A Road Trip That Is Just Magnifico... The Shadows of the Damned Review

Note - The gameplay footage can be NSFW, so you are warned!

If you ever liked underrated and crazy Japanese games, you might heard of a man named Suda 51 from Grasshopper, recently known for the No More Heroes franchise. Usually with his games, he delivers an unorthodox style that can be described as insane and twisted, but the gameplay aspect does lack a bit. If you combine that style of presentation, atmosphere, and storytelling with Resident Evil 4-like gunplay that was pioneered by Shinji Mikami, you get a game called Shadows of the Damned. Even though the gameplay premise might be familiar, it is a road trip worth taking from beginning to end, but it definitely has its bumps and bruises along the way.

The protagonist of Shadows of the Damned is a demon hunter named Garcia Hotspur as his lady Paula gets kidnapped by the lord of demons, Fleming. The goal is pretty much simple after that as it is up to Garcia to rescue her at the Underworld with his talking skull sidekick, Johnson, at his side. If I had compare how the story progresses, it takes a similar approach to the 2D Mario games oddly enough as Fleming holds Paula hostage at his castle. In other words, it is a Mario game, but you're in hell shooting demons and to me, that is a good take on a classic formula that still works today. Garcia and Johnson make a fantastic duo together as the banter between the two is hilarious most of the time with the game's great use of crude humor. The crude humor does not as seem as forced compared to some other games as if you can understand and deal with the jokes about private parts the game throws at you, then you'll have a blast trucking your way through the game's five acts.

If you ever played the recent Resident Evil games, you will feel right at home with Shadows of the Damned's core gunplay as it does not play like any other modern third-person shooter. The aiming can take some time to get used to at the beginning, but things will be fine as you keep progressing. Besides being a talking skull, Johnson can transform to multiple guns and also be used as a stick for melee attacks, but they're not as powerful as the guns are the stars of the show. There isn't really a variety of guns in the game as you have your conventional pistol, which is actually called the boner, a shotgun, and a machine gun, but they have multiple functions that are unlocked as you move along in the game. There is an upgrade system in which you have to collect red gems by finding them within the levels or buying them from the merchant Christopher to increase your health, your guns' damage input, reload speed, etc. Besides the gunplay, the other core gameplay mechanic in Shadows of the Damned is how it handles light and darkness. At numerous sections throughout the game, you will encounter darkness as being there for long will result in a loss of health or even death if you can't find fire at a mechanism that turns on the light. Examples of that range from a goat head, a pore, or setting up fireworks. Playing through these sections of darkness reminds me of another Nintendo game, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but Grasshopper handles this mechanic better by throwing different situations at you to dispose the darkness. Even enemies will be in their dark form as you have to light them up before you can damage them at all. Specific enemies also have to killed in the darkness, so you have to be play carefully in these sections. There are also great boss fights against bigger enemies even though they consist of finding a way to shoot their red weak spot numerous times to defeat them. Both of the core gameplay mechanics work exceptionally well, but there are some questionable moments in the game in which I'll talk about next.

Besides going from one kill room to another, Grasshopper throws in some diversity giving players different things to do such as puzzles, instant death situations, turret sections, and even a change in dimension gameplay-wise. The puzzles are not that bad as they're not there to challenge your brain as most of them consist of finding a strawberry or a brain to unlock the next door or making a path within a big room that lets you keep going. Then there are the little situations that will throw players for a loop as some of them seem cool on paper, but they can be frustrating at the end of the day more than halfway into the game. Other than those frustrating parts, Shadows of the Damned is a short and easy game to blast through in seven to nine hours on average. There are difficulty options at the start of the game as the default normal difficulty is pretty easy since you will rarely die especially with the generous checkpoint system, it is better to start on Legion Hunter, the game's version of hard for a more challenging trip. There is definitely a lack of replay value as there are no other modes besides the main game, no level select, and even a no new game plus option, so this is something Grasshopper dropped the ball on.

