Shadows of the Damned

[The NZA]

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First made public in early 2008, Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami and No More Heroes designer Goichi Suda have teamed up with EA on a new game. According to Japanese game mag Famitsu, that game has a title.

 

The Mikami/Suda project will be titled "Shadows of the Damned", or rather "Shadows of the DAMNED" (their caps, not mine). The protagonist is a motorcycle ridding demon killer, and the game uses an over-the-shoulder third-person point-of-view. Due out next year, Shadows of the Damned is slated for release on the PS3 and the Xbox 360.

 

 

bummed its not survival-horror but still happy in the pants

[C_U_SPACECOWBOY]

The Japanese have had it hard this gen, what with all the outsourcing of properties to sub par western studios or half-hearted, in-house projects all in the name of "capturing the western dollar" (Quantum Theory, Bionic Commando, Dark Void, Neverdead etc, etc, etc).

 

Based on this, I was pretty much going to get Shadows of the Damned REGARDLESS of how the end product turned out. I mean, Suda? Mikami? Yamaoka? Even if the game ended up being an abject failure it was bound to be a SPECTACULAR failure. And when reviews started to trickle in in the 80-90% range, I couldn't pony up my 60 bones fast enough.

 

I'm probably between a quarter and halfway through the game at this point and I'm loving it so far. It is however VERY bizarre. There are actually some interesting mechanics using light and dark that haven't been used a million times before in other games, and (at least at this point) the game is still continually adding new elements to mix up gameplay.

 

The influence of each of SotD's fathers is extremely evident. It plays like Resident Evil 4. It sounds very Silent Hill-esque, even down to the menu sounds. The aesthetic is a weird mix of the 'Rock & Roll' horror of Devil May Cry and the mundane creepy of Silent Hill. Then Suda 51 took the whole package and sprinkled it with copious amounts of his own signature brand of crazy.

[APANCHALYPSE RETURNS]

You had me at 'Scarface in Hell'.

[The NZA]

It plays like Resident Evil 4. It sounds very Silent Hill-esque, even down to the menu sounds.

...Then Suda 51 took the whole package and sprinkled it with copious amounts of his own signature brand of crazy.

 

yeah, fuckin' sold.

[C_U_SPACECOWBOY]

You had me at 'Scarface in Hell'.

 

Yeah, That's how I summed it up on the phone to panch, and it's pretty spot on. There's no question Tony Montana was the main influence for Garcia Hotspur, and like Scarface, Hotspurs ethnicity is often terribly offensive, yet somehow likeable!

 

Initially, much of the banter between Garcia and his sidekick Johnson was groan inducing and I wasn't sure if I even liked either of the characters. However, over the course of the first two acts (that's 2 and 3, as act 1 is just a quick tutorial) both had really endeared themselves to me. Then yesterday after posting I reached a portion called "The Legend of Stinky Crow." If any part of me had still held onto doubts about where I stood on this game, that segment pushed me over the fence into the 'I love this game' camp!

 

*People have posted this segment on YouTube, but don't watch it!! Out of context I feel it will be spoiled!

Edited June 29, 2011 by C_U_SPACECOWBOY

[Maldron]

God, like the game enjoys any semblance of context. The same story you reference is suddenly forgotten when he's face to face with the kid himself.

 

Honestly, I didn't laugh, I wasn't challenged, and the game clearly (And demonstrably) had a deadline forced on it. It's... pretty average.

[The NZA]

^mal, please elaborate. i'm prepared for your harshness; this should be my next gamefly game after Catherine.

 

thing is - and you can call bullshit here - playing Killer 7, NMH, etc means having certain expectations of Suda (way moreso than Mikami) on the gameplay front, so i think i'm prepared to walk away from this with a lot more than others. i'm talking classic-RE-controls-tank-controls-2-gens-ago type shit. that's how much i love the dude.

[Maldron]

Like I said, I was never challenged. It's clearly not a horror game, and not even in the way people say Dead Space isn't a horror game. There is no peril.

 

I never laughed. Having my gun Johnson which turns into Boner talk about his distant relative, the shitting save system "one-eyed willy" and watching as Johnson transforms into the Big Boner after calling a phone sex line - none of it was funny to me. It's one long series of dick jokes.

 

Your... endowments... are no match for mine.

 

The storybooks, as Cowboy insinuates, are a nice element - the stories of the demon bosses you face in their human life as read by either Johnson or Garcia. It's just, when you FACE the bosses, none of that shit comes into play. You read about Stinky Crow, and then you fight him, and Garcia suggests that possibly he got that way by playing too many video games. Ha-ha? Except we know exactly his background, and he fucking should too. And watching Garcia/Johnson's reaction to Crow eating his own heart makes it seem like they didn't fight a boss who ate his heart, and then his horse's heart, and then his horse. Say what you will for the randomness in No More Heroes - every story element had its moment - however brief - and the world still felt cohesive at the end of the day.

