Shadows of the Damned Review

By Simon Parkin Published 21 June, 2011

Taking the Mikami.

Version tested: Xbox 360

There are many different examples of Shadows of the Damned repainting routine game mechanics with its lewd, puerile brand of creativity. There's the portal positioned over a call-girl's eager crotch on a billboard that must be climbed into to progress to the next area. Or the sex line you call in order to have your pistol, dubbed the "boner", upgraded to a "big boner" by having a girl talk dirty to it. Then, of course, there's the bridge of tits. It's a bridge that is made out of tits.

But perhaps nothing better exemplifies Shadows of the Damned's ability to make vulgar absurdity somehow relevant than than the person of William, a one-eyed levitating fish-bat who is so alarmed every time you enter his vicinity that he drops a flaming turd before tearing off down the street. It's a one-note scatological gag - but it's one with a higher purpose. The trail of smoking dung serves to show you the areas you've already explored, creating a stinking, gleaming light trail behind you.

Flammable excrement is the first of a great many childish, yet somehow endearing jokes that litter this EA-published collaboration between No More Heroes' Goichi Suda, AKA Suda51, and Resident Evil 4's Shinji Mikami. The story itself is a dark twist on convention, playing on gaming's proto-plot: rescue the girl from the kidnapper's castle. (Called Paula, she almost shares a name with Donkey Kong's proto-damsel, Pauline.)

But as you might expect from Suda, the mind that brought us Killer7, the girl - a leggy, heroin-chic-thin lady who wears frayed lingerie - is no princess, while the hero, who calls himself Garcia F**king Hotspur, is no squat plumber. Shadows of the Damned's reddish hell-world shares no likeness with the pea-green hills of the Mushroom Kingdom; for one thing, it's partially made of tits. But while the details may be different, the structure is familiar: boss fight follows exploration follows boss fight.

Still, the devil is in the detail, and it's here that Shadows of the Damned strikes originality. The horrors of hell are approached with a gurning smile. There are grotesque cherubim that serve as locks on doors, which must be fed fruit or brains before they'll open; there are lumbering bipedal monsters that wear crimson red gas masks as headshot protectors, and minotaur demons that pepper their death speeches with poor puns.

Shadow of the Damned doesn't hold back when it comes to conjuring Dante-esque dioramas of the grotesque, with entrails spilling from doorways and monsters that make their stage appearance by bursting through the translucent skin of a woman. But the dreadfulness is softened in every scene with a clutch of knob gags, or freaks that speak with plum English accents. It's as if Bayonetta had been produced by Terry Gilliam, the effect being that the horror is robbed of shock and transformed into black comedy.

Shadows of the Damned's first 15 minutes.

Much of this humour stems from the protagonist, Hotspur - a character who's one part No More Heroes' Travis Touchdown, two parts Speedy Gonzalez - and his side-kick Johnson, a miniature talking skull who can transform into a motorbike, pistol, shotgun, machine gun or flaming torch at the squeeze of a button. The pair jostle their way through hell, wise-cracking to one another with a stream of jokes that miss more often than they hit.

From time to time, the dialogue slips from near-knuckle innuendo to weird unpleasantness (one Johnson soliloquy about how a certain strip club's girls used to give him the best fellatio until he boned them all in the eye sockets sticks, er, in the mind). But nonetheless, Suda51's idiosyncratic dialogue still manages to set the journey apart from the flock of third-person shooters that litter the contemporary video game landscape, and as such is always interesting, even when it's not very good.

Mikami's contribution is clearly the gunplay, which is tight and satisfying, bearing the hallmarks of his work. It lifts Resident Evil 4's over-the-shoulder viewpoint with a lock-to-aim trigger squeeze. But there are no pondering animations here to slow the pace, and it's a simple button-press to snap into a 180-degree turn while aiming down the barrel of your weapon.

However, while character control is comparably tight, Shadows of the Damned is a far looser and ropier experience than Resident Evil 4 when it comes to the fights themselves. Decapitating an enemy with a headshot is accompanied by a lingering slow-motion camera, but these skittish enemies are far less satisfying to extinguish than Los Ganados, and the giant, glowing red weak spots on each and every boss lack the elegance of Mikami's more solemn output.

Each gun can deploy a 'light shot' as well as standard fire, a type of ammunition that will momentarily freeze enemies as well as dispelling darkness if used to light up one of the goat-head street lamps. Darkness damages Hotspur, so is used to construct a series of puzzles, many of which must be solved while battling enemies. The satisfying rhythm of upgrading weaponry (improving power, reload times and capacity) is heightened by more substantial visual upgrades that occur when you defeat key bosses and, by the end of the game, you are starting to feel like the badass Hotspur so readily professes to be.

