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SHADOWS OF THE DAMNED (PS3)
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Publisher: EA.
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture. Released: June 2011. Genre: Third-person shoot 'em up. Other versions: X360; PC. Posted 2nd April 2020. By Tom Clare © 2020 |
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When asked in a 2012 interview with PSM3 how he felt Shadows of the Damned turned out, Shinji Mikami spoke of his dissatisfaction. His sentiments no doubt echo countless instances of the behind the scenes tug-and-pull of gaming auteurs trying to get their visions to sit with big publishers. He lamented that fellow collaborator, SotD executive director and writer Goichi Suda (Suda51), was “unable to create the scenario he’d originally had in his head” and that he “rewrote the scenario several times. I think his heart was broken. The game was nothing like Suda had planned.”1
What he was left with was the fairly recognisable staple of a gun-toting hero, a wise-cracking sidekick and a damsel in distress. A parable in the mould of Dante’s Inferno, SotD sees gunslinger Garcia Hotspur pursuing his doomed love Paula into the demonic underworld, to rescue her from overlord Fleming. Before we’re too hard on EA though, it’s worth noting that this, together with a recognisable, third-person shoot ‘em up framework, are about the only aspects of Grasshopper Manufacture’s shoot ‘em up that in any way conform to established norms. It wasn’t the game Suda wanted to make, but might it have been an acceptable compromise for gamers, in the circumstances?
The big talking point in the run-up to Shadows of the Damned’s release centred on the collaborative involvement of three of gaming’s biggest names. Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil), Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill) and Goichi Suda (Killer7) all leave their fingerprints on the project, and in many ways, the content is the sum of this meeting of minds. As is perhaps to be expected, things don’t always gel completely and there are times when it feels like there’s a whole cauldron of mad ideas swirling around in the mix. You’ll forgive it a lack of cohesion however, as Shadows of the Damned is an absolute riot.
Shadows of the Damned produces a glut of formidable bosses, but they all have weakpoints for Garcia to exploit...
Providing an organised synopsis of what you’ll find is problematic, so here are a few pointers, in brief. In the underworld, one of Garcia’s biggest dangers is becoming enveloped in darkness. It injures him and coats his foes in a sludgy, protective armour. Fortunately, shooting lanterns or mounted goat heads (as you do) results in an emission of light. Keys are too mainstream, so doors instead demand strawberries to grant access. One sequence sees Garcia riding a massive chandelier up a bell tower, whilst another sees him battling a knight on horseback. There is no fewer than three horizontal-scrolling shoot ‘em up stages, played out like a pop-up theatre production. Supplies can be bought from a hideous but admittedly well-to-do demon named Christopher, and there’s even a brief interlude for explosive ten-pin bowling, with demons taking the place of the more conventional skittle pins.
This all sounds a bit mad, I grant you. But a strong foundation makes for an extremely playable adventure. This is where Mikami’s touch is evident. It marks a logical evolution of the mechanics first ventured in Resident Evil 4. Despite Mikami and Yamaoka enjoying storied track records in survival horror, SotD leans considerably closer to an all-out action experience. Whilst there are aspects of the macabre, most notably in the extravagantly ghoulish environs and heavy vignetting, it never tries for a heavy atmosphere, frequently punctuating the more visceral moments with jokes or innuendo. Like Dead Space, the sprightly demons can have their progress checked by blasting off limbs, though headshots remain the most persuasive currency in the underworld.
Johnson, Garcia’s side-kick and guide to the underworld, also serves as a trio of weapons unto himself. He provides handgun, shotgun and machine-gun variants that Garcia can switch between in a moment’s notice. They pack a satisfying punch and, thanks to some adventurous secondary fire options and upgrades, each one remains legitimately useful throughout the entirety of the game. Boss encounters make for big, varied spectacles, almost all of which requiring the player to work out a means of exploiting a weakpoint. Shadows of the Damned looks fairly good, but more importantly, it runs smoothly, even in the busiest of encounters.
This all sounds a bit mad, I grant you. But a strong foundation makes for an extremely playable adventure. This is where Mikami’s touch is evident. It marks a logical evolution of the mechanics first ventured in Resident Evil 4. Despite Mikami and Yamaoka enjoying storied track records in survival horror, SotD leans considerably closer to an all-out action experience. Whilst there are aspects of the macabre, most notably in the extravagantly ghoulish environs and heavy vignetting, it never tries for a heavy atmosphere, frequently punctuating the more visceral moments with jokes or innuendo. Like Dead Space, the sprightly demons can have their progress checked by blasting off limbs, though headshots remain the most persuasive currency in the underworld.
Johnson, Garcia’s side-kick and guide to the underworld, also serves as a trio of weapons unto himself. He provides handgun, shotgun and machine-gun variants that Garcia can switch between in a moment’s notice. They pack a satisfying punch and, thanks to some adventurous secondary fire options and upgrades, each one remains legitimately useful throughout the entirety of the game. Boss encounters make for big, varied spectacles, almost all of which requiring the player to work out a means of exploiting a weakpoint. Shadows of the Damned looks fairly good, but more importantly, it runs smoothly, even in the busiest of encounters.