The sense of tone and atmosphere has been nailed exceptionally well in Shadows of the Damned as Suda 51's take on the underworld looks great. You are always wandering what is the next for Garcia and Johnson whether it is another enemy encounter with darkness thrown in, a boss fight, or just the two interacting with the posters scattered throughout the game. Even the little details such as background or past stories about the characters and even the bosses are fascinatingly hilarious to listen to. There are some technical issues from the camera mishandling certain situations such as close enemy encounters, texture pop-in, after loading from a checkpoint, and other things not happening the way it should of (impossible to find any light mechanisms within darkness at times, which can lead to death). The game's sound is also amazing from the voice acting that can be cheesy at times even though I enjoyed it and specifically the soundtrack done by Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame. His tracks scattered throughout the game are just phenomenal corresponding the mood and atmosphere to the point it is a contender for best soundtrack for a game this year.

Despite some faults, Shadows of the Damned is one hell of a road trip worth playing through. The mix of Suda 51's stylish presentation and Mikami's Resident Evil 4-like gameplay equals pure brilliance. It is easy to love the ragtag duo of Garcia Hotspur and Johnson as they're just great characters to play as. I also enjoyed the crude humor a lot you don't see this style of humor handled effectively in most of today's games. Even though there are some design decisions that made me feel a little frustrated, it is still a fairly easy game to blast through in a few hours. The lack of extra content beyond the main game is disappointing as it may not be worth the full price tag, but if you're a Suda 51 fan, down to laugh, and love insane Japanese games, Shadows of the Damned is definitely worth your time and money as it is definitely my sleeper hit of the year so far.

Score = 8.5/10

Pros:

• As expected with a Suda 51 game, great sense of style and atmosphere
• Great use of crude humor throughout this road trip
• One of the best gaming soundtracks this year
• The duo of Garcia and Johnson are such a blast play as
• Core gameplay mechanics from the gunplay and the light/darkness work exceptionally well

Cons:

• Questionable design decisions especially at the second half of the game
• Technical issues from a bad camera at times to texture pop-in
• Definitely a short game, but it still feels like a road trip (seven to nine hours on normal for most folks)
• Lack of extra content (no level select, bonus modes, no new game plus)

Is The World Ready For a Black Eyed Peas Game???

After successful sales of The Michael Jackson Experience on all consoles, Ubisoft has another franchise they can take advantage of money-wise making more artist-specific dance games even though it uses the Just Dance formula (then again these are pretty much spin-offs). Going from a legend such as Michael to one of today's most successful groups such as the Black Eyed Peas seems like a complete 180. Who knows if Will.I.Am, Fergie, Taboo, and Apl.de.ap deserve their own game as you can be the judge of that, but now they do with The Black Eyed Peas Experience. This is pretty much the MJ game or even Just Dance with only BEP songs. At first I thought, do they enough songs to satisfy their own game? The answer to that seems yes considering if you got at least 20 given songs in the game that covers from Elephunk onwards to The Beginning. I would be surprised if this includes pre-Fergie stuff specifically "Joints & Jam" as the guys pretty much breakdanced throughout that video. Another thing to keep in mind is since it is a dance game, BEP is more known for their party songs rather than having signature dance moves, so it is not like you're going to be excited doing some known choreography compared to the MJ game where moonwalking and crotch grabs are a plenty.

Of course, it is easy to hate The Black Eyed Peas Experience right away from this initial announcement (I was at first), but with the rhythm genre at its current dancing phase, you might as well take advantage of the craze as long as you can and that is what Ubisoft hopes to achieve with this game and Just Dance 3 this year. The lack of a PS3 version is kind of shocking as this is only coming out for 360 because of Kinect support and the Wii. The reason for that might be that the PS3 version of The Michael Jackson Experience didn't perform that well sales-wise and Ubisoft decided to stick with platforms that would give them better numbers. Hopefully people that buy this game will have the time of their lives (no pun intended).

Dirty Bit...

At Least Sega Is Doing Something with Sonic's 20th Anniversary...

Today is the actual 20th Anniversary of Sonic The Hedgehog and at least Sega decided to do something cool unlike most companies (yeah you Nintendo). A limited demo for Sonic Generations was released today for Xbox Live and Playstation Network (At least the UK Playstation Store now as the US Store will likely get it later today unless they're lazy). What I mean by limited? Well, there is only one level which is the infamous Green Hill Zone and you play as just classic Sonic. The whole theme of Sonic Generations is playing as both classic and modern versions of Sonic as classic is in the glory 2D days as modern reminds you of recent games, so it is a little unfortunate modern Sonic is not playable in this demo. Another reason why it is limited is that you can only play it for 20 days (no pun intended I guess) and then it goes down. Then again, demos for games out in the fall usually don't get released this early, so Sega gave us a treat that at least is something. Besides this demo, there is a sale that you can buy a bundle of Sonic 1, 2, 4: Episode I, and Adventure DX for 20 bucks. That is not that bad of a deal if you haven't bought them yet on Xbox Live or PSN, but certainly there are better things to buy unless you're a Sonic nut.

Anyway, playing as classic Sonic in this short demo seems okay for the most part. It is definitely 2D bringing back the Genesis days (when Sonic games were good!!!) and he doesn't have the tricks modern Sonic would have such as the homing attack (he's classic for a reason). He does have the spin dash though, which makes playthroughs of this one Green Hill level seem fast. Sega so far has managed to get the sense of speed right especially when Sonic is running, but of course it still feels momentum-based as there will be moments of pacing methodically and carefully at platforming sections. Other than that, classic Sonic controls fine, but of course hardcore Sonic fans will get too picky especially with the physics, which Sega has struggled to find the sweet spot they would be satisfied with. Graphically, Sonic Generations could of looked better, but considering it is an early build, they have time to make some improvements, specifically with the framerate. Sega has a good track record of games that run smoothly at 60 frames per second, but if the final game is running at 30 fps like this demo, that is not going to cut it for the game in general. Then there is the motion blur, which is expected, but I can see it being a problem for some people (not me though). The music, however, is great as the remastered Green Hill Zone track turned on my nostalgia light bulb.

Although the demo is short, I do have some high hopes for Sonic Generations as it could finally be the one that Sega gets it right. Then again, I feel like I'm falling into the infamous trap that is the Sonic Cycle. Deep down, I have a feeling Sega will find a way to ruin it as they did with past Sonic games (the Werehog in Unleashed, the abomination that was Sonic 2006, and others). I can already see certain fans disappointed as they dig deep in the demo's files (yeah some people are too hardcore) figuring out any leaked details as they can. If those details and rumors are right, perhaps this is not the nostalgic trip most fans are hoping for with the inclusion of characters from recent games in some form. We shall see as Sonic Generations is out this fall on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Music Roundup for 6/16/11 of Let's Get Clubby!!!!

This music roundup features two albums that make you wanna party and how convenient they're by two mainstream "masters" of this craft. Love them or hate them, they know what it takes to make catchy singles that make you go nuts in nightclubs if you're into that. You can't go a hour without listening to either of them on the radio as their songs keep getting plays like no other. Both of these albums, which are out next week, I will talk about are very similar yet so different at the same time.

We start off with LMFAO's latest, Sorry for Party Rocking. After exploding the scene with Party Rock that we're in Miami trick, signing "La La La," and taking shots shots shots, the boys are back continuing what they left off last time with more songs that make you wanna party. It is actually nice of them starting off with "Rock the Beat II" as a sequel to their first song last time setting things off right. The title track could of been better though, but once "Party Rock Anthem" kicks in, that's when the album pops off and of course people get their shufflin' on. After that, it is more what you expect along with their crazy personalities such as "Sexy and I Know It" & "Champagne Showers" (their latest single). Surely there are the slower stuff too and at least one of them eventually will be a single, which would likely be "Best Night" featuring Will.I.Am. One of the better songs in the album personally is "Take to the Hole" featuring Busta Rhymes as it is the most rap you'll get here. It definitely has that fresstyle mentality, which kind of surprised me a bit as it would be cool to hear some remixes of it with different people. Besides that, you know what you're going to get with a LMFAO album even though there are obviosly hits and misses. I expect to hear lots to tracks from this one at the clubs for the coming months. Sorry for Party Rocking is a decent sophomoric effort in a nutshell with arguably one of the most played singles of this year with "Party Rock Anthem."