But the graceless enemy animations and their repetitious designs are among the things holding this game back from being the triumph it could have been. Likewise, the lock-and-key puzzles soon lose their freshness, especially as the stream of new mechanics and ideas slows to a trickle in the second half of the game. There are only so many times you can hunt out a strawberry to feed to a lock, or laboriously shoot and explode sticky bombs around the edges of a fractured wall in order to progress.

Although the game's components fail to inspire in isolation, together they provide a breezy, enjoyable ride. There's just enough variety on offer to keep you driving forward, and the snack-sized chapters make the game difficult to put down. As with all of Suda's games, the wilful absurdity sometimes reeks of trying too hard - while the use of various types of hard liquor as health items is plainly trying too hard - but there's just enough gold amongst the chaff to make the farce believable, and ensure the game can appeal to a wider audience than tittering schoolboys.

For example, there's Christopher, a hulking demon with two rows of razor teeth and a camp redneck accent, from whom you can purchase ammo or weapon upgrade crystals. Or there are the firework stations into which you thrust your Johnson torch in order to light up the sky and ward off the sapping darkness. There are the yakety-sax sections where you're chased at high speed by a zombified version of the girl you're trying to save. And there's the pot-bellied demon boss that incessantly screams 'f***********k yoooooou' as a battle cry before turning into a giant eagle and shooting feather daggers at you.

These ideas are one-offs. They haven't been plundered from a rival series, and they won't be making an appearance in any other EA titles scheduled this year. Uniqueness alone isn't cause for celebration - but when combined with competence and the odd flash of inspiration, it can make up for other shortfalls.

Shadows of the Damned lacks the polish of Mikami's Capcom work, showing a rough edge that its creators no doubt hope communicates their punk attitude to game development, but really just comes across as a bit shoddy. But at a time when few publishers of EA's stature are willing to take genuine risks, its uniqueness is welcome and interesting. And as a celebration of the puerile, it leaves Duke Nukem Forever standing, staring longingly at its tit bridge.

7 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Simon.

About Simon Parkin

Simon Parkin is an author and journalist on video games. A core contributor to Eurogamer since 2005, he is also a critic and columnist on games for The Guardian.

Read more articles from Simon by visiting the Simon Parkin archive page.

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Comments (74) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • BBIAJ #1 11 months ago

    You just couldn't resist mentioning DNF, could you!?

    And they're similar how exactly?

  • W4RCH1EF #2 11 months ago

    mmmm,tit bridge.

    i would love a bare footed walk on that

  • Hunam #3 11 months ago

    @Fobsy

    It's the same score as the first Dead Space, which is the best Survival Horror this gen.

  • BBIAJ #4 11 months ago

    @EddieMink:

    Higher or lower than?

  • CaptainQuint #5 11 months ago

    Hurry up with the FEAR 3 review, EG. I need help deciding whether to add that or this to my Lovefilm list.

  • Mark1412 #6 11 months ago

    "And they're similar how exactly?"

    Both being "puerile" in tone I'd guess from that last sentence...

  • mcreddie #7 11 months ago

    It looks pretty good, even though this is the second time i've ever heard of it.

  • BBIAJ #8 11 months ago

    @CaptainQuint:

    Thats due on Thursday.

  • T3TSUO #9 11 months ago

    oh no! is put off by profanity and rude. These expert gaming journalists only gave it a seven.
    I'd better not buy it then.*




    *sarcasm

  • Trafford #10 11 months ago

    Haha, nice closing comment.

  • jablonski #11 11 months ago

    Andy Garcia was born with a dead twin on his left shoulder. Fact

  • jellyBelly #12 11 months ago

    So how's the pace? Bayonetta frenetic or killer7 ponderous?

  • CloudXIV #13 11 months ago

    I think I'll give it a try. Been watching this game from the beginning and I was expecting a 7 or 8. 7 it is and it's not a bad score. Now I just need digital foundry to tell me if I'll be playing this on ps3 or 360.

  • photoboy #14 11 months ago

    Ah I see, when DNF does puerile humour it's a relic of a bygone era, when any other game does it, that's OK. Isn't it about time you journos admitted what your real problem with DNF was instead of hiding behind claims of outdated gameplay and self-righteous sneering at Duke Nukem's style of humour?

  • Ninja_Tino #15 11 months ago

    The thing is, while somewhat clunky, I simply adore Resi 4's combat; and to see it reproduced in this bizarre game world seems a right treat.

  • Smoped #16 11 months ago

    I think the point was that Shadows of the Damned does the puerile humour better than Duke did. At least that's how I read it.

