Shadows of the Damned (Xbox 360)

Not a huge title, but certainly an interesting one. I never found out about this game until a few years after its release. To me it was a quiet release and quickly swept under the rug. I'm glad I gave this game a go, despite it being in 2016, almost 5 years after its release. The game follows Garcia Hotspur, (a pretty poorly voiced Mexican) travel to the Underworld to save his wife Paula from a demon called Fleming. Not much interest in the main characters although Fleming is quite a flamboyant villian that gives the game some character. Johnson, Hotspur's companion, a talking skull is by far the best character in the game as he brings flair and humour to the game. There was another great character called Christopher, who acted as the game's vendor, but he just wasn't involved enough. The game has quite an awkward aim when using guns, it can be quite tricky but gets easier the more you play. The game has unique weapons that are all different variations of pistols, machine guns and shotguns. The game isn't too difficult, nor are the boss fights. The real danger in the game is 'the Darkness', when it appears it slowly drains your life as you try to escape or shoot a goat's head, which provides light and removes the darkness. The graphics aren't ground breaking but are far from poor. The camera angle can be quite annoying and the awkward movement of Garcia can be hard to watch. However, the game does play fine, but bum rushing enemies can make it frustrating as you try to kill them. Reloading can be a pain also, as charging enemies will cause the animation to stop if they hit you or you have to dodge them, this was the most frustrating part for me, just trying to reload. An interesting addition was the light shot, it acted as a stun to the enemies and could be used with every gun and costs zero ammo. The melee attack seems pretty pointless and was only ever useful to bat the enemies away and give you some breathing space. The game had innuendos left, right and centre, although the game was quite funny, at times they could get annoying, even the weapons had names like 'The Hot Boner'. The best parts of the game for me were the conversations between Garcia and Johnson, they were both interesting towards the story and humorous. No surprise there was no sequel but definitely worth a playthrough.

6/10