The other party album out next week is Pitbull's Planet Pit. Mr. 305 has been on a tear for the past year from "DJ Got Us Fallin in Love" with Usher, "I Like It" with Enrique Iglesias, "On the Floor" with Jennifer Lopez, and his own stuff. Especially with "Hey Baby (Drop It on the Floor)" featuring T-Pain and current smash hit "Give Me Everything" featuring Ne-Yo, there seems to be nobody stopping him at this rate. Compared to the LMFAO album, you get a different style of sound and arguably better production, specifically hit mastermind RedOne for "Rain over Me" with Marc Anthony, which at this point should be a single too. Pitbull still can't really handle a track solely on his own as he relies on cameos mostly for the hooks even though it still works. Besides Ne-Yo, T-Pain, & Marc, the cameo lineup is a who's who of pop music today from Enrique, Jamie Foxx, Chris Brown, Akon, and more. There is actually two tracks that just him and it definitely shows Mr. Worldwide needs others to do most of the dirty work, which is okay for the most part. One of them, "Pause" is not that bad being one of my personal favorites, but "Something for the DJs" is pretty bad. Especially in his not so crazy voice, hearing him sing "If you're sexy and you know it, clap your hands" makes me wonder why is that even a song on the album. His attempt of slower-paced songs also end up flat out as he should stick to what he's good at, but then again I give him some credit for trying though. Planet Pit has its own share of hits and misses as it is front loaded with the singles, but the rest struggles to match the first half's quality. Then again, leave it to Pitbull to put out the most catchiest songs you'll hear at the clubs like he has been for the past several years. After all, you're supposed to grab somebody sexy and tell 'em hey.

Even though both of these albums feel very one-dimensional as they are definitely meant for the parties, they have their obvious faults. There are surely the hit songs, but half of them are filled with these. These type of albums aren't meant to listen from beginning to end anyway as you'll pick your favorites and leave it at that.

Next time on the music roundup is likely going to feature Beyonce and Lil' Wayne (whenever I get the Weezy album).

The Mega E3 2011 Wrap-Up of No One Man Should Have All That Power!

So what have I learned from E3 this year??? Well, there are a lot of things that are telling where the game industry is at these days and heading towards for the coming year. The big three (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) have their pros and cons with their press conferences as there was no clear cut winner of who won E3, but if I had to pick one, it is Nintendo because of their showing of the WiiU. Their new console definitely shows promise and potential, but there are definitely some improvements that can be made. Plus, Nintendo didn't really handle how to release official information such as specs and features for the box itself is a slightly bigger Wii from what I seen despite focusing on the controller a whole bunch. Anyway, let's get going to what struck me at E3.

TOO MANY SHOOTERS!!!!! AHHHHHH!!!!!

The number one thing out at E3 is that the oversaturation of shooters is at its boiling point to the point it felt like overkill. It is a sign that if you want to be a million dollar success, it has to be a shooter (whether first or third-person). It is pretty unfortunate that publishers and developers have to resort to games like these as an easy way to get money, but you know what, that whole plan can backfire because the competition is too crowded and people like me probably had enough of them. Even though some of the game of the show contenders are shooters, games that are trying too hard to be blockbuster/AAA quality would likely be left in the dust and the fact they probably weren't impressive at E3 this week. The heated battle between Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was front and center throughout the show as if you have to pick a side at this point, but cmon, might as well wait till the games actually come out this fall (BF3 at the end of October while MW3 is two weeks later). Seriously, I can compare this to this year's MTV Movie Awards, which happened recently, with the whole Team Twlight and Team Potter crap. If you're not Battlefield or Call or Duty this year (especially with military shooters), good luck trying to sell a million copies along with putting out a good game. If you don't have shooter fatigue yet, all power to you, but damn, I'm getting sick and tired of it.

