Shadows of the Damned. New Mikami/Suda 51 game

blaa85

I only heard about this from an E3 trailer last week. Looks amazing! Can't believe its out this week. Just saw a fantastic trailer for it this morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cdgzS4TPTyk

koneko

I'm so stoked
I love practically everything Suda51 and Mikami-san make.
They collaborated before and produced the wonderfully insane Killer 7 (though that was mainly Suda). Woooooot!

I have a soft spot for absolutely mental Japanese games (now I've got a hankerin' to replay Deadly Premonition too)

NunianVonFuch

koneko wrote: »

I'm so stoked
I love practically everything Suda51 and Mikami-san make.
They collaborated before and produced the wonderfully insane Killer 7 (though that was mainly Suda). Woooooot!

I have a soft spot for absolutely mental Japanese games (now I've got a hankerin' to replay Deadly Premonition too)

Totally. You can really tell the difference between the games made by community (most Western titles) and those that use auteurs. Nearly always the auteur games are original in style and story and far more interesting to play (Bayonetta, Vanquish, Bioshock, Dead Rising, etc.) with a few notable spectacular failures (Metal Gear Solid 4). :pac:

Mr E

Eurogamer review is up....

7/10

Very rough around the edges and tries too hard to be funny.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-21-shadows-of-the-damned-review

Retr0gamer

Simon Parkin is a bit of a **** reviewer though. I know as a Suda 51 and Mikami fa I'll get a lot more out of it.

Helix

this is fantastic so far

quite humours in a naff way, and im not a fan of the over the shoulder aim with a beam of light re style of combat, but its serious fun

johnny_ultimate

NunianVonFuch wrote: »

Totally. You can really tell the difference between the games made by community (most Western titles) and those that use auteurs. Nearly always the auteur games are original in style and story and far more interesting to play (Bayonetta, Vanquish, Bioshock, Dead Rising, etc.) with a few notable spectacular failures (Metal Gear Solid 4). :pac:

I'd rather a game be a unique failure than an unimaginative success in many ways. It's always good to see people trying something with individuality. Alas, there's but a small handful of auteurs in gaming getting the credit they deserve. The Mikamis, Sudas, Kojimas, Miziguchis, Miyamotos, Ancels etc... may not always 100% succeed with their vision, but at least they have a vision, and the vast majority of the time it's one well worth experiencing.

Retr0gamer

I've enjoyed stuff like Nier and Deadly Premonition more than most of the more highly polished games I've played this generation. I've been leaning towards more interesting than genuinely good games lately.

NunianVonFuch

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Simon Parkin is a bit of a **** reviewer though. I know as a Suda 51 and Mikami fa I'll get a lot more out of it.

http://www.eurogamer.net/archive.php?author=115

Simon Parkin reviewed their other games and loved 'em.
No More Heroes 2 8/10
Vanquish 9/10

Think you're looking at the score rather than the text really as he uses the full scale and loved the uniqueness of it. Just marked it down for being a bit rough round the edges really which I would have expected seeing as they haven't been given loadsamoney and time to make it unlike Vanquish.

I'll be getting it though for the reasons Johnny says and also it looks great!

Grumpypants

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I've enjoyed stuff like Nier and Deadly Premonition more than most of the more highly polished games I've played this generation. I've been leaning towards more interesting than genuinely good games lately.

Parts of this reminded me of Deadly premonitions not in terms of gameplay but just some of the touches to the game, i know you will like this one if it is a bit sillier than DP.

Helix

almost finished this now

really enjoyable, but its starting to get a bit repetitive

bugs

As has been mentioned, all the current reviews from gametrailers, gamespot etc. seem to be saying the same thing; repetitive, short and average.
Bit of a let down but i'll still give it a shot and make up my own mind.

Helix

bugs wrote: »

As has been mentioned, all the current reviews from gametrailers, gamespot etc. seem to be saying the same thing; repetitive, short and average.
Bit of a let down but i'll still give it a shot and make up my own mind.

its not short

jesus its definitely not short

bugs

I wouldn't consider an 8 hour single player game to be particularly long. It doesn't help thats theres no multiplayer or new game + either.
As i said, i'm still very interested to play it but my initial interest has been somewhat reduced.

