Shadows of the Damned

by Electronic Arts

• Take the role of a demon hunter and travel to the depths of hell to save your one true love
• Violent, gruesome, fast-paced battles in a psychologically disturbing survival-horror setting
• Created in collaboration between Suda51 (No More Heroes) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil)
• Psychologically Twisted, Visceral Combat - Rip apart the forces of the damned using an array of upgradable weapons and survive the ultimate head trip
• Heart-Wrenching Storyline - A love lost and the journey through hell to get her back are the backdrop for this warped tale

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00432O50W
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 21, 2011
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,542 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PLAYSTATION 3

Amazon.com

His name is Garcia Hotspur, hunter of demons, and his wrath will bring hell to its knees. From the creative genius of Suda 51 (No More Heroes) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) comes an all-new psychologically twisted vision of hell unlike anything seen before. Shadows of the Damned combines visceral action with dark, grotesque horror to create a mind-shattering adventure that has to been seen to be believed.

Battle against gruesome demons

Disturbing survival-horror

Play as a demon hunter

Synopsis

When evil demonic creatures kidnap Garcia’s girlfriend, it’s up to him to travel to the City of the Damned to get her back. Aided by a former demon with the ability to transform into an array of vicious weapons, Garcia will once again take on the mantel of “demon hunter” and rip apart the horrifying forces of the underworld to protect what he loves most. Players must harness the power of the light to fight the army of the dark in unique light versus darkness gameplay that will forever change the way gamers perceive puzzles, combat, and terror. Combining the punk rock style of Suda 51 with the legendary horror design of Shinji Mikami, Shadows of the Damned will take gamers on an in-your-face thrill ride through demon-torn towns, shadow infested forests, grimy sewers and more. Featuring the most twisted boss battles ever seen, warped visuals and intense visceral combat, Shadows of the Damned will challenge gamers to break through the ultimate head-trip to help Garcia rescue his tortured girlfriend from the clutches of a mysterious enemy.

Key Features:

• Take the role of a demon hunter and travel to the depths of hell to save your one true love
• Violent, gruesome, fast-paced battles in a psychologically disturbing survival-horror setting
• Created in collaboration between Suda51 (No More Heroes) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil)

Product Description

His name is Garcia Hotspur, hunter of demons, and his wrath will bring hell to its knees. From the creative genius of Suda 51 (No More Heroes) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) comes an all-new psychologically twisted vision of hell unlike anything seen before. Shadows of the Damned combines visceral grindhouse-style action with dark, grotesque horror to create a mind-shattering adventure that has to been seen to be believed. When evil demonic creatures kidnap Garcia’s girlfriend, it’s up to him to travel to the City of the Damned to get her back. Aided by a former demon with the ability to transform into an array of vicious weapons, Garcia will once again take on the mantel of “demon hunter” and rip apart the horrifying forces of the underworld to protect what he loves most. Players must harness the power of the light to fight the army of the dark in unique light versus darkness gameplay that will forever change the way gamers perceive puzzles, combat, and terror. Combining the punk rock style of Suda 51 with the legendary horror design of Shinji Mikami, Shadows of the Damned will take gamers on an in-your-face thrill ride through demon-torn towns, shadow infested forests, grimy sewers and more. Featuring the most twisted boss battles ever seen, warped visuals and intense visceral combat, Shadows of the Damned will challenge gamers to break through the ultimate head-trip to help Garcia rescue his tortured girlfriend from the clutches of a mysterious enemy. Brace yourself for one hell of a trip to the city of the damned.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome of the Damned June 22, 2011

By Grand Godslayer

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Originally I had decided to wait for this game to drop in price before I bought it, but on sudden urge to purchase it merely because of composer I pre-ordered the game. Thank goodness I had that urge. Once I started playing the game I didn't stop until it was finished 9 hours later.

The controls in this game are very similar to Resident Evil 5 but the atmosphere and music are quite a lot like the silent hill games. This game seems to pull the best from both games. Though the plot of the game is rather dark the game has quite a lot of entertaining humor in it. My major and only complaint is that the game was lacking in difficulty. I played through on normal and rarely felt challenged. If you happen to be considering this game I highly suggest you try it out. This is easily one the most entertaining releases I've played this year.

32 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The game deserves more accolades than this... June 28, 2011

By DKLA

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

General chauvinistic guy rescues the helpless maiden in distress scenario (at first, but I am not spoiling the story). Garcia Hotspur is the demon hunter, along with his "tool" Johnson (a former demon and talking skull that is your "companion"). Both find out that the demons REALLY don't like being shot at. The "Lord of Demons" (aka Flemming...) comes in and kidnaps Paula and forces Garcia to follow him into hell.

The game contains 5 acts (each having 4-6 sub-acts) with multiple sub-bosses and bosses per act.