Did Kinect and Move make their monumental leap in their second year at E3???

If I had to answer that, I would probably say no. Sure, we have to keep in mind these things have been out for a few months, but from what I seen, it seems to be more of the same as their launches with mini-game collections and an absurd amount of dance games. It is pretty safe to say that motion controlled dance games have replaced plastic instruments in the rhythm genre, but it is definitely something that still has a future as long it doesn't make the same mistakes the Guitar Hero/Rock Band franchises did (mainly Guitar Hero). Then again, the Just Dance franchise has quickly turned to the "Guitar Hero" of dance games as it is already in its third iteration this fall for all three consoles (Kinect/Move support for 360/PS3). Just Dance 3 seems to be more of the same with minor improvements (and still sell millions of copies) while Dance Central 2 (aka still the only reason to get Kinect now) is basically the Rock Band 2 of dance games, which is a good thing. We pretty much have our Rock Band/Guitar Hero rivalry again with dancing as Dance Central feels like the underdog despite being the better game (Harmonix knows what's up) while Just Dance is that "Guitar Hero-like" juggernaut that can eventually lose that status.

Yeah, Kinect and Move for the upcoming year is not just dance games, as other games supporting motion controls are trying too hard to be make a good impression. It is pretty telling during certain demos like Medieval Moves and Kinect Star Wars even though they're incomplete builds. I gotta give credit to Microsoft and Kinect though for finally branching out to more games which Move has been ahead of. It is nice that these options exist, but I'm surely rather play blockbuster games with a controller such as Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (which actually had a poor showing again this week). I just can't see myself doing that full body shooting animation, but surely there is an audience that will love it. The kiddy-targeted games will be fine such as Seasme Street: Once Upon a Monster (still awesome Double Fine is making that game) and Disneyland Adventures, but beyond that, Kinect and the Playstation Move didn't do enough to level up their game, but they're getting there slowly. For now, they're still only good for parties especially during drunken times.

On-Rail Segments = They're Getting Old Now...

Another theme of E3 demos being shown off this year was the over usage of on-rail segments. These parts of the game are as scripted as it gets and we don't get to see the full potential of the game unless you saw at closed door theaters. Sure, I know developers want to show off the coolest scene they have of their game so far, but it doesn't have to be on rails (basically going from point A to point B without going back) to be cool. You can show an awesome segment of the game by just playing it normally, which is where the cool demos shine like Uncharted 3 and BioShock Infinite. Having limited controls because of these sequences for the E3 demos pretty much holds developers back because you're not showing the full idea and promise of your game. It makes wander how these game publishers and developers think of what to show for something such as E3, which was discussed during some podcasts I listened to (mainly Giant Bomb's ones all this week). They can get it right or just fall flat on their face, which was the case for some demos I seen so far. Yeah, we don't get to fully play certain sequences in games in today's world because of cutscenes and on-rail segments because they want that theatrical mindset in regards to the experience (which is also why games are becoming less than they should be and turning more to be interactive experiences). It is just something game designers have to consider for the future.

Disappointed with the lack of Japanese games at E3? Yeah, wait till TGS.

The high profile no-shows at E3 this year were mostly Japanese games have been looking forward for years now. The Last Guardian and Metal Gear Solid Rising were specifically the ones that weren't mentioned at all this week. It has been known that Japanese gaming has been on the downside on the current generation of consoles as they never seem to catch up to other countries. This is mostly due to the different philosophies both Japanese and others spread across, but it is the Japanese philosophy that has not seen any significant progression especially in recent years. Most Japanese publishers/developers have been stuck in the "if it ain't broke/don't fix it" mentality for years even though they iterate little by little, but their core ideas are still intact and getting old. This E3 was indeed the case seeing similar Japanese games we have seen for years as even though they might be good at the end of the day, they have done little to innovate. It is a little hard to get excited for games such as Final Fantasy XIII-2 (trailer above) and Ninja Gaiden III (Yet I do love my Ninja Gaiden), but there are some games like Dark Souls that still give hope for Japanese games. The important thing is most of Japan didn't show up for E3 as if you want to see exciting Japanese games, wait till the Tokyo Game Show this September.