 

I wasn't bored, and I didn't have fun. The storybooks were the game at its most entertaining, but considering how the game ignores them in the larger narrative I can't be arsed to give credit for it.

[C_U_SPACECOWBOY]

And you're going to have to play it THREE TIMES to Plat it!!

 

(if you haven't already, you freak of nature you!)

Edited July 21, 2011 by C_U_SPACECOWBOY

[Maldron]

(I have.)

[C_U_SPACECOWBOY]

Amazing. I'm curious Mal, when you sign on to PSN, how tiny to the rest of us look from high atop your lofty throne.

Edited July 21, 2011 by C_U_SPACECOWBOY

[Maldron]

*doffs crown* Truly, sir, I do not even LOOK upon my "friends" list.

 

Is this in good fun? I worry.

[The NZA]

so, space was right, maldrons was wrong: game was lots of fun. took a few levels to click, but it did, and there was enough going even past all the boner jokes.

 

 

my favorite line had to be "you like flirting with danger, puta? then put on your best dress, because tonight, I'm taking you out!"

also, that ending was crazy.

 

 

the movie references were fun too, just an enjoyable game all around for me, with constant Suda-esque minigames laced throughout. oh yeah, and i totally didn't get Scarface from this; even before you-know-what, i guess Hotspur felt more like a mexican Ash. another title ill grab when it's good & cheap.

[C_U_SPACECOWBOY]

i totally didn't get Scarface from this.

 

Ok, I'll admit, I've never actually seen Scarface...

 

[Iambaytor]

Honestly, I didn't laugh, I wasn't challenged, and the game clearly (And demonstrably) had a deadline forced on it. It's... pretty average.

 

Didn't you love Bulletstorm? A/K/A the game that was so impressed with itself for coming up with the phrase "murder your dick" that it used it every 2.5 pico-seconds.

[Mortiis558]

I'll agree with Mal on this one....this game is undeserved of the 8's and 9's its been getting. It is a fairly average game in all respects. So it's a little on the weird/fucked up side, that doesn't save it. I enjoyed it somewhat, but this isn't a game I am going to be reccomending or ranting about at any point in the future. Same with Catherine (as that got mentioned as well). Weird/Different doesn't always equal good. And as it only sold some 21,000 copies in the US we can all look forward to it going down the sinkhole only to be brought up every few years by someone not cool enough to have gotten it when it first came out.

[The NZA]

i get what mortiis is saying - i didn't mean to imply it was an epic for the ages which will only be studied & understood after Suda-san's death - but man, i think your metrics are awful.

 

first up, 8's and 9's for a suda game (even with mikami) are great, and should imply that the controls won't go out of their way to flick you off like they did in Killer 7, a game better than this or any AAA one you can likely name in my opinion. how many games that got those scores will you be recommending & ranting about? GTA IV took nearly 10's, as did Halo 3, and neither get talked about once their respective next installments showed up. Nier got like half those scores and is more memorable, i think.

 

as for sales - seriously? No More Heroes was an abysmal failure by most developers super-inflated expectations, yet Grasshopper considered it worth building on, thankfully. Child of Eden, the excellent sequel to Rez, sold just as poorly, should this indicate quality? this metric only tells me that farmville must be the greatest game ever, followed by Bejeweled and maybe Angry Birds.

 

no, simply "being different" isn't enough, but doing that and bringing an enjoyable gaming experience sure is, for me. Mikami put together some tight boss battles that i enjoyed, along with the usual Suda storyline that never seems to take itself too seriously, a quality i value greatly in my weird personal scale of EDF 2017 > Gears of War (though i havent played the latter much in co-op, natch). again i get what you're saying, but personally, when this gen ends, i'm going to remember Heavy Rain, Nier, Catherine, and this game more than the majority of AAA experiences i kinda passed through. Uncharted, Red Dead Redemption and a few others will stand out in my head, but many won't.

[Mortiis558]

Someone else played Nier and enjoyed it?? There isn't a god!!

 

When did I ever say sales = greatness/quality? If that were the case, then Wii Sports would be the greatest game of all time. I was just saying that it didnt sell well so there wont be many people to banter our opinions of this game with.

 

Shadows itself was enjoyable. It was just an average enjoyable experience to me. If it weren't for the dick jokes and excessive violence and names attached to the game, we probably wouldn't even be talking about it. Was the shooting spectacular? Not really. Were the guns memorable other than the names? Probably not. Were the puzzles ingenious and thoughtful? Nope. The story was good, but really what about this game makes it worthy of 9's? On the same note, do games like Call of Duty and Gears of War deserve 9's and 10's time after time? Hell no.

