You ever go see a movie you're excited for because it's from 'LEGENDARY DIRECTOR [x] AND GODLIKE WRITER(S) [y and/or z], and then you go see it with a friend who is less savvy on the subject, but wouldn't mind checking it out too? When the movie is over, you're sitting in the theater as the credits roll. Sullen . . . resentful . . . disappointed. Your friend is like "What's wrong?" You say "This movie." And they're like "Really? I thought it was okay!" And all you can retort with is "Yeah, it was 'okay'! That's the problem!" Shadows Of the Damned is that feeling wrapped up into a video game. Also your friend is easily amused by basic milquetoast action and dick jokes. I feel like that detail is important.
The game is a decent third-person shooter with some really nice atmosphere and fantastic enemy designs, however its story is mostly uninteresting as it's carried heavily by the banter between Garcia and Johnson: The main character and his talking gun. The writing has some good nuggets within--the storybooks you can come across deserve to be specifically shouted out--but it's very run-of-the-mill and uninspired. As for the gameplay, it's a watered-down Resident Evil 4 with only 3 different weapons to use, a severe step down from a game released 6 years before this. Enemy confrontations aren't too challenging, even on highest difficulty, and the bosses amount little to just shooting a spot that's glowing red.
Of course, anyone that saw an ounce of marketing from this game (of the 3 ounces EA provided) can't miss the names plastered on. Shinji Mikami, Suda51, and Akira Yamaoka. 3 very talented developers that provided excellence in their respective fields. How can a pot stewed between the creator of Resident Evil and the creator of killer7 come out so bland? Probably because EA didn't show you the rest of the chefs shoving their pounds of spam, powdered vanilla, or even their own body hairs into said pot. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that EA severely meddled with the project for the near-5 years it took making this game, going as far as kicking Suda off director's chair and appointing someone themselves.
I could go into severe detail, but I already have in an analysis video. The skinny of it is that EA didn't trust Suda at all to sell the game through his own vision, and saw Mikami as this excuse to just try and hock their own Resident Evil 4. Suda nor Mikami wanted a third-person shooter. Hell, the original concept was a survival horror in a world of darkness where your torch is your only weapon! Suda has very complicated feelings regarding this game. Its production forever changed how he looked at the industry. And that's all extremely interesting . . . much more than the game itself. Shadows of the Damned will forever be this testament to how a multi-billion dollar company can easily kill creativity.
The game is a decent third-person shooter with some really nice atmosphere and fantastic enemy designs, however its story is mostly uninteresting as it's carried heavily by the banter between Garcia and Johnson: The main character and his talking gun. The writing has some good nuggets within--the storybooks you can come across deserve to be specifically shouted out--but it's very run-of-the-mill and uninspired. As for the gameplay, it's a watered-down Resident Evil 4 with only 3 different weapons to use, a severe step down from a game released 6 years before this. Enemy confrontations aren't too challenging, even on highest difficulty, and the bosses amount little to just shooting a spot that's glowing red.
Of course, anyone that saw an ounce of marketing from this game (of the 3 ounces EA provided) can't miss the names plastered on. Shinji Mikami, Suda51, and Akira Yamaoka. 3 very talented developers that provided excellence in their respective fields. How can a pot stewed between the creator of Resident Evil and the creator of killer7 come out so bland? Probably because EA didn't show you the rest of the chefs shoving their pounds of spam, powdered vanilla, or even their own body hairs into said pot. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that EA severely meddled with the project for the near-5 years it took making this game, going as far as kicking Suda off director's chair and appointing someone themselves.
I could go into severe detail, but I already have in an analysis video. The skinny of it is that EA didn't trust Suda at all to sell the game through his own vision, and saw Mikami as this excuse to just try and hock their own Resident Evil 4. Suda nor Mikami wanted a third-person shooter. Hell, the original concept was a survival horror in a world of darkness where your torch is your only weapon! Suda has very complicated feelings regarding this game. Its production forever changed how he looked at the industry. And that's all extremely interesting . . . much more than the game itself. Shadows of the Damned will forever be this testament to how a multi-billion dollar company can easily kill creativity.