As someone with very little experience in the shmup genre, I found Sine Mora Ex to be an exciting entry to the genre and one that I would definitely recommend if you are not afraid of hard difficulties and losing lots of progress.
I played this game on my Switch in handheld mode from start to finish, but the stellar art direction and beautiful environmental art makes me want to revisit this game on the big screen at 4K/60 on PS5. Some of the backdrops were so incredibly beautiful that I didn't mind dying, because then I could once again marvel at the gorgeous architecture of various cities and the lush natural environments. Unfortunately, the soundtrack is not quite as memorable, with no tracks sticking in my head after the several hours it took to beat the game.
Similarly unremarkable is the jumbled and poorly-paced story, which relies too heavily on multi-minute monologues before and after each mission. A nonlinear, time-traveling tale taking place in several timelines, Sine Mora's narrative rarely justifies its form or function, often being more confusing than revelatory. Moreover, the narrative on its own is both problematic and uninteresting. The generic war story so poorly handles sensitive topics including war crimes, rape, and slavery that I could not tell whether the developers were leaning into parody (which would have been in even poorer taste in my opinion). I am not sure whether I will be able to better unpack the narrative with multiple playthroughs, but I am not sure I care to put forth the seemingly immense effort that would be required to do so.
Despite these flaws, the core of the shmup is gameplay, and Sine Mora Ex does not disappoint. An incredibly challenging but mostly fair experience playing out over seven stages, Sine Mora throws some fun enemies, difficult and engaging bosses, and an insane number of bullets at the player. The bosses in particular deserve praise: the multi-stage fights were a spectacle of bullets, explosions, and transformations that continually escalated in a way I kept thinking impossible. One small complaint is that several one-hit deaths felt poorly communicated and cheap, especially when it meant losing your last life and having to restart a ~10 minute sequence.
Sine Mora's unique mechanic is the timer, which not only influences your score but also serves as your life bar. Taking hits and running into walls subtracts time, while killing enemies, passing checkpoints, and picking up time power-ups will add time. I found myself enjoying my frantic fight against the clock, as it added a layer of strategy and risk that I have found limited in my few previous experiences in the shmup genre. Other power-ups include the ability to briefly slow down time, increased firepower, additional charges to your special, and a shield, amongst others, but I found myself to focused on the bullets to really notice what power-up I had just picked up.
I cannot speak to the changes between this expanded edition and the original version released in 2012, but Sine Mora Ex is a compelling package unto itself. With four difficulty levels, secret endings, arcade and score attack modes, there are many different ways to experience the game that respects player choice. I also found the "boss training" mode to be an excellent way to return to some of my favorite boss fights, and there is an additional challenges mode that tasks the player with completing a certain section of a stage under certain requirements.
I would strongly recommend Sine Mora Ex to anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding spectacle. The failure in its narrative is extremely disappointing, especially with the relative lack of narrative-driven shmup games. However, I definitely plan to return for the game's breathtaking art direction and stellar gameplay because, when Sine Mora Ex shines, it does so spectacularly.
7/10: very good
I played this game on my Switch in handheld mode from start to finish, but the stellar art direction and beautiful environmental art makes me want to revisit this game on the big screen at 4K/60 on PS5. Some of the backdrops were so incredibly beautiful that I didn't mind dying, because then I could once again marvel at the gorgeous architecture of various cities and the lush natural environments. Unfortunately, the soundtrack is not quite as memorable, with no tracks sticking in my head after the several hours it took to beat the game.
Similarly unremarkable is the jumbled and poorly-paced story, which relies too heavily on multi-minute monologues before and after each mission. A nonlinear, time-traveling tale taking place in several timelines, Sine Mora's narrative rarely justifies its form or function, often being more confusing than revelatory. Moreover, the narrative on its own is both problematic and uninteresting. The generic war story so poorly handles sensitive topics including war crimes, rape, and slavery that I could not tell whether the developers were leaning into parody (which would have been in even poorer taste in my opinion). I am not sure whether I will be able to better unpack the narrative with multiple playthroughs, but I am not sure I care to put forth the seemingly immense effort that would be required to do so.
Despite these flaws, the core of the shmup is gameplay, and Sine Mora Ex does not disappoint. An incredibly challenging but mostly fair experience playing out over seven stages, Sine Mora throws some fun enemies, difficult and engaging bosses, and an insane number of bullets at the player. The bosses in particular deserve praise: the multi-stage fights were a spectacle of bullets, explosions, and transformations that continually escalated in a way I kept thinking impossible. One small complaint is that several one-hit deaths felt poorly communicated and cheap, especially when it meant losing your last life and having to restart a ~10 minute sequence.
Sine Mora's unique mechanic is the timer, which not only influences your score but also serves as your life bar. Taking hits and running into walls subtracts time, while killing enemies, passing checkpoints, and picking up time power-ups will add time. I found myself enjoying my frantic fight against the clock, as it added a layer of strategy and risk that I have found limited in my few previous experiences in the shmup genre. Other power-ups include the ability to briefly slow down time, increased firepower, additional charges to your special, and a shield, amongst others, but I found myself to focused on the bullets to really notice what power-up I had just picked up.
I cannot speak to the changes between this expanded edition and the original version released in 2012, but Sine Mora Ex is a compelling package unto itself. With four difficulty levels, secret endings, arcade and score attack modes, there are many different ways to experience the game that respects player choice. I also found the "boss training" mode to be an excellent way to return to some of my favorite boss fights, and there is an additional challenges mode that tasks the player with completing a certain section of a stage under certain requirements.
I would strongly recommend Sine Mora Ex to anyone looking for a challenging and rewarding spectacle. The failure in its narrative is extremely disappointing, especially with the relative lack of narrative-driven shmup games. However, I definitely plan to return for the game's breathtaking art direction and stellar gameplay because, when Sine Mora Ex shines, it does so spectacularly.
7/10: very good