The Xbox 360 has become the console to own if you like shoot 'em ups. As well as numerous arcade classics, ranging from Defender and Millipede to Radiant Silvergun and Death Smiles, it has several original titles, including the brilliant Omega Five and Geometry Wars. You can now add Sine More to that list, a traditional sidescrolling shoot 'em up, which is reminiscent of arcade classics P-47, UN Squadron (AKA Area 88) and, in particular, Cave's sublime Progear (a game a PlanetMGC forum member first switched me on to).
For a shoot 'em up, Sine Mora has a surprisingly dense plot, which is told in non-sequential chapters for reasons best understood by developers Grasshopper Manufacturer and Digital Reality. The gist of it is that the planet Seol is being ravaged by civil war, one that is seemingly without end, because the anthropomorphic animals that inhabit the planet can manipulate time. The story is delivered through lots of screens full of text and dialogue bubbles, which often pop-up right in the middle of you dodging flak. As you play through the game you take on the role of different pilots, each with their own weapons and upgrades. Unfortunately, in story mode your power-ups do not carry over from level to level, because you are constantly jumping between protagonists.
Sine Mora is Latin for "without delay" and this is a reference to the various ways the game plays with time. The central conceit is that instead of lives or a shield you get a timer, which is constantly counting down. Taking damage knocks off bigger chunks of time and if you run out of time altogether, it's game over. You can earn time by shooting down enemy aircraft; the bigger the enemy, the more time you get back. While this reduces the chance of a one-shot death, it also means you can scrape through a mid-level boss encounter, then die a few seconds later because there's no enemies around. This can make hard-fought victories into something to resent, rather than celebrate, as you are at risk of dying without making any further mistakes.
You can also slow down time for a limited period, which can be used to avoid complex swarms of bullets or focus your fire on a boss's weakspot. This is a mechanic that has been used in games for over a decade, going back to the Matrix-inspired bullet time of the Max Payne games and it's still used today, with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim having a bullet time perk for shield bearers. You can also slow time in the Xbox indie shmup, Redshift, which actually came out about a month before Sine Mora. Again, this idea puts me in mind of Progear, which slowed your fighter if you held the fire button, allowing you to move through sprays of bullets with more precision, even though nothing else slowed down. Combine all this with the artstyle and you would be forgiven for thinking footage of Sine Mora was actually footage of a Progear HD remake -- if only that were true. Sadly, there are other problems that blight what could have been a great game. Although most of the bullets are bright and colourful, but there are some dark-coloured missiles that are hard to see, even on my 37" plasma. Likewise some of the fighters themselves blend into the background at times and there are also times when the scenery blocks almost half the screen, such as during the tunnel sections on the second level. Finally, Sine Mora's weapons take far too long to power up, so you spend most of a level with what feels like a pea-shooter. This is in stark contrast to, say Satazius, which manages to make you feel powerful from the get-go and still provide rewarding upgrades. And once you do get powered up, the level ends, you jump into the shoes of a different pilot and have to start from scratch -- argh!
I was so excited when I first saw footage of this game, because it is gorgeous. In fact, it is without doubt the best looking shoot 'em up ever made. However, once I played it my enthusiasm started to wane. It's not a bad game, but it is so similar to Progear that it's difficult to play Sine Mora without comparing it to Cave's classic -- and it's the older game that comes out on top every time. If you think that is just rose-tinted nostalgia talking, then I have a confession for you all: the first time I played Progear last year, when I posted A Brief History of World War II shoot 'em ups.
If I was going to spend 1200 on an XBLA shoot 'em up, I would spend that money on Radiant Silvergun or R-Type Dimensions before Sine Mora, although I would buy this game before Raystorm HD or Trouble Witches Neo. I feel it's only fair to point out several top game magazine's have raved about Sine Mora; IGN, Games(TM), Destructoid, Joystiq and Eurogame all awarded it around 90%, which I think is a little generous. I don't do scores in my reviews (I'd rather people read the text), but if I did it would not be nearly that high. There is a demo though, so download it and check it out for yourself. Oh and if you can, use an arcade stick, it really helps.
Plays like
- Progear
- P-47
- UN Squadron/Area 88
Highs
- Gorgeous 3D graphics. This could be the best looking shmup ever!
- Tries to inject some life into one of gaming's oldest genres.
- Plenty of options for fighters and pilots.
- At around two hours to play through the story mode, this is a good deal longer than most.
Lows
- The weapons feel weak, do nothing interesting and in some modes do not carry over between levels.
- The heavy-handed story telling gets in the way of the action -- often literally.
- Poor visibility leads to frequent frustrating deaths.
- Dying because there's nothing to shoot to top up your time/life just plain sucks.
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