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Shadows of the Damned

Started by Big Jack McBastard, July 16, 2011, 08:54:01 PM

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Big Jack McBastard

Now this popped up on my radar out of nowhere but is a bloody good romp through hell.

You play as Garcia Hotspur a Mexican demon hunter with a problem. At the end of a seemingly hard days slaughter of Satan's mates, The Lord of Demons turns up and captures Garcia's missus and buggers off to hell with her, calling our mentalist tattooed protagonist a pansy-ass while doing so. Yeah it's a conceit as old as the hills, big bad nicks the girl and everyone has a fight, but it focuses this shooter/basher rather nicely.

An understandably somewhat miffed Garcia is led down a hell hole and on a merry chase through many a back alley, graveyard, murky wood, crypt and even a Tower of Hassle to have words with Fleming (the erstwhile Demon Lord) about his rather abrupt intrusion into Garcia's flat and abduction of his tasty Bowie-eyed lady friend early on in the game. Keeping 'The Darkness'[nb]No not that 'The Darkness'[/nb]' at bay is an essential element to play, revealing weakness in building and beast, exposing normal enemies to light can stun them but if they've crawled out of the murk they'll have a coating of the stuff which renders them invulnerable to normal rounds... Well I say normal, bones, skulls and teeth count as normal in this barrio of the pit.. You'll catch glimpses of Paula running about the demon infested landscape in her scanties (and less later) and while you'd do well to follow her Garcia may not like what he runs into when he catches up.

Your ex-demon pal, a rather English floating & flaming skull by the name of Johnson serves as your partner, playing the role of guide, light, guns and motorcycle, (but not your boots). Occasionally offering useful information, other times being a perv or an abject coward. It's an over the shoulder aim and fire affair for the most part but melee and nasty finishing moves are on hand too, the controls reminded me of Resident Evil 5 but more fluid and much less annoying or perhaps Gears of War without the cover mechanism. There's a reasonable challenge to be had on Demon Hunter (medium) with some sections squeezing the players balls regardless of the difficulty level. The in-game shop is a half demon with an appetite for white crystals (a frequent drop of your foes) and he'll supply upgrades ammo and health for them.

There are some nice aesthetic touches to the game, the side-scrolling 2D levels were an unexpected quirky little diversion but not without challenge (though by the third one you do wonder if they were running low on level ideas), also a Space Invaders-esque sequence set in an underworld brothel town will cause some violent eye twitching after the third attempt, of the first level... and later hair tearing and lip-chewings-offs by the third. Though the death animations are worth at least one death in each just for the laugh.

The numerous and horrible ways you see your girl get slaughtered for the entertainment of demons is a constant source of grim motivation to keep going, it does urge you on, certainly the first time around at any rate I felt like I was constantly moving forward, only ever really back tracking to solve door puzzles or scraping for ammo., That said it manages to be be fun throughout, Garcia and Johnson chat candidly as the levels progress revealing a little backstory, they find some macabre fairytales explaining the origins of the boss characters, who's fights are mostly pretty grand and challenging until you've learned the trick to each one, even then the penultimate one was a ball-breaker even when I knew what I was doing.

The ending sat well with me too. They could make a bad movie out of this idea, hell they could make a good one but what are the chances of that.

Inevitably it will suffer for replay value, it's a linear thing, though there are hidden items and thus upgrades to find if you're so inclined, so perhaps it's worth two playthroughs.

Is it worth nigh on £40? Well I only paid £12 for it (I had some trade ins) and finished it in a day, but it was a pretty intensive day with few breaks and it was about 5am when I finally turned off my console with a smile on my mug. I'd have happily coughed up £25/30 for it new.

I'd say have a goosey when it's a bit cheaper or get it second hand, but it's well worth your time.

madhair60

#1
You should mention that it's Suda51, cult developer of Killer7, No More Heroes and Flower, Sun and Rain.  Bring in the hipster kids.

This sold about 5 copies in the USA, apparently.  Is it as good as Painkiller?

Big Jack McBastard

Can't say I know old chap, not played Painkiller but it's soon to join my terrifying torrent-fest so I'll find out shortly(ish).

Little Hoover

This sort of seems interesting but from what I hear it's fairly standard by Mr 51's standards and Akira Yamoka's soundtrack doesn't blend with the style of game and it's humor. I'm a bit disappointed that this is what they and Mr Resident Evil have come up with.

Big Jack McBastard

There's a semi serious tone to the story for all it's humor and adolescent fan service and I found the soundtrack worked for me, not really thought about it, though it did raise an eyebrow in a couple of songs at the end but those are tongue-in-cheek bad for good reason.

If anything it's the abrupt introduction into Hotspur's life which hit me as perhaps a little weak, it gets the point of the game across very concisely but should have been sparred an extra scene or two to set him up.

Johnny Textface

Great game

Particularly enjoying the level where you need to traverse over a half naked female.

I'm easily pleased