  • Architect_z #17 11 months ago

    Its got a bridge made of boobs! Thats gotta be worth more than a 7. :p

  • jablonski #18 11 months ago

    @Fobsy

    Keep up son. She's on maternity leave

  • Old_Books #19 11 months ago

    @Photoboy

    Totally agree. DNF isn't a classic but it is great fun to play; I just think some reviewers are drifting further and further into a world of sanctimonious bullshit every day.

  • P1GEONPOO #20 11 months ago

    Nothing short of a revelation!

  • Xardan #21 11 months ago

    It's definetly not my kind of game but im glad it exists.

  • andywilkie35 #22 11 months ago

    What's Suda 51's real name? Does he cool himself that because it's cool?

    From now on I'm going to be known as Barry 39

  • ZombieJFK #23 11 months ago

    Simon Parkin. Review is useless to me.

  • haubitzer #24 11 months ago

    "Uniqueness alone isn't cause for celebration". To me it is. I'll be having this.

  • pinchofsalt #25 11 months ago

    Wow, that video makes it look proper shit.

  • Velvetmeds #26 11 months ago

    I think it's pretty obvious this game is miles better than DNF.

  • Flabio #27 11 months ago

    His real name is Goichi Suda. Go is Japanese for five, Ichi is Japanese for one. Therefore, Suda51.

    Same reason the hero in Gitarooman is called U-1, his name is Uichi.

  • kinky_mong #28 11 months ago

    "Ah I see, when DNF does puerile humour it's a relic of a bygone era"

    No, the gameplay in DNF is a relic of a bygone era, the humour is just piss poor overall.

    Peurile humour done right can however be fantastic. Think of it as comparing South Park with Two Pints Of Lager, both rely heavily on peurile humour however the former is leagues ahead of that latter abomination.

  • P1GEONPOO #29 11 months ago

    I love your Arsenal, Hotspur!

  • Der_tolle_Emil #30 11 months ago

    Sounds good enough to me. Being unique is the strongest selling point for me these days, a bit sad but after 25 years of gaming you get the feeling that you have seen it all in one form or another. If I had to decide between something average but new I'd take this over any other polished AAA title. Of course I still play and enjoy those but they just fail to stand out.

  • pbz #31 11 months ago

    "And as a celebration of the puerile, it leaves Duke Nukem Forever standing, staring longingly at its tit bridge."

    .....amazing quote!

  • Smoped #32 11 months ago

    This gen I've actually gotten a lot of enjoyment out of unique games that are flawed in some way/s, like Nier, Majin & Deadly Premonition. I'm sure I can think of a couple more in a minute.

  • Feanor #33 11 months ago

    "Totally agree. DNF isn't a classic but it is great fun to play; I just think some reviewers are drifting further and further into a world of sanctimonious bullshit every day."

    The bits where you stare at load screens after you die over and over because you're bizarrely restricted to carrying only two weapons and end up without the right weapon for the job sure sound like great fun.
    Edited by Feanor at 21/06/11 @ 18:19

  • Bander #34 11 months ago

    From the video, it seems like most of the game is cutscenes and the dialogue was far less amusing than that of DNF. Together with the fetch quests getting in the way of progress and the Resident Evil controls, and I won't be touching this unless there's more of a positive than some imagination having been put into the locations and bosses. One for viewing on YouTube I reckon, whereas DNF I might still buy one day when it's cheaper.

    jellyBelly asked a very good question, just what is the pace of this game like?

  • skankyjoe #35 11 months ago

    'until he boned them all in the eye sockets

    sounds like they watched A Serbian Film

  • HyperTails #36 11 months ago

    After the joke that was the Alice: Madness Returns review, and the turd Duke Nukem Forever review, i'll be taking this with a handful of salt.

  • jellyBelly #37 11 months ago

    Well yeah. Besides some stylistic description this review still hasn't enlightened me about how the game actually plays. Is it hard? is it fast paced? how does it feel to play it? how long is it? Basic stuff really

  • RawNinjaKid #38 11 months ago

    Looking at the first 15 minutes - utter generic demon hunter stuff.

    Okay, I am not gonna get that Killer 7 type of game, am I now?
    Edited by RawNinjaKid at 21/06/11 @ 19:01

  • jellyBelly #39 11 months ago

    Killer7, sniff...

  • Feanor #40 11 months ago

    Resident Evil controls? It controls like almost any other third person shooter out there.

  • sfp_noodle #41 11 months ago

    The DNF apologists really need to let it go already. It scored rather badly all round, it's not like EG were the only site in the world to score it badly. I also don't understand how you same people use the excuse that it was "fun" despite being shit. How can those two phrases go hand in hand when it comes to a video game?

