They say that time is money. In Sine Mora's case, Grasshopper Manufacturer's newest game, time is life and money... well, money is just a way of keeping score. This time bending bullet hell shooter is a gorgeous example of how an old school game concept can evolve to the current generation of games, not only visually but in terms of gameplay.Time is of the essence, especially when it involves saving someone you care about. In case of our main hero, he wants to save his son from dying. Sine Mora starts at a botched air strike attempt and only gets crazier from there. It's tough to follow the story considering how it's delivered, through loading screens in a wall of text, read in Russian. In fact, unless you speak the language, you won't understand a lick of any of the voice acting delivered in the game.
Thankfully, you don't need to learn any new languages in order to play this game and story aside, we have to admit we're here to shoot a lot of big things and avoid getting killed by a million of onscreen bullets. In that regard, Sine Mora is awesome. If you've played a bullet hell shooter in the past, you know what to expect here. Knowing when to attack and when to dodge is the key to success.
Mastering time, though, is another facet of Sine Mora. For some miracle of technology (or is it magic? who knows?) you're able to control time for a short spurt of seconds. With this gizmo, you can slow down everything around you when things get hairy. This mechanic is particularly useful during boss encounters, when the screen is literally baked with dots trying to kill you. Keep in mind, this power runs out and very few pick ups refill it, but it's a nice trick regardless.
Even though you have the power to control time, you're still a very vulnerable little ship fighting giant fortresses, monsters and the such. As you take hits, the on screen clock loses time and when that runs out, you're dead. In order to keep it up top, you need to destroy enemies, plain and simple. Levels are somewhat lenient with the clock, too. At every checkpoint, Sine Mora throws in a few extra seconds.
And delivering to expectations, you'll need all the seconds you can get. Sine Mora is relentless. Even if you decide to tackle the game's "easier mode", skill is still needed if you wish to reach the end. The best part about the game, though, you working towards perfecting your runs through the levels in order to get promoted. Promotions work like an in-game achievement system where certain tasks like finding a certain boss' weakpoint and killing X number of ships are rewarded with new ranks. The bigger the rank, the harder the requirements, naturally.
While the more demanding might condemn Sine Mora for being too short of an experience, there's a lot of depth to dig through if you so desire. Granted, you can finish the game in about one hour and a half, there aforementioned reasons should be more than enough to multiply that by ten or more. If you're looking for new levels and a lasting story experience, you'll be sorely disappointed, so keep that in mind if you decide to give Sine Mora a try.Frankly, there's very little else to write about this game that could help you make up your mind. Sine Mora is the sort of shooter that demands your dedication and rewards you for the time you spend with it, not only with a very stylish presentation that makes it one of the prettiest Xbox Live Arcade downloads out there but with a steady degree of difficulty that keeps you on your toe level to level. If challenge is your goal when playing games, then this is one of the best ones to pick up. |9
