Shadows of the Damned

Shadows of the damned is a strange title. It is heavily inspired by cult horror comedy movies and it shows through. If you are a fan of movies like 'The Evil Dead' then no doubt you will enjoy the atmosphere and humour. How much you enjoy the game will probably depend on your liking for that type of genre mixed with if you have enjoyed the unusual titles from Suda before (Killer 7, No More Heroes).

Stylistically the game is fantastic, a wonderfully over the top and cool world. The graphics are good but nothing to write home about. The humour and story are very much up to taste. There is a lot of juvenile humour, gratuitous nudity and violence so if that isn't your thing then perhaps it's not the game for you.

The problems for the game come in the amount of content and some gameplay problems. The gameplay is okay but really if you played Resident Evil 4 then you pretty much know what you are getting. Although the aiming doesn't feel quite as tight as that game. However it features the same mix of good scenes and bosses.

At around 10hours the game is of a quite good length however there is no multiplayer, no co-op, no new game plus and no chapter select. So unless you like replaying games on harder difficulties you may find yourself feeling a little short changed.

If you like stylized games, Horror comedy, the unusal grasshopper manufacture products and doing multiple playthroughs then you will likely enjoy SotD greatly. If not then well perhaps it isn't the game for you.

If survival horror is your bag then Shadows of the Damned is not for you. This is pure, manic, unashamedly grotesque gunplay with shout outs to horror staples from all over the world. With visual references to works such as Cannibal Holocaust, it's not for the light of heart or stomach. If, however, you love everything Hellbound and don't mind getting bloodstains on your Sunday best, then you're in for an amusing, splatterific ride.

Shadows of the Damned sees the player loping around the Underworld, with its protagonist in search of his lost love who has been kidnapped by a rather narked Devil who is fed up with losing his demon army to an arrogant, tattoo-riddled lout who has a talking gun. While sympathy is in short supply (she is a vapid, underdeveloped non-entity, he is... an arrogant, tattoo-riddled lout) kicking down the demons' door and giving them Hell makes for a satisfying shooter, although there are no true scares. Mild panic arrises when the player is shrouded in "Darkness" which drains away at one's soul before making for the health bar, but finding sources of light to re-illuminate the area is rarely a challenge. When taking things at a stroll, your companion Johnsson (essentially Wheatley from Portal 2 but in the shape of a floating skull) fills the silence with quips and anecdotes which are, for the most part, mildly entertaining.

It's a shooter. It's a mindless, bloody shooter set in Hell. It has snappy dialogue and some brilliant Boss level set pieces. It doesn't ask for emotional investment, or even an ounce of intelligence. It just asks you pull the trigger and enjoy.

`Shadows of the Damned'; you had me at Garcia Hotspur. You don't have to include a wisecracking skull that turns into a gun, or a series of outlandish demons, just give me a central hero called Garcia Hotspur and let me unleash hell on the demon hordes. As you can tell from the protagonist of `Shadows', this is a game that does not take itself too seriously. `Shadows' is an action third person shooter, part horror, part grindhouse. You must descend deep into a city ran by demons in the hope of saving your girlfriend. To do this you must kill everything that moves and feed an assortment of food stuffs, including strawberries, to cherub faces that act as locks.

`Shadows' is a game with the level of craziness turned up to 11. However, to work as a game it will also need some decent gameplay mechanics. In terms of shooting the game holds its own, a variety of guns are available as well as a melee attack should an enemy get too close. For an action game, `Shadows' has lots of puzzle elements. You must use the darkness and light of the demon world to your benefit, either as a tool to see your path or as a means of killing an enemy. The use of light and dark gives the game an added strategic element.

Although the shooting and the puzzle elements of the game are good, there is an issue with the level design as a whole and some of the controls. Garcia moves slightly oddly, kind of like `Resident Evil' on skates. Throw in some repetitive level design and the game does become increasingly tiresome as you progress. Thankfully, every time you grow a little weary, developers Grasshopper throw in another crazy gameplay element, such as an OTT boss or side scrolling shooter section. These mini games don't work as well as the core elements of the game, but are fun for a while.

It is perhaps the witty script that Grasshopper will feel most proud in, but for me this is one of the poorest elements. The humour descends too often into the realm of crassness. Also the over sexualisation of the female form in the game means this is yet another mature title that fails to live up to the moniker. `Shadows of the Damned' is a nearly game, the level design and offbeat humour is a little too off, meaning the game is more a cult classic than a must play. However, for a decent price this is a great little game.