Gameplay: It's a third person shooter with some melee button mashing in between. I thoroughly enjoyed this game. It is one of the few games that give a good back story to the main characters, but also the bosses as well. Defeating enemies depends on your skill and the gun you chose. You can go for a headshot (quick kill), take out their legs and they drag themselves toward you (ala Black Knight [Monty Python ref.]), or blow their arms off so that they can jump kick you to death. There are multiple points of hilarious dialogue (mostly sexual and low-brow, but still clever). The game also takes a spin-off levels like a paper puppet level ala Raiden.

Graphics: There are reviews saying that the look of this game looks dated, but I don't personally care as long as it's fun and keeps my attention. Each sub-act is a new area with a different look and set-up that reminds me of a few horror flicks. You go through a Spanish city, a bell tower, swamps, etc. and each has a different eerie feel to each one (except the Vegas-like, red-light district).

Sounds: I have to applaud Akira Yamaoka on the various tracks used in the game.... You will have a heavy acoustic guitar strumming at the beginning, rock in other areas, light jazz in others, opera, mariachi, interspersed Japanese music, and even rap. The voice acting is really well done.

-Steve Blum (voice of Wolverine, Grayson Hunt [Bulletstorm], and Orochimaru [Naruto]) is the voice actor for Garcia Hotspur. It seems any good game with an antihero character ends up with Blum with the lead role (not complaining at all).

Weapons: You start with your basic handgun (the "Boner" [pfft.]) which is eventually upgraded ("Hotboner" [shoots balls that explode when shot at] and "Big Boner" [bwahahahaha!]) by defeating particular bosses. Along with a shotgun weapon that shoots skulls ("Monocussioner") that is upgraded for more capacity ("Skullcussioner"), then a four way shotgun ("Skullfest 9000"), and a charged skull bomb ("Skullblaster"). You also have a machine gun (the "Teether") which can be upgraded to a multiple barrel machine gun ("Teethgrinder") and a homing weapon (the "Dentist").

Drinks: Alcohol will actually HEAL your character. You start off with hot sake (30 HP), but will eventually get tequila (70 HP), then absinthe (200 HP).

Darkness: Apparently, long exposure to hell's darkness can eat the flesh off our hero. There are a few ways to stop it that include collecting human hearts, lighting the area with a lamp or goat head, or frequently drinking alcohol to keep your health up.

Upgrades: Upgrading your weapons and health can be done only red gems. They can be found scattered throughout the level or you can buy them using white gems from Christopher. The difficulty of the game will increase the gems price along with the difficulty level.

Christopher: The half-demon and half-human that decides to help you out by selling ammo, drinks, and red gems in exchange for white gems (game currency) that are left by enemies or breakable objects or hidden throughout the level. You will notice his trademark flowers that let you know he is nearby or he has left goodies for you to use.

Complaints:
-I actually missed some important details that forced me to play the game again in order to catch. You have the option of reading posters that enhance the story, but the game nor the manual pointed this out.

-There are breakable objects in the game that contain gems or drinks that was never mentioned about during the game or the manual. On the same note, I can break crates with bullets but not my melee attacks?

-Healing yourself involves holding 2 buttons (triangle + d-pad for PS3) which is a pain at times during battles. Only good point is that drinking once will allow you to use the same drink again at anytime with the L2 button for PS3.

-You cannot skip the intro credits for the creators (with particular focus on Suda51), while Shinji Mikamai and Akira Tamaoka you can skip.

Overall: Excellent game that should have been marketed more and deserves some recognition. Suda51 (No More Heroes) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil) have created a game that is an automatic classic in my book. The game took 8-12 hours to finish. Replay value is on the low to medium side since it does focus on a single player campaign with no online play. You can still look for trophies or try a different difficulty, plus I believe there is hidden content and extra levels in the game (especially in act 5) that you can unlock.

Personal Thoughts on the game:

-I went to multiple retailers (Target, Wal-Mart, and Best Buy) looking for this game and each place didn't have any on the opening day (it wasn't sold out, they apparently never heard of the game)! I had to get it at Gamestop, and it was the only copy they had! This game was created by well-known makers, and they blow it off since it wasn't marketed as much as Brink or Duke Nukem or Hunted.

-I had to laugh when you shoot in the paper puppet levels (pyu-pyu anyone?).

-I swear that the music during the load time between levels sounds very similar to the music of the old Scooby-doo cartoons.

-A game that promotes drinking absinthe, a black licorice liquor that is so bitter that it sucks all the moisture in your mouth, as the ultimate healing item. Really?

-The Big Boner is only used in the red-light district level (go figure, huh..). Remember that face shots are preferred.

-There are hilarious death scenes in the red-light district level.

-READ the credits at the end, it has a few jokes and funny lines.

-The game rips on Disney, video gamers, and the game itself that I thoroughly enjoyed.

My favorite joke in this game:
Garcia: "What does "Moor pu dekcuf" mean?"
Johnson: "Must be a joke from the designers."
Garcia: "Who?" Read more ›

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but Rough Around the Edges January 4, 2012

By H. Hess

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

Shadows of the Damned is a bit of a mixed bag. If you go in with the right expectations, it is one of the more fun, funny, and fresh experience of all the quality games released in 2011.

