JOE went to hell and back to bring you a hands-on preview of Garcia Hotspur’s descent to the City of the Damned in a new action thriller from Suda51.
There aren’t enough big-time collaborations in video games these days, so when we heard that Suda 51, the lovable CEO of Grasshopper Studios had teamed with EA for his latest project, we were curious. When we learned that composer Akira Yamoaka (known for his moody Silent Hill soundscapes) and Shinji Mikami (creator of Resident Evil) were also on board, we then had to be physically restrained from air-punching for hours on end.
The creative might of Suda 51, Mikami and Yamoaka, teamed with the commercial sensibilities of EA – what could possibly go wrong? After a hands-on play test of the eventual collaborative effort, Shadow of the Damned, we’re slightly dispirited to say nothing has gone wrong, though fans of each industry figure may be left wondering how so little has gone right.
Shadows casts players in the role of Garcia, a motorcycle-riding professional demon hunter whose true love has been kidnapped by netherworld demons. Our hero must travel through the depths hell of to fight off an assortment of vile and grotesque creatures, while incorporating a darkness/light combat system that bears more than a passing resemblance to last year’s Alan Wake.
With enemies this ugly, killing them is doing the world a service
Heavily influenced by the Grindhouse aesthetic and ethos of directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez (From Dusk Till Dawn was playing on a loop as we interviewed sound director Yamoaka), Shadows of the Damned is a psychological thriller with its tongue placed firmly placed firmly in cheek.
Through the game, Garcia is aided by Johnson, a wise-cracking former demon with the ability to transform into an array of weapons – with our playthrough demonstrating a pistol, shotgun and machine gun. Johnson also doubles as the in-game codex, a ‘Johnsonpedia’ that can be accessed via the pause menu.
As for the light/darkness gameplay mechanism, enemies are invulnerable when cloaked in darkness so players must use Johnson’s secondary fire modes to remove the light and then begin plugging away.
Darkness can also drain Garcia’s health, with a few sections causing us to sprint towards an end point as our entire environment became drenched in darkness. This feature was reproduced quite a few times, though in some cases it involved a bit of puzzle solving, as we searched for the source of the darkness, shot it and could again breath a sigh of relief. These elements bring a certain panic-induced mental dexterity to proceedings and helps enliven a title that at most points, feels slightly derivative to many third-person shooters.
This isn’t to say that Shadows is a disappointment – the City of the Damned is an interesting setting, as its Victorian era-style locales and enemies evokes more than a passing resemblance to PS1 favourite Nightmare Creatures, while the game’s health system, which lets Garcia down tequila and sake, is an irreverent novelty that has Suda 51’s signature all over it.
With Shadows hitting release in the next two months, we’re a little dismayed to say that upon our brief time with the thriller, there wasn’t much cause to encourage gamers out there to slap down an instant pre-order. Whether the combined might of Japan’s finest can rescue Garcia and Johnson from mediocrity this far along in development is uncertain, though we would love to be proved wrong.
Shadows of the Damned is set for release on the Xbox 360 and PS3 from June 21.
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