REVIEW: Shadows of the Damned shines thanks to jokes and solid gameplay
Shadows of the Damned is a glorious and epic trip to the underworld.
The game plays like heaven and crafts a special place for itself in the industry by focusing on humor. For players with a taste for immature humor and innuendo, this is one title not to be missed.
For players who prefer-dead serious gaming, then this might be one walk through the underworld to avoid.
The game follows the story of Garcia Hotspur, professional demon hunter, on his quest to save the love of his life, Paula, from the depths of the underworld.
Fleming, the Lord of Demons, kidnaps Paula to get revenge on Garcia for slaughtering his armies. Fleming promises to punish Garcia by making Paula die over and over in the underworld. Garcia follows Fleming into his domain to save Paula from her twisted fate, but soon finds that may not be as easy as he assumed. Luckily, Garcia has his partner Johnson to help him.
Johnson was once a demon, but is now cursed and takes the form of a floating skull. Johnson has the ability to take the form of various weapons for Garica to use.
Starting off, players are limited to standard pistols, shotguns and machine guns, but as they progress weapons are upgraded into something more interesting, including grenade launchers and a homing machine gun.
Anyone familiar with the new Resident Evil and Dead Space titles will find Shadows of the Damned familiar. Exploring is done from a third-person perspective. Aiming pulls up the camera to a close view over Garica’s shoulder.
Shadows of the Damned, unlike Resident Evil, allows the player to move while aiming. This is a good thing, because the demons Garcia encounters are tough and relentless. That does not mean Shadows of the Damned is difficult. While the enemies are relentless, Garcia is showered with health items and ammo.
While at first glance Shadows of the Damned looks like a Resident Evil or Dead Space clone, it is far from it. Though the controls are similar, Shadows of the Damned embraces humor over horror.
Instead of shying away from sexual innuendo, it is fully embraced. Johnson was clearly named just for this purpose. An example of the constant jokes is "The Boner", Johnson's pistol form. "The Boner" shoots demon bones, but can later be upgraded to explosive ammunition, changing the weapon's name to the "Hot Boner." During one section Johnson even becomes a sniper rifle named the "Big Boner"
