Falling short in terms of content, Shadows of the Damned can be quite a blast and unique, but what's the target market?
Although possibly not stunning, the graphics and (more importantly) atmosphere is dark and stunning, giving out a few scares along the way. The story isn't all that engaging: uninventive and a dull damsel in distress contradict both main characters, a Mexican and his weapon Johnson, which are both quite funny all by themselves. It's however the small details that make the game interesting: drinking in hell to recover life, shooting goat heads to repel the darkness, and wacky stories of demons lingering around posters and giant story books... you can't skip cutscenes though, and I really don't know why, so get ready to have some boring moments if willing to play through the game more than once!
In terms of gameplay, it's a traditional third-person shooter with many similarities to Resident Evil 4-5, but with more focus on the action itself (and the all welcomed abilities of rolling to dodge shots). And, contrary to what I've heard of in various reviews, I believe it's the gameplay that makes it a blast to play: not too hard, fast and immediate response to our commands, it's in fact easy to shoot, dodge and change weapons... only downside is the recovery system (which resourses to two buttons awkwardly). Add this to the fact that the tutorial is great and self-explanatory... no need for an instruction manual at all!
The weapons are in fact interesting and creative (as a matter of fact, it's a skull that transforms into various kinds of guns), but the evolution "RPG-element" doesn't really have any influence in the game itself... add this to the fact that you're always filled-up with recovery items and the fact that the game, even in the third (not the last though) difficulty isn't challenging at all, and there's still two things to take into account:
First of all, even though it has a few exploring elements, the game is mainly linear: no multiple choices and there aren't many situations in which there's more than one choice to solve/avoid a battle or puzzle (which aren't all that many, but the few that DO exist are kind of nice).
Second thing to take in consideration: not only is the story ridiculously short (with disproportionably sized chapters), but also the Achievents/Trophies' contribution to the game's length is close to none - as a matter of fact, there's no need to actually complete the game in the hardest difficulty to get a perfect score!
All in all, it's not only a unique game but also a fun one, but also short and no-multiplayer experience which isn't for everyone. Also, the game had some great moments, but also lots of dull ones in terms of story. As a digital release, maybe it would have survived, but not as a retail, in which the marked gives priority to lengthy games with more extraordinary covers... and seriously, does the game cover ACTUALLY engages you into purchasing it? It seems more like your traditional shooter... and there's plenty of that. Also, hardcore fans usually prefer something more different... so this game's in the middle, and thus not having a well-defined target market.