I'd have to compare it a bit to the sublime game Vanquish which was released in 2010. Both games were headed/co-headed by master game designer Shinji Mikami, both feature 3rd person behind the back shooting, both are light on story and full on cheesy and cliche dialogue, both are linear and a bit on the short side of things, and both were criminally overlooked by the gaming community at large.

Unlike Vanquish, the action in Shadows of the Damned is a little less adrenaline fueled and leans more towards solving puzzles. And instead of being a badass American space marine in a war with robots and Russians on a space colony, you're a badass Mexican demon hunter named Garcia Hotspur, rescuing a girlfriend from a Demon Lord in Hell.

There are a lot of good ideas in Shadows of the Damned. One of the central elements of the game is the darkness that can overcome the environment at different times, which drains the players heath and prevents sprinting and the ability to damage enemies. Some of these moments succeed in creating a sense of panic as the player searches for a source of light. The interesting part about the darkness however, is how it is also used in solving some of the areas puzzles.

One crucial element of the game which may be disappointing to some is the weapon variety, of which there are only three weapons. You have your standard pistol, a machine gun, and a shotgun. They can be upgraded, however the upgrade options are also a bit disappointing, your choices being damage, reload speed, and capacity.... Fortunately there are special upgrades that are encountered after defeating bosses, which change the weapons dynamics a bit and add alternate fire modes. Overall the weapons are fun to use and do offer enough variety between them that the desire for new weapons mostly subsides.

The neat part about the weapons is that they are actually transformations of Garcia's trusty demon sidekick, a floating flaming skull named Johnson that provides most of the comic relief, which is particularly raunchy and lewd. It's certainly not humor for everyone, but some people will definitely get a big kick out of it. Along with the weapons, Johnson also serves as a torch for Garcia, serving as a sorce of light and close-range melee damage. Johnson also has the ability to shoot light shots, which are used to solve puzzles, and stun and weaken enemies. This adds a nice bit of flair to the shooting action.

There were two thing I was most disappointed with in this game. First, though the game does its best to be tense and scary, it only manages to pull this off on occasion. This is mostly because the weapons become too powerful, and the enemies are too easy to out-maneuver. Even the boss fights, while taking a bit of creativity to dispatch them, are disappointingly easy. Second, the puzzles, while creative and fun, seemed to be a bit of a missed opportunity as they never become challenging enough to really feel like you've accomplished something worthwhile. There are some great ideas in there that should have been more fleshed out and complicated.

Overall I was pretty satisfied with my experience with Shadows of the Damned, but I doubt I'll have the desire to ever pick it up again (unlike Vanquish, which warrants multiple playthroughs based on the brilliant game-play) It does lacks the level of polish and fully realized ideas that would earn it my unquestionable recommendation, but for anyone who enjoys 3rd person shooters, killing demons, and/or lewd humor, you can't go wrong with it. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A grindhouse masterpiece October 3, 2011

By Michael Hernandez

Platform for Display:PLAYSTATION 3|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

oh my god this game is just heaven for horror fans, evil dead fans and just about anyone with a wicked sense of humor. The soundtrack and sound effects are just amazing. Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka just blew my mind with this. Its better than the silent hill music. its a beautiful symphony of torturous screams, industrial and melodic piano with some latin flair. Trust me it works. The graphics could have been better but you can tell EA slashed the original budget. The game looks good, but could have been much better. Its like the graphics(levels) are just "there" it reminded me of hell in London like the Nightmare Creatures 1 setting. Suda51 went with a more homage to horror films and pop culture vibe vs. his usual twisted "it doesnt make sense" crazy style. Mikami (resident evil fame) influenced this title GREATLY. Its basically RE4 in hell with quentin tarantino sprinkled all around. it plays identical to re4 but ALOT faster, run n gun, n run n dodge rolls. Garcia is just so likeable and has an angelic face with tons of scars and tattoos but this works because you really feel for him. His lover is all he has in his cursed life and it shows. Hes very sexy and a true hero in this crazy world. The bosses are few, but are a spectacle to behold. I just LOVED Christopher(you'll know him when you see him) and the hilarious SUSHI LAMP FISH THINGY LOL. it even has its own soundtrack dedicated to the mighty sushi!!! For the downside, It should have been priced at 39.99/49.99 at launch given theres no replay value. when your done your done. It would have sold so much better if there was a new game+ mode, alternate endings paths etc. And no it doesnt need multiplayer. But EA is greedy what can you do?... But my 5-star is because the game is just so damn fun and amazing I still think about it. Not since deadly premonition have I been so excited to be a gamer. in the sea of empty FPS and the soul-less games that are out there, Its rare we get a gem like this. I HIGHLY recommend this title. I take my time with games. I only play for like an hour each day, and i plowed through this 12 hour game in 3 days it was so damn fun and addicting. It's seriously one of those games where you say I will buy this new just to support the developers. The fact it didn't sell well is just a darn shame. Heres looking forward to Lollipop Chainsaw for the next akira/suda51 trip. cant wait!!! Read more ›