Helix

bugs wrote: »

I wouldn't consider an 8 hour single player game to be particularly long. It doesn't help thats theres no multiplayer or new game + either.
As i said, i'm still very interested to play it but my initial interest has been somewhat reduced.

8 hour SP is above average these days, sadly

johnny_ultimate

I really don't like the trend towards overlong singleplayer these days. Of course, the high prices of gaming these days doesn't help, but a game should only be as long as it needs to be. I'd rather five hours of tightly controlled gameplay over twenty of samey shooting. To me, it's sort of like complaining Citizen Kane isn't long enough at two hours and should be four hours instead just to improve value for money. Not that Shadows of the Damned is Citizen Kane or anything (too much emphasis on the protagonist's member for that) but I'd rather Mikami and Suda just stick with whatever they're happy with. If it genuinely feels to short (if Skyrim was over in six hours, for example) then yeah, we can complain, but I'll leave it up to the creator to decide how long it should be.

bugs

If all there is to it is 8 hours of a campaign and then nothing, i'd really want to be blown away for those 8 hours, something i'm being lead to believe is not going to happen.
Allow me to go back through it with all my upgrades, allow me to chase scores on an online scoreboard, give me a cobbled together arena where i can fight waves of enemies either alone or in co-op.
Basically just give me a reason to put the disc back in the drive once i'm finished with my 8 hours, vanquish did it, bayonetta did it, in fact i'd be hard pressed to think of a game that didn't at least give me something to do.

Retr0gamer

8 hours on the other hand is perfect for me. Finish the game, put it away and start something else in my massive backlog!

Helix

review:

Just to get things clear right off the bat, whoever decided to label Shadows of the Damned as a “survival horror” clearly doesn’t know what they’re talking about. If survival horror is another way of saying “over the top action with pant wettingly good humour in places” somewhere in the world, then we apologise, otherwise it couldn’t be further from the truth.

The action, and that's exactly what you're getting here, pure balls to the wall action, follows our Hispanic hero, Mexican demon hunter Garcia Hotspur, in his battle to save his girlfriend Paula from the clutches of the evil demon Fleming. The game starts out with a nice introductory sequence which allows us to get acquainted with the incredibly intuitive controls, while also setting up the story with Fleming's kidnapping of Paula. A sinister looking bugger, Fleming escapes to the underworld with our hero's missus with the promise of condemning her to repeated deaths for the rest of time. So, as you can guess, he's not a particularly nice guy.

From there, Garcia follows him into the underworld and the game begins in right style.
Accompanying you on your mission is Johnson; a former demon who now serves as a particularly versatile ally, being that he can transform into a wide range of guns as well as a torch and can offer a wealth of advice about the underworld, having spent quite a bit of time there in his demon days.

Unlike most representations of the land of the damned, Shadows gives a whole new spin on the underworld. It's full of house, lakes, pubs, nightclubs and even a big old library - who would ever have expected that demons liked to read, eh? The best thing is that this isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the off kilter humour found throughout the game.

If puerile, childish vulgarity offends you then this is not the title for you. Countless sexual innuendos, a gun called the "Big Boner" and a somewhat unexpected delivery of the "C" word about three quarters of the way through the game are mixed with some genuinely funny moments, as well as an awful lot of "what the hell is going on here" type head scratching.

While everything is explained pretty well, it doesn't make things any less bizarre as you shoot golden goat heads to illuminate the area and drive back the darkness that strips the flesh from Garcia's bones, cram eyeballs, hearts and strawberries (a demon delicacy apparently) into the faces of damned babies acting as guardians of doors, and even a dirty phone line that you can call to get Johnson, erm, "up for it" when you need him are some of the things you'll encounter here.

While there can be no doubt that they add to the enjoyment of the game, they do massively affect the atmosphere. Any possibly inkling of scariness is drained away from proceedings thanks to Johnson's continuous one liners and cheesy observations, making the game feel more like a cheesy horror flick than a serious survival game. Not that that's a bad thing, since the gameplay probably wouldn't have held up to a more straight edged storyline.

The actual gameplay itself is much akin to what we’ve come to expect from the more recent Resident Evil titles, in that it’s fairly run of the mill third person over the shoulder shooter action. You’ll keep your character going by collecting a variety of pickups including ammo, bottles of sake (for additional health, of course) and even human hearts, used to prolong the amount of time Garcia can spend in the darkness without succumbing to its effects.