 

Really the only AAA title I rant and rave about is Mass Effect 1 & 2. Which IS better than killer 7. (Let's start a new forum for that arguement lol). Otherwise I tend to stay away from the AAA titles. I've found the indie crowd has better, fresher ideas than most mega-companies can come up with over a whole generation. Not that this is an example of new/fresh, but one of the games I have put the most time into in the past year is "Mount and Blade" which is a wonderful example of less is more. It was developed by a husband and wife team, but goddamn I can just lose hours and hours into that game. I would say that game deserves 9's and 10's, but I doubt anyone here would agree. But don't take stuff so personally NZA, your list (although missing Mass Effect 2) is pretty close to my own list of what will be remembered into the next gen. Though Catherine will be remembered for those damn climbing levels ever more so than the story.

[The NZA]

heh, fair enough. but i do so love those names attached to it. gonna buy RE4 HD soon and watch it stomp all over 90% of the action titles ive dug this gen.

 

I still haven't played Mount & Blade, another forum im on adores it though. i'm there with you on Mass Effect - really didnt dig Dragon Age, but i love the setting for ME, and frequently defend it as it gets shat on for a) being a sidequest (largely true, but it was an enjoyable one) and b) not being an RPG, which i kinda take umbrage with. that said, EA's gonna put it on #$%@ing Origin and not Steam and make me all kinds of salty next year, i just know it.

 

also

if i can manage to remember Catherine for say Meguro's soundtrack or its bizarre setting or characters or really anything other than THAT GODDAMN BABY ill be content

 

[Thelogan]

I really like Mount & Blade, all of them. They're really simple games (at least the 3rd one sort of has a plot), but I can spend 20 hours on 'em without even noticing.

 

And it has my favorite thing for extending the life of games: ample cheat codes.

 

"Hmmm, getting kind of bored with this...TIME TO RECRUIT LEGIONS AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE AND GO FUCk SHIT UP"

Edited September 26, 2011 by Thelogan

[The NZA]

this one's $10 at best buy right now if you can find it.

related: thought space & others might enjoy what Suda wanted to work on - a game called Kurayami:

 

 

The project, proposed under the name Kurayami, was reported to involve exploring "a castle and a village filled with strange inhabitants." The protagonist would wander this village wielding a torch, and would solve puzzles, among other things, to progress through the game. Furthermore, the protagonist would only be safe while occupying well-lit areas, with the torch he carried allowing him to travel through the darkness between these lighted zones. Suda stated that the dangers to the protagonist would not be limited to the creatures he encountered alone, as interactions with the townsfolk could also become heated.

 

Kurayami appeared to be planned as a free roam title with heavy focus on action and less emphasis on linearity. Speaking to Edge, Suda expressed that "The challenge now is to go beyond simple recognition, and transform our original games into a mainstream success." This interview was conducted within the first year killer7 had been released, and Grasshopper had yet to oversee a relatively mainstream title until No More Heroes was developed the following year. Suda described Kurayami as "inspired by [Franz] Kafka, a writer I greatly admire. I thought for a long time about how to adapt the environment of his books into a game – to represent the mystery perhaps by applying filters, or dividing them into various missions. When I considered the visuals, I immediately thought of darkness, and I imagined a hero within this night, with a light that would in a way symbolise his life. That became the core concept of Kurayami: literally, 'darkness'."

 

Suda went on to describe the unique approach he had planned for the game's graphics, explaining that "There are lots of toon-shaded titles on the market right now, but when you look how the contrast of light and shadow is central in our mangas, even in comics from abroad, there are few games that use this sense of darkness. So I want to deliver a very specific, totally new pixel shader based on darkness: an artistic texture, mixed with various effects."

 

On the topic of enemies encountered in Kurayami, Suda stated that "It's not about some hideous monsters or evil creatures coming out of the darkness, but playing on our natural fears of the dark, and the uneasiness that comes from the absence of noise and life." This element of the game also inspires the attitude of the townsfolk, with Suda elaborating, "It shows how people change when faced with their fears – in a way, you could see a little bit of what Japan, or the world, is like in this town. But I want it to be a profound message, not one based on what's going on around me at the time development starts, or to voice some utopian idea like world peace."

[IceManML]

I was a fan of Res1. But it ended after I thought the "resident" in res evil went away so comparing it to res anything else doesnt do it for me.

I'm on the fence about picking this one up, and usually when that happens I bombard myself w gameplay vids until I just gotta have it or vice versa.

(Bayonettasaywhut)