What a Shmup! A Little History and a Lot of Bullets.

Of all the trends shaping today's gaming landscape, there's one that's really got me by the wallet, and I've decided to call it "retrofitting", because I'm just so clever. Apply new technology to an aged product, and you get a game like Sine Mora, the game I'm here to gush talk about. Before we get to that, though, I want to look briefly at what makes this game so unexpected, miraculous almost. There's a history here and it starts with the launch of Sony's Playstation, the brave gray hero who would usher in a new age.

Remember when this is what made Sony cool?

Though three-dimensional games had been done before, it wasn't until Sony entered the console market in 1995 that 3D graphics really took off. Armed with a 32-bit processor and the relatively large storage capacity of CD media, developers feverishly charted new polygonal worlds to replