Shadows of the Damned Review

"Just grab your Johnson and start shooting."

In Shadows of the Damned, you play as foul-mouthed demon hunter Garcia Hotspur. His mission is to travel through Hell to rescue his girlfriend from the Lord of Demons. With the combination of Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil creator) and Suda 51 (No More Heroes creator), this title definitely offers a wild ride through Hell.

Keeping a conventional gameplay style in the form of the third person shooter, Shadows of the Damned brings a few nice touches. The availability to move and shoot is nothing new to the genre, but is done quite nicely to keep a nostalgic feel even including a 180 degree turn. The camera can be quite odd sometimes, especially with the change of perspective when aiming.

Combat is where the game knew how to please its audience. Johnson, ironically named, is Garcia's companion on this journey. Able to take multiple forms such as a torch or motorcycle, Johnson is also the only weapon you need with the ability to change into the single shot Boner, rapid-fire Teether, or the shotgun-esk Skullcussioner. Each of these forms is upgraded with blue gems which are obtained after defeating bosses. The bosses themselves are fun but not really challenging as the most difficult aspect of the fights is solving the puzzle to their defeat.

Gems are not limited to being blue, but white and red also. White gems are the games currency in order to buy Sake, Tequila, and Absinthe to cure your health or purchase ammo. Red gems are hidden throughout levels and are used to upgrade Garcia's health or weapons reload speed, capacity, or power.

Another feature to add to the mix is the element of darkness. Some areas are covered with darkness, which slowly depletes your health. A goat head is usually nearby and can be shot with Johnson's alternative fire, the Light shot, to purify the area. If the goat head sounds surprising, gates are locked with crying baby demon heads with keys being in the form of brains, eyes, or strawberries.

Shadows of the Damned is plagued with crude humor, adult themes, and grotesque demons but it all adds to the ridiculously fun gameplay. Unfortunately the game is not without its flaws but can be generally overlooked with its silly jokes and odd exploits. The whole experience can be described as mindless and gratifying. Hopefully there will be future collaborations between these two great creators, possibly without all the penis jokes.

Final Score = 7/10