Sine Mora: A Shooter Darkly

Shoot 'em ups are one of the most tried and true genres in the gaming world, tracing their roots back to a period that I can hardly even remember, and I ain't no youngin'. These games, as simplistic as they tend to be, oft times offer intense action and demand hand-eye coordination that few other genres do. One of the reasons why I'm still a loyalist, and why rare gems like Sine Mora have a chance to exist.

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I Gots an Itch for Diabolical Pitch

My love for the craziness that comes out of Grasshopper Manufacture is no secret. God-among-developers Suda51 has a knack for pushing creative envelopes, taking risks and creating games that other studios couldn't even concoct during the high of a peyote trip. 

Suda and Grasshopper have spoken about the super-secret Codename D for a while now, but only recently have they shed more light on the Kinect driven project named Diabolical Pitch. It's a basebrawler: a mashup of baseball and, well, brawling. A marriage so ridiculously insane, only the very lofty Ninja Baseball Batman has made a go at the genre. As I enjoy both baseball and beating the living hell out of things, I am very excited for this game, within reason. As much of a hoot as it looks, I'm not sure whether it's been planned as retail or arcade release, but I'm 90% sure I wouldn't want to shell out fiddy bucks for it, fusion dance or not.

The Kinect platform has tons of silly exercise and dance games to entertain casuals, it's titles like Diabolical Pitch and The Gunstringer are  the meat and potatoes for gamers like you and I. Stay tuned for more info.

Flip Him the Bird: Shadows of the Damned Boss Gameplay

Watch Shadows of the Damned protagonist Garcia Fucking Hotspur (his words, not mine) challenge a massive demon bird in this boss battle gameplay clip. 

I come away from this chunk of action really loving the music, but this is the work of Akira Yamaoka, so of course the beats are fresh. That may be about it, as the rest of the battle is a yawn-inducing strafing and shooting affair. I was hot for Shadows of the Damned early in it's marketing cycle - mostly because of the killer combination of Suda 51, Shinji Mikami, and Yamaoka - but have since cooled on the third person action title. Not to say it doesn't have some good things going for it, because it certainly does. The light/dark gameplay mechanic sounds cool, but I could see it becoming easily tiresome. There's a nice selection of dynamic weapons housed within a shapeshifting skull named Johnson. And there's plenty of ridiculous and dirty humor being tossed around, if that's your thing.

What's the consensus on Shadows of the Damned, readers? If you're thinking it's a buy, it may be worth the preorder to secure a free copy of Yamaoka's superbly scored soundtrack, something that rarely comes up short. You better act soon though, Shadows releases this coming Tuesday, June 21.

Happy Halloween, from Shadows of the Damned

All has been quiet on the Shadows of the Damned front. The survival horror slash action title involving gaming heavyweights Shinji Mikami, Suda51, Akira Yamaoka, and EA Games reminds you that it's still kickin' by way of this trailer. 

Mainly to give you an idea of the uglies you'll have to blow apart with your transforming skull gun, Shadows of the Damned also wishes you a Happy Halloween! And why not? Grasshopper is trying to put the emphasis on horror, a gaming genre that hasn't been represented too well over the past forever.