With my main trends from E3 2011 out of the way (besides the Nintendo WiiU and Playstation Vita which I talked about those briefly in my press conference recaps), I might as well move on to what matters... my favorite games of the show from what I seen (keep in mind I didn't see every game in action and this is no particular order).

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

What else can I say after talking about this in my Sony presser recap? This game is just too good right now and I can't wait to play Nathan Drake's third adventure. Yeah, there's the multiplayer beta at the end of the month, but cmon, the campaign is what still matters and damn, as if UC2's campaign was amazing, UC3 seems to be ten times that.

BioShock Infinite

The only first-person shooter that is actually making evolutionary steps to take the genre to the next level. It is probably just the setting alone not to mention how beautiful the game looks. Plus, you just gotta love Ken Levine especially when he talks abut this game (there's a new Giant Bomb interview with him proving that). I just love how different this game is, which is similar to my time with the first BioShock. If there's one shooter to get for the coming year, get BioShock Infinite. (Yeah, its out early next year)

Mass Effect 3

Despite what I saw from the Microsoft and EA press conferences, the closed door demos of Mass Effect 3 sound great from what I heard. They were able to make me believe that it is still Mass Effect with all the combat improvements since I was fearing the game becoming more action focused. It is that, but BioWare was able to retain the RPG aspects intact along with giving us crazier setpieces Shepard gets involved with. March 6, 2012 seems far away for the end of the trilogy, but I still have faith BioWare will finish things right.

Of course, there are other games that impressed me at E3 this week, but not as much as those big three above. I already mentioned Street Fighter X Tekken, SSX, Tomb Raider, and some others throughout the week as they'll be fine when they come out next year. The game of the show contenders are definitely those three above and perhaps others I didn't pay attention to. I didn't mention any Nintendo games specifically the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword as I'm still not excited yet for that game on the Wii and with that game out on the holiday season, who knows I would get it, but yeah, its Zelda however I'm been disappointed by a Zelda game before. E3 is always a good time to be a gamer seeing all the new reveals of what you care about, but I'm always more fascinated by the talk about the industry where it is now and how we can make things better. Till next year I guess!!!!

Oh... I forgot to say who is the MVP of E3?

Yeezy!!!!!! Kanye pretty much provided the song of the show with "Power" as multiple trailers used that song and I can't stop listening to it again now. Giant Bomb is right that any game trailer makes sense with that song. Who would of thought that one man had all that power this week?!?!?

More SSX footage from E3 2011

The new SSX keeps getting better and better the more I see it especially with all these videos EA Sports has been releasing this week. Kaori is the latest character reveal, so she's back alongside Elise and Mac. We also get to see tunnel levels, which look amazing and the signature SSX gameplay remains intact even with the terrain deformation when you have your tricky meter going at its maximum. I don't care if it is coming out on January, I want to play this now!

DmC Looks Better Now I Guess...

DmC, aka Ninja Theory's Devil May Cry reboot, is at E3 and after all the hate about Dante's new look, I started to get over it after watching the trailer above. Capcom seemed to listen to the complaints and at least we see what to expect out of gameplay this time. Of course, I don't expect it to be as good as past games, but I like the new direction this time around as its own game. Dante's hair goes white when in Devil Trigger mode (whatever its called this time), so there's a response to all the hatred for the character model. Ninja Theory's past action games have been good, but not great, so hopefully DmC is their home run they have been waiting for. Despite all of that, it is still going to be hard to please everyone with this reboot (as if the franchise needed a reboot, but I can see why they want mainstream success), so good luck to Capcom and Ninja Theory trying to prove everyone wrong.