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Yamaoka delivers a typically accomplished soundtrack. Lilting Mexican numbers and screwball humour aren’t natural transitions from his usual stark, sombre compositions on themes of introversion and self-destruction. The songs that at the open and close the game are instantly attributable to the composer, whilst a bunch of sound effects have been swiped straight from the Silent Hill games with a shamelessness that’s almost admirable.
The story, broadly speaking, is nonsense. However, Garcia and Johnson (ably voiced by Steve Blum and Greg Ellis respectively) make for a likeable pairing. Just as well, as everyone else is a bit naff. It’s hard not to sympathise with Suda for the numerous rewrites, but looking at the scattergun of peculiar ideas, you can’t say with any great certainty that if he had been given free-reign, that things would have been any more coherent.
The game revels, unflinchingly, in a sordid examination of how sex, violence and greed are consumed in modern culture, and there’s plenty to digest thematically. But with Suda51, you have to take the rough with the smooth. Some of the one-liners are great, and unusually for a video game, it does have a knack for comic timing. On the other side of the coin, the swearing-for-the-sake-of-it comes across as desperately childish, as does the persistent stream of teenager-quality huh-huh innuendo. Worse still, there’s an entire unfortunate level based around the idea that Johnson (himself a thinly-veiled phallic pun) upgrades into a bigger member. Er, I mean handgun. Played out against the backdrop of a tricky, static-positioned shooting sequence, the player must endure Garcia bellowing “taste my big boner!” every time he fires. This sequence is then repeated. Twice. You get the impression that with Suda, the question of “how much is too much?” wasn’t dwelt on overly.
The story, broadly speaking, is nonsense. However, Garcia and Johnson (ably voiced by Steve Blum and Greg Ellis respectively) make for a likeable pairing. Just as well, as everyone else is a bit naff. It’s hard not to sympathise with Suda for the numerous rewrites, but looking at the scattergun of peculiar ideas, you can’t say with any great certainty that if he had been given free-reign, that things would have been any more coherent.
The game revels, unflinchingly, in a sordid examination of how sex, violence and greed are consumed in modern culture, and there’s plenty to digest thematically. But with Suda51, you have to take the rough with the smooth. Some of the one-liners are great, and unusually for a video game, it does have a knack for comic timing. On the other side of the coin, the swearing-for-the-sake-of-it comes across as desperately childish, as does the persistent stream of teenager-quality huh-huh innuendo. Worse still, there’s an entire unfortunate level based around the idea that Johnson (himself a thinly-veiled phallic pun) upgrades into a bigger member. Er, I mean handgun. Played out against the backdrop of a tricky, static-positioned shooting sequence, the player must endure Garcia bellowing “taste my big boner!” every time he fires. This sequence is then repeated. Twice. You get the impression that with Suda, the question of “how much is too much?” wasn’t dwelt on overly.
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These juvenile moments take a bit of the shine off Shadows of the Damned, but on-measure, it packs in so much action, you’ll want to keep playing. Three difficulty settings (plus an additional fourth should you beat the game on Legion Hunter) means you get decent value for money, and it’s an adventure that stands up well to additional runs, though the option to skip cut-scenes would have been lovely.
SotD isn’t perfect, but in an increasingly corporate gaming landscape where every new idea has to be market-tested for an unending conveyor belt of sequels, spin-offs and merchandising possibilities, it’s refreshing to have a game made by individuals who’ve shaped the medium as an art form, and not a company shaping it for profit. I’m aware of the irony of this statement given the input Electronic Arts had in sanding down the game’s eccentricities, but it’s all relative. Shadows of the Damned is a bit of everything. It’s weird, it’s creative, it’s bewildering, it’s childish, it’s clever. Ultimately, it’s different, and an awful lot of fun.
SotD isn’t perfect, but in an increasingly corporate gaming landscape where every new idea has to be market-tested for an unending conveyor belt of sequels, spin-offs and merchandising possibilities, it’s refreshing to have a game made by individuals who’ve shaped the medium as an art form, and not a company shaping it for profit. I’m aware of the irony of this statement given the input Electronic Arts had in sanding down the game’s eccentricities, but it’s all relative. Shadows of the Damned is a bit of everything. It’s weird, it’s creative, it’s bewildering, it’s childish, it’s clever. Ultimately, it’s different, and an awful lot of fun.
1 Robson, Daniel. “Shinji Mikami interview: “To be told Japanese games suck is a bit harsh.”.” CvG, via archive.org. 17/07/2012.
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VERDICT
"It’s weird, it’s creative, it’s bewildering, it’s childish, it’s clever. Ultimately, Shadows of the Damned is different, and it's an awful lot of fun." OVERALL: 8/10 |