While the gameplay is nothing you haven’t seen or done a hundred times before, there is a real fun factor here that you simply don’t get elsewhere. The bosses have to be seen to be believed too. They range from the ridiculous to the absolutely insane, growing increasingly larger as you progress through the game, and offering the only inkling that this may actually have been intended to be an actual horror game at one point in its development.

It’s all really well put together, and aside from a couple of minor technical issues that pop up every so often, and the fact that it does start to feel like it’s dragging on a little as you reach the end of the eight and a bit hour campaign, you’ll have an absolute blast. Oh, did we mention there’s a 2D side on shooter aspect to the game too? Because there is.

What could very well have been a shining example of how not to make a game has actually served as a timely reminder that games can be clever (in an immature kind of way), engrossing and, most importantly fun. There are no swanky extras, no multiplayer, no bells and very few whistles, but despite it all, this is precisely what 2K should have been aiming for with Duke Nukem Forever.

johnny_ultimate

Gah, will probably cave in and buy this over the weekend.

No more auteurs have games out for a while, right? My wallet can't handle it!

richymcdermott

Im waiting till the price drops if theres only a sp and nothing else

johnny_ultimate

Have it in my bag (won't get to play til tomorrow night) but am a bit worried after reading the Edge (5/10) and Gamecentral (7/10) reviews. Sounds like fun but not the masterpiece the dynamic duo could've produced. Oh well, will judge for myself, but not looking like No More Vanquish.

Retr0gamer

I'm sure it'll be enjoyable just not perfect, like everything else Suda 51 has done.

bugs

Picked up yesterday and completed it, final time was just under 8 hours.
The reviews are probably right. Its good and its definitely got a very different feel to it than most games out there....but....the controls are very loose, the AI can be dumb and the second half of the game takes a fairly swift dive into repetition.

I really had high hopes for this, and while i did enjoy it, its not nearly as good as i think it could have been.

Nollog

Trailer and review make it look/sound like no more heroes with a good soundtrack and more mainstream graphics.
genital jokes are so funny, hohoho~ :rolleyes:

Helix

/\/ollog wrote: »

Trailer and review make it look/sound like no more heroes with a good soundtrack and more mainstream graphics.
genital jokes are so funny, hohoho~ :rolleyes:

they actually work quite well with the overall tone of the game without being the pathetic forced nonsense found in duke

johnny_ultimate

Played up until the first boss last night, and thank **** it's far from bad! Suda's presence is more influential overall - while the humour sometimes falls flat, it's the oddness of the world they've crafted that makes exploring (or whatever limited exploring you can do) so compelling. There's something undeniably surreal about shoving a giant strawberry into a demon child's face to open a door, perhaps the finest unlocking animation in gaming history.

It's Mikami's side that feels like it could do with some tightening up. The mechanics feel that little too loose - especially headshots, that are almost pot luck given the lumbering movements of the AI. It's an easy game to survive in, but not to do well in. That's not because of the player's skill, but because it feels like you're fighting against the game mechanics more than anything. That said, the light / darkness interplay works surprisingly well.

The weirdness, much like No More Heroes, is what defines this game as something that differentiates itself from the norm. There have already been hints of Suda's satirical self-awareness as him and his 'Johnson' rip the piss out of the core mechanics. It's a shame the mechanics aren't always up to much.

richymcdermott

Couldnt resist but pick it up today , intro was so well done and your man flemming looked so cool, the baby lock so creppy :pac::pac:

biggebruv

i found it enjoyable far from a masterpiece but good fun

it all plays very well IMO

good variety of different stuff between the acts

boss fights are cool

love the whole darkness thing really keeps you on your toes

can be a bit repetitive abit

some glitchy parts though when playing

o and did anyone else

love love love the evil dead chapter:D when paula chases you i was actually sh!!tting it lol

then she chases you again lator on when she pops out of a coffin this one was more panicky lol

wast mad about the big boner stuff didt find it that funny

jayteecork

Traded in Operation Flashpoint (Dragon Rising), Call of Juraz, and Borderlands (3 games I hated) and picked this up for 3 euros new.

Enjoyable enough so far.