Shadows of the Damned - Short review

I just finished Shadows of the Damned on Xbox360.
This game by Suda51 (Wikipedia page) was a refreshing experience for me.
All I can say is that this game is great. The graphic design is awesome and full of personality. The soundtrack is perfect. The assumed juvenile humor and all the dick jokes were a total delight to me because it is so over-the-top that I couldn't help but laugh. Granted, it's probably not the kind of game you would want to show to your young kid or your catholic grandpa but if you want a 3rd person zombie (or demon) shooter with fast paced action, just enough puzzles, and a unique universe, Damned is for you.
I will not enter into too many details but just give you a few hints:
- the hero, Garcia Hotspur is a hard-boiled Mexican-American swearing from beginning to end and shouting at enemies things like "I am so pissed I'll get to kill you only once" (not sure he actually said that but you get my point);
- shooting your Light Shot at chandelier-goat heads (they look actually alive) can activate them, thus bringing light in places filled with darkness;
- staying in the darkness damages your health but can also help see things invisible in light (there are many puzzles based on this);
- your evil-turned-good companion is a floating skull which is usually used as a torch but can transform into various weapons (gun, shotgun, machinegun);
- the basic gun is called a Boner... in time, with just this small gun, you'll be able to shoot bones, incapacitate enemies with Light Shots,
- there are some totally unexpected diversions: you just can't expect it but you'll probably love it when you play the game;
- a sushi lamp...
- great soundtrack and raunchy dialogues;
- a hero hurling "hijo de puta" and "you like my big boner!" at foes who's war cry can be "fuuuuucccck yooooouuu!"... yeah, there's a lot of swearing in Damned;
- many other things!

There were some gripes, like the fact that control is not always as smooth as I would like (I had to lower the sensitivity of the "aiming" in order to actually be able to aim at something) and the lack of "new game +", meaning taking your upgraded weapons into a new game, which might lower the incentive to replay the game (although I am still of a mind to replay it in Hard mode).
However, overall the fun and originality of the game totally make up for the few gripes.
This is a game I will remember.

--KRWonders