    When I first chainsawed someone in Gears of War, that was hilarious and fun to do. Once I had done it ten or so times, it got boring and tedious. DNF feels like repeteadly chainsawing an enemy. It's fun the first few times, but unlike Gears of War where there are other ways to enjoy the game, DNF is trying hard to keep going by relying on the same decade old techniques. Honestly, take Duke out of the game and all the DNF fans would be saying how shit the game is and how the main character is a lame-ass idiot.

    As for Shadows of the Damned - I've always enjoyed Mikami's work. Resi 4 and Vanquish being my favourites. The video makes this look really cheesy but then so was Resi and Vanquish but they were brilliant. Will deffo pick this up once it hits the £20 mark.

  • miiiguel #42 11 months ago

    Comparing Mikami's work to Duke-90s-loser-Nukem is totally wrong.

  • Lunatic4ever #43 11 months ago

    Does that guy around minute 8 really ahve 6 eyes because of 2 additional halfs of a head?

    I mean being creative is okay but this seriously look like they ran out of good ideas :(#

    Otherwise,it looks pretty cool though the guy whos playing it really sucks at aiming properly

  • Lunatic4ever #44 11 months ago

    That talking skeletton head reminds me of Wheatley btw.
    Must be the accent

  • greenllama88 #45 11 months ago

    Have been thinking about picking up some brain-dead fun for a while but I'm always put off by the themes of a lot of games which seem to merge into one rather boring grey (insert space marine/ daemon here) affair. This does look like its got a little more character so may give it a go if it falls in price a bit.

  • Lord_Gremlin #46 11 months ago

    So your Johnson turn into Boner and you can upgrade it...
    Day 1 purchase.

  • Bander #47 11 months ago

    I seem to be picking up a lot of negs, but from the review and video it really doesn't seem like there's more to it gameplay-wise than shooting, walking (not at the same time) and cutscenes. Does the motorcycle or torch come into play? Can you jump or break objects? Are there more to the puzzles than getting single items to open doors? This is the product of two amazing game makers, but it does sound as though the game is weaker than many that have scored lower. Unless the tit-bridge and swearing boss really are a more amazing spectacle than mere screenshots, videos or text can convey.

    Edit - Instead of just lazily negging me yet again, could someone at least try to have a go at explaining why this game is good? I've enjoyed quite a lot of Japanese action games this generation that have scored in the mid-range so I'm genuinely interested. There are people who clearly like it a great deal here, so this shouldn't be too much to ask. At least have a go at saying what the game's pace is like or how much freedom it offers. Bayonetta is another game mentioned in the review, and is a game I'm very fond of; does it feel anything like that to play?
    Edited by Bander at 22/06/11 @ 01:34

  • Velvetmeds #48 11 months ago

    killer7, how i miss thou.

  • -cerberus- #49 11 months ago

    Oh look it's another shooter.

  • NunianVonFuch #50 11 months ago

    Why is 7 a bad score? 6 or below is maybe avoid. 7 is get it if you like the type of game.

  • mkreku #51 11 months ago

    Hehe, I was also thinking of Ellie when I read about this game. I miss her!

  • SpaceMonkey77 #52 11 months ago

    Nice, will go on my buy list. I do think its still great, to see some japanese devs thinking a bit bat shit insane, still. Thanks , Mikami and Suda.

    And for those who seem to give the poorness of DNF a pass, you need to get over it. Duke's bubblegum is laced in 80/90's culture and ain't sweet anymore. Its fun for two minutes that lame for plenty more. DNF is an average to poor game, just deal with it and move on. A decade in the pipe, and its a turd even Mario and Luigi don't want to share a pipe with (weird thought).

    If you want a funnier game than DNF, go play Bulletstorm, which knows how to do fun dialogue and gameplay very well. Duke should take out his note book.

  • mynameispt #53 11 months ago

    Er, there's a factual error here:
    "...Johnson, a miniature talking skull who can transform into a motorbike, pistol, shotgun, machine gun or flaming torch at the squeeze of a button."

    You can't make Johnson transform into a motorbike at all. He becomes a bike at the start of the game for a non-interactive cutscene and that's it.

    I was pretty disappointed with Shadows. It's odd that a Mikami game doesn't give you a 'game plus' mode. Your stats are spread pretty thin and there's no way you'll come close to completely upgrading half of your weapons, so it would've been nice to have the option of blitzing through again with more luxurious firepower. Mind, once through is enough as once you're done there's nothing else to discover. Considering the love that went into RE4, including the extra modes and even Ada Wong's chapter, I'm surprised that Mikami didn't push to include more content.

