Shadows of the Damned, creative geniuses Suda 51 presents an all-new vision of hell in ways never seen before..
YES..that was a dick joke and you should probably get used to it since the game tends to elate every possible dick joke that is offered, don't get me wrong, the dick jokes don't get boring and can be funny at times. It somewhat pulls it off (unless you are past the genetically "gigglyness" of childhood).
Shadows of the damned takes the form of a Third person shooter. Garcia wields Johnson, his former-demon-turned-swiss-army-knife-of-hell-knowledge-and-pain-dispersal companion, in one of three different weapon forms: a pistol, a shotgun, and a machine-gun. Johnson can also fire out a light-blast that has various effects – it incapacitates weaker enemies, and it can chase away darkness during one of Shadows of the Damned's many dark-light puzzle sequences (which are boring to say the least).
The city, city of the damned (go figure) is home to inky, un-dead, random inhabitants (borderline funny to look at). The city also has pockets of 'darkness' that tears the living soul of out Garcia making him loose life, which becomes more difficult as the game progresses (NO...Really?! -.-). during these dark puzzle sequences, goats are randomly placed throughout the dark, by firing your Johnson's light you create light, thus saving Garcia from an inevitable death, but later on you'll be shooting multiple balls of blood snaking vein-like off a central hub of darkness spewing demon pubes and… well. You get the idea.
The problem here is that none of this is fun or interesting to say the least. combat feels clunky which is a combination of issues perceptual and mechanical. The camera is zoomed in too close to Garcia that you cannot observe your surroundings and to well shoot, another third person shooter that is plagued by molasses arms. On normal difficulty, the only 'danger' you will ever face is off-screen usually behind you because your vision is marred by the camera.
This carries over into Shadows of the Damned's boss fights, which, for better or worse, play like they were designed a decade ago. I'm cool with the idea of shooting a weak spot but the repetition in the boss fights becomes apparent after the third or fourth fight.
Repetition is shadows of the damned's worst enemy. You'll get some weapon upgrades and a change of scenery or two but for the most part you are doing the exact same thing over and over again, don't get me wrong, it is fun to shoot the heads off the undead 'zombies' of the damned, but it tends to get boring and you get the sense that the Suda 51 lacked the inspiration with many aspects of the game.
What kept me going through to the games end was It's full of gorey imagery and graphic nudity, and we're not just talking a little bit of it. Piles of bodies and giant scenes of exposed flesh play major roles in Shadows of the Damned. If it wasn't for this i would have put the game down before ever getting halfway through it.
This is the inherent conundrum of Shadows of the Damned. Your own tastes will determine whether it's more or less than the sum of its basically functional but not-especially-interesting parts. In terms of an action game, shadows of the damned is passable for a weird tour through hell we haven't seen before the game should be experienced but rent the thing DON'T purchase it.
tray out.