of it? Is it as spectacular as these initial reviews claim it to be?

Haven't played it myself yet, but word on the Shmups Forum (whose members I trust way more than professional game reviewers when it comes to this genre) is that it ain't too hot. 
 
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=32754&start=420
 
Zaarock said:

Played through story mode on the "challenging" difficulty.. very disappointed tbh. The visuals and music are great, but the stage design and gameplay system has lots of issues; 
 
Level design: 
- Bad pacing at many parts (spelunking in caves and tunnels in a shmup, wow cool) & repetition of same boring popcorn enemy waves to stretch levels out. 
- Boss fights with miniscule hitboxes (say, only the middle bullet of all your shots can hit the only remaining weakpoint of one boss and barely damage) 
- Enemies spawning from behind you sometimes without warning, and boss lasers and some attacks being basically undodgeable unless you know exactly how it works (as in, cheap attacks) most stupid part like this I can think of is the wrecking ball boss sequence. 
- Imbalance between levels in how many powerups are dropped, stages with few item drops are perhaps too much easier/harder depending on if you have lost powerups before them or not. 
- Sloppy bullet patterns: I just get the impression the devs are trying to make bullet hell style patterns for the first time, which can understandably not be good.. but it's still not good. Some patterns are completely pointless and basically miss the player completely while others are very hard for the player to visualize. The bullet patterns are also very inconsistent throughout they game, they don't stick to a similar pace or some kind of rules in terms of speed or how a projectile sprite is expected to work etc. 
- Hard to see projectiles: missiles and minimised size normal bullets(why even use these) are way too hard to see sometimes. 
 
System: 
- Too many powerup levels: you're generally either far too weak or too powerful because you usually lose all your power at once and it'll take ages to restock (some stages have basically no drops too) or you'll have a very easy time with maximum powerups which makes it look like the levels weren't designed with that damage output in mind. 
- Some of the subweapons are really bad (cluster bomb, bomb), while others are extremely powerful in the right situations.. I'm assuming this is a balancing issue.

I'm having fun, but I can vouch for everything Zaarock said, sadly. Part of me knew all of this was in store as soon as I fired my first shot and the popcorn enemy didn't die.

@Icemael: From what I've read, this game is not supposed to cater the devoted shmups players needs or desires. The argument of popcorn enemies not being destroyed on the first shot shows that what they want is very specific and that if the game doesn't go that route, then the game is dismissed. So, I don't think they'll be terribly excited with the game.

all the talk of story & world has got me interested yes ... i'll probably play the trial and then make a decision. not a massive fan of the genre but they can be fun

Played the trial and watched the quick look, it seems ok so I bought it, haven't played any more of it yet.

I'm not a massive "shmup" fan but do like the genre so I don't care if it's not the most perfect shoot em up, it still looks fun to play with great visuals and story.

For some reason, whenever I see the words "high praise" they are spoken in my head with the voice of Nicolas Cage.

@Icemael: well, I'm guessing it's not failing terribly on the former as well.

Being not a huge fan of shmups, this game actually looks good to me so if their intention was to cater to the non-hardcore shmup (but still 2D shooter enjoying) fans then it sounds like they succeeded.

I really love this game so far. I look bullet hell games (I'm not very good at them) and always want to play them but without a good story or setting hook of some kind I just can't get my brain interested. Sine Mora's setting and decipherable story make it a perfect fit for me. I also like it when shmups use planes, I just like planes.

I am REALLY digging this at the moment, not had this much fun since Ikaruga.

It's a fantastic shooter, I love it.

I played through the game for various hours (until completion), but to be honest with you for the price point I don't think this game gives you enough value for your dollar. I don't think there is much longevity to the title plus there isn't much that differentiates this from some of the greater SHMUPS, besides one major mechanic that employs slowing down time. IF you're a SHMUP fan then maybe wait until this drops in price.

I love seeing the terminology certain gaming communities use, never heard 'popcorn enemies' before in my life.

As someone who hasn't really cared for shoot-em-ups since R-Type, I have to say this game is pretty damn good, I don't think it exactly deserves heaps of praise but it's fully functional, very pretty, the story is complete lunacy, and it plays nicely.

@James_Giant_Peach said:

I love seeing the terminology certain gaming communities use, never heard 'popcorn enemies' before in my life.

Me neither, though it's a pretty funny and effective expression.

I just finished the game. It was a promotional review code, so I didn't have to pay, but I'd say it's a little overpriced if you aren't into score-chasing.

The audio-visual/story experience of it is very good, but not quite good enough to be worth 15$ to a lot of people, seeing as it's quite short.

The story, universe, art and music are all of very high quality.

I'm really enjoying this - it doesn't feel like bullet hell (on hard at least) and yet is still really difficult. Loving the way the achievements are setup, makes you want to try all the different ways of playing it. Graphics and settings are occasionally really nice - loving the bit where you emerge into the sunlit canyon. So yeah, I highly recommend this, especially for the price.