Shadows of the Damned

By Stephen Pastic

Right off the bat, let us get one thing clear : If you are offended by references to the male genitalia, steer well clear of this title. 

Grasshopper Manufacture's  latest release is loaded with so many allusions to all things phallic, I was left feeling rather inadequate by the game's conclusion.  Subtle this game is not.

Development of the title was headed up by Suda51 (Killer7, No More Heroes), Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) and Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill).  With such a strong pedigree behind the game, it should come as no surprise that the each of the individual sensibilities are clearly on show here.

From the 'over the shoulder' third person  shooting Mikami helped to revolutionise, Yamaoka's creative and slightly off-beat soundtrack, to Suda's borderline insane thematic content and lowbrow humour, Shadows of the Damned defintely had the potential to be a massive hit.  But is that the case, or is this title one that is not greater than the sum of its parts?

You play as Garcia Hotspur - a professional demon hunter with an accent and mannerisms that could make any mexicans sensitive to stereotyping more than a little uncomfortable. 

After your beloved Paula is snatched away by demon head honcho Fleming (amidst some not so thinly veiled penis jokes), Garcia takes off to the underworld in pursuit.  Hotspur is joined by his trusty sidekick Johnson (see what they did there?): a floating skull who has the ability to turn into various guns,a torch, and for some reason, a fully functioning motorcycle. 

Whilst the story itself is certainly not terrible, the overarching plot is nothing to write home about.  However, the comedic back and forth between Garcia and Johnson is definitely a highlight, as are the little side stories dealing with some of the boss characters encountered - equal parts creative, ludicrous and disturbing.

Gameplay primarily consists of dispatching the denizens of the underworld in the 'over the shoulder' shooting style of Resident Evil 4 - or to be more accurate - Dead Space, as Garcia can move while aiming and firing his versions of a pistol, machine gun and shotgun. 

The basic enemies go down easily enough, but certain opponents must be tackled in the right way if one hopes to walk away without too much damage.

A light/dark mechanic is also at play with regard to both enemies and environments throughout the game.  Particular enemies are impossible to damage at all until rendered vulnerable via a secondary attack called the "light shot", while some environments will be completely enveloped in a health draining darkness which must be either quickly navigated or mitigated via various means. 

Brains, eyeballs and strawberries take on the role of keys to access certain areas, and the player can upgrade the various permutations of their weaponry via collectable gems at certain points.

At this point, I would like to just mention some things featured in the game without providing any context: Boner, Big Boner, Hotboner, walking across a giant lingerie-clad womans buttocks and breasts, a creature that urinates pure darkness, 'sushi lamp', and a light bearing torch which regularly alternates between erect and flaccid.  Yep.

Whilst everything in the game is functional, there are some issues that warrant mentioning.  Garcia doesn't control as tightly as one would like, and something about his running animation just looks ever so slightly wrong - granted, a small issue, but given that the character takes up a decent chunk of the screen the whole game, it is something you will be consistently seeing.

Environments where the health sapping darkness is present also progressively become less of a challenge, and more of an outright annoyance as the game goes on due to their overuse.  The game itself is also not terribly long, and with no multiplayer and surprisingly no 'new game plus' mode, the replay value of the title is not exactly a selling point.

Shadows of the Damned is definitely a unique title with personality in spades.  Stylistically bizarre, and featuring a sense of humour that is low brow and amazingly immature and yet somehow simultaneously self aware and genuinely funny, the game is definitely one worth experiencing. 

Gameplay wise, Shadows is completely functional but nothing stellar - this coupled with its somewhat short length and limited replay value prevents this from being the must own game many were hoping for. 

Game: Shadows of the Damned
System: XBox 360, Playstation 3
Developer/Co-Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Electronic Arts

Rating: 70%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)