Re: The Official 'Shadows of the Damned' Thread [X360] [PS3]
Reached Act 2-2. Boy-o-Boy! This game is beyond a shadow of a doubt - AWESOME! I was a
bit skeptical after watching the dull graphics from the gameplay videos, but this game is something else. The plot is pretty lame, just like Splatterhouse. Demon kidnaps girlfriend, our homeboy goes crazy and ventures into the underworld on a demon hunting spree. So what's different in this game? Well, this is Garcia "F*ckin' Hotspur. He's a bad-ass motor-head demon hunter. After a small intro of how his girlfriend, Paula, is taken away from him by an underworld demon overlord called 'Fleming', we waste no time in going down the dark path to find her.
Gameplay is very close to Resident Evil 4. The aiming system is similar, but unlike Leon, Garcia can move whilst aiming. You get health tonics in the form of drinks; Sake, Tequila, and Absinthe. Each of them will restore a certain percentage of your health. You can promptly choose them by holding down the 'Y' button and selecting either one of them. At the beginning of the game, you have 2 weapons to choose from; Boner (handgun/revolver) & Monocutioner (shotgun). I forgot to mention, these weapons are essentially your demon accomplice; Johnson. Johnson who? Not much of him has been revealed as of now, but he's a shape-shifting demon skull and is Garcia's guide. He can shape shift into a bike, transform into weapons, torchlight etc. Oh he's also a blabber-mouth. Enemies can be killed by headshots and normal limbs being shot. If you dismember their legs, go close to them and engage into a stomping mini-game by pressing 'X'. Killing each demon gives you diamonds. Diamonds are basically your currency to purchase stuff from vending machines or Christopher. You'll also come across Red Diamonds. These are very rarely obtained and can be used for your weapon/skill upgrades. In the underworld, you are sometime plagued by darkness. If consumed by the darkness, it will eat away your health. You need to find 'Goat lamps'. These are small lamps, which are present at various places to wade off darkness. To light up this lamp, you need to fire an explosive shot from the Boner. Evading options include a dodge jump and close melee attack. The game saves whenever you come across one-eyed willy, which is like a flying eyeball. The game has 3 difficulty settings to choose from; Lemon Hunter (easy), Demon Hunter (Normal) & Legion Hunter (Hard).
Graphically, it's not completely rich in terms of detail. UE3 engine has been used, so you can except poor textures and odd colour tones. But that doesn't really mean it's bad. The game offers plenty in terms of it's art-work. It has got a great deal of corpses lying around, old ruined places, gates with babies crying head attached, grind-house style posters etc. The environment Mikami & Suda 51 have created is extremely creepy. When you're inside the darkness, it encompasses the whole place with a purple aura. The 360 version has slight tearing issue and the frame rate, as usual, is capped at 30fps. The performance is not hampered at all. The loading screen is very creatively done, kind of gives us that retro game loading screen feel.
Sound: I'm really impressed by the sound produced from this game. It provides you with 2 options; Dolby Digital 5.1 and Pro-Logic II. The sound director, Akira Yamaoka (of the Silent Hill fame), has provided an excellent blend of rock and tribal sounds in this game. It blends with the whole dark theme. Weapons sounds are simply awesome, every detail can be heard in a discreet manner. The sound of crying babies, demon roars, stomp sounds and bashing objects is vastly detailed. I'll have to mention the voice-overs in this game is filled with ridiculously bad juvenile jokes & sexual innuendos. Something which you'd largely except from the Robert Rodriguez's grind-house movies. Garcia rattles of a mix of his spanish lines at times and Johnson is hilarious with his British accent. The script is laughable, but you can't help and just chuckle at those jokes.
This game is VERY addictive and fun. It's great to play this in total darkness. I wish it just f*ckin' rained outside for once, I could enjoy the game even more. Nevertheless, people who have loved RE4, must definitely try this out. You'll have a total blast.
Very pissed. But lets hope something happens (good thing is my ps3 backlog is 250+ hours long).
