Where The Bad Bullets Go: Sine Mora Out Now
We did acknowledge the port of side-scrolling time-bending shooter Sine Mora a couple of weeks ago, but now that the game is out, perhaps you'd like to see a PC launch trailer? I played the game on the 360th Box and even though my bullet-dodging skills are more like those of a lobby security goon than a KeaNeo, I actually managed to complete it. Although there are moments when the screen seems to fill with pulsing death-orbs, the pace isn't frantic even when survival becomes delicately poised. It's a beautiful game with superb boss fights and a daft story, which can take up too much time between sections even if it is endearingly silly. Here's the trailer.
When I say I 'completed' the game, I mean I finished the story mode, which isn't particularly long, although it does become tricky toward the end. For many, the bulk of the game will be the arcade mode, replaying levels, and utilising extra powers and a range of ships to chase high scores. I'm never patient enough to improve significantly when precision and combos are required, but the time distorting powers are fun to play with and open up the potential for ludicrous point-gathering.
Each level has a time limit and taking damage knocks seconds off that limit, while extra seconds can be collected from destroyed enemy waves. The standard temporal power is a bullet-time sort of thing, which is most welcome, but arcade mode allows actions to be reversed and bullets to be reflected back at their source. I don't know how time manipulation informs that last ability but I have learned not to question the happenings and reasonings in Grasshopper games.
It's a shame that the trial version isn't available on PC because it'd be useful for people to check out the controls, as well as the actual game. I expect I'd just plug in a 360 pad but I'm sure somebody will want to try out the keyboard controls. Since a demo has already been made for the XBLA release, why not bring that across too?
The music is the work of Akira Yamaoka and although it's completely different to the sounds of Silent Hill, it is pleasingly dreamy and oddly nostalgic. Writing that reminded me that there's a new Silent Hill movie and that it looks like it's managed to skip all the intermediate entries and become as bad as the most recent Resident Evil movie immediately. So that's something.
Sine Mora is available now on Steam for £7.99.