Shadows of the Damned is a trip to hell well worth taking!
'Shadows of the Damned' is the latest project from Suda 51, the quirky designer who brought us Killer 7 and No More Heroes. This time though he has enlisted the help of past collaborator Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil 4, Vanquish) and legendary sound composer Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill) to make a gaming dream team that is practically unmatched. Certainly Mikami's fingerprints are all over this title, as it is an Action-Horror 3rd Person Shooter in the vein of Resident Evil 4 with the added bonus of been able to walk and shoot at the same time. You play as Garcia Hotspur, a Mexican demon hunter, who is forced into the underworld to save his girlfriend Paula with some help from his demon friend Johnson (who takes the form of a golden skull). The plot is B movie cheese, but the game relishes this and is thoroughly aware of how ridiculous it is. The real star of the story is the interplay between Garcia and Johnson, which at times makes the game feel like a buddy cop movie rather than a horror game, but the sheer amount of banter, dick jokes and interplay between the two characters is consistently amusing.
In order to rescue Paula you're going to have to fight your way through hell itself, and to help you with that 'Shadows of the Damned' gives you access to 3 different weapons (essentially a pistol, shotgun and assault rifle) and you can level these weapons up into demon destroying monstrosities. Gunplay in general is very good each weapon has its own uses and special attacks thus you need to get a good grip on each weapon to progress though the game. One of the gunplay features that works well is the dichotomy between light and darkness, meaning that if darkness takes over the underworld you must either make a dash to the light, or find a goats head (because, you know, what else) to shoot a special light attack at. This also applies to enemies; if they are coated in darkness you must shoot your light shot at them to be able to harm them. These both add to the tension in a firefight, were you have to make the choice between staying and looking for a goats head, or fleeing to the light whilst all the while having enemies attack you.
This been a Suda 51 game you'd expect this game to have all the trademark quirky design choices that all other Suda games have, yet 'Shadows of the Damned' is quite restrained by Suda's standards. Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of bizarre touches only Suda could get away with for example health recovered through alcohol, force feeding children's heads strawberries and some hilariously twisted bedtime stories (foreshadowing boss fights cleverly enough) but on the whole this is the most mainstream game Suda has put out to date, depending on how much of a fan you are this could be a good or bad thing.
It may well be reigned in more than usual, but that doesn't stop Suda's underworld from being one of the most impressively designed game worlds you'll see this year. It's stuffed to the brim with a gothic-punk character and takes you on a journey through opera houses, carnivals, and swamps, hell even bowling alleys. That's not to say that the world is cheerful, every single part has its own macabre twist and the enemy designs themselves are particularly gruesome making 'Shadows of the Damned' a fantastic contrast of horror and colour. From start to finish the game world is a joy to behold, which is fortunate as the game itself is very linear taking you from one world to the next without much chance to explore, it doesn't hurt the game for me but those of you that are used to having a larger world to get your teeth sunk into should be wary of it.
The final piece of the 'Shadows of the Damned' puzzle comes together with the sound design of Akira Yamaoka, who once again has put together a soundtrack that gives reason to why he's considered one of the best in the biz. In fact this may well be his most diverse score yet from the quick plucks of Spanish guitar on the opening theme, to the spine-chilling sound effects and even some huge rock scores. It all comes together to make a game that looks and sounds like no other and is a testament to all three main designers that the world has such a vibrant life to it.
There are some minor problems however that need to be addressed, chief among these is the 2D side-scrolling shooter sections found towards the end of the game. Although they are beautifully designed with a pastel artstyle the gameplay itself is very dull, which is mainly down to the fact they are far too simple and don't introduce any new mechanics. They come across as a quirk Suda was desperate to get in and on this occasion his ambitions should have been reigned in. Another flaw comes in the repetitiveness of the gameplay; this is very much a linear shooter from start to finish and variation is only found in the odd puzzle section. Again the dialogue between the two characters is enough to keep you ploughing from each row of enemies, but even this may start to tire for players whose tolerance for the juvenile is lower than mine.
In the end though these are minor frustrations in a game that is so unique in a world full of identikit modern shooters. In Garcia and Johnson we have one of the funniest partnerships in gaming, a game world straight from the twisted mind of Suda 51, gameplay not dissimilar to that of Resident Evil 4 and a soundtrack from one of the masters of the field. Seriously what more could you want? Oh, dick jokes, yeah they have them too.