    @Bander. You can jump when the game tells you to jump, such as when you're hurdling tables, otherwise you're about as athletic as Leon from RE4. The torch comes into play at predetermined points, and the puzzles get better in the final two hours. However you'll rip through this in 11 hours and the first four hours are a chore.

  • NegativeZero #54 11 months ago

    "It's as if Bayonetta had been produced by Terry Gilliam"

    Sold!

  • Yuroko #55 11 months ago

    You ever get the feeling this scored as well as it did because it's Suda 51 and it's cool to like his "crazy" games? Watch Games Radar and Edge give it a 9.

  • iHAZaCHEEZ3burger #56 11 months ago

    Please can you put less spilers in your reviews, or atleast warn us?

  • cam_guin #57 11 months ago

    Been playing this for the past few days, really excellent fun, if a bit purile. Pace is quite sedantry, but alot of the action involves evasive dives and back flips. Very similar to Resident Evil 4. Which is no bad thing, if a bit unoriginal. Spot on write up though.
    Edited by cam_guin at 22/06/11 @ 09:53

  • Dismiss #58 11 months ago

    Been playing this for a few days and it's pretty good. Look, it's a grindhouse version of Resident Evil with much better controls and a certain loose feel in the mechanics which is pretty typical for Suda 51 games. If you know what to expect, it's pretty good fun. Plus, the soundtrack is amazing (to my ears, anyway). As far as multiplatform comparisons go, it's an Unreal Engine game according to the credits, so it'll probably edge it on Xbox. Still, the tearing is rather offputting.

  • barkertron #59 11 months ago

    This sounds like a hell of a lot of very silly fun. I am massively tempted.
    Edited by barkertron at 22/06/11 @ 14:13

  • Smudge1983 #60 11 months ago

    Very interesting, my mate mentioned this game to me. I think its time to trade in LA Noire.

  • jonbwfc #61 11 months ago

    what's that you say? He named his gun after a slang term for his penis? Bloody hell, that's so funny I fear my sides may actually split.
    Edited by jonbwfc at 22/06/11 @ 11:49

  • bumgut #62 11 months ago

    Errr...

    That looks seriously fun!

  • sickpuppysoftware #63 11 months ago

    Can somebody confirm what is hinted at, does this game have tank controls or not?
    I don't mind having to stop/slow down/raise weapon to fire etc but I can't be doing with resi-style rotation.

  • cam_guin #64 11 months ago

    @sickpuppysoftware - yup; its run, aim, fire and seperate button for 90 degree turn. Still, the blend from moving to firing is pretty slick.

  • Dismiss #65 11 months ago

    @sickpuppysoftware: Yes, but you can DODGE. Really.

  • spongebob #66 11 months ago

    So we have entered the auteur era of videogames. This means some critics will automatically give bonus points for a game that bears a name and some trademark things.

  • Bander #67 11 months ago

    Thanks, some of these later posts have been genuinely informative, mynameispt's in particular.

  • mynameispt #68 11 months ago

    @Bander. I should add that I wasn't just disappointed with Shadows because it had no 'game plus' mode or extra content beyond the campaign, but because it felt boring to play and the combat was flat (though some of the boss fights were amazing). There's very little here in terms of mechanics that hasn't been done before in the Resident Evil series (or Dead Space to some extent), and while the gags, sexual innuendo and voice acting set it apart from the usual and expected slew of action games they don't make Shadows worthy of staying on my shelf. By the time the credits rolled around I just wished I'd played Resident Evil 4 again.

    Alright, I'm done.

  • Rack #69 11 months ago

    Mmm, not convinced about the style of this one and while I always pay attention to what Mikami does I think I might learn from pt and play Resident Evil 4 again.

  • Sabreman64 #70 11 months ago

    Yuroko: You ever get the feeling this scored as well as it did because it's Suda 51 and it's cool to like his "crazy" games? Watch Games Radar and Edge give it a 9.

    Edge have given it 5: http://www.next-gen.biz/reviews/shadows-...
    Edited by Sabreman64 at 23/06/11 @ 15:38

  • bemaniac #71 11 months ago

    PC version planned?

  • Jenslyn87 #72 11 months ago

    Always happy with the quality of Eurogamer's reviews. That's why I keep coming back to this site. That said, I really wish you guys would start making video reviews!! Would be awesome! :)

  • Zozzilla #73 11 months ago

    Why does the sound seem like it's been recorded at like...96kbps? It's such awful quality...it's not just my copy is it?

  • raiden-snake #74 10 months ago

    tfantastic game, amazing. This is my top 3 games until now in 2011. dead space 2, infamous 2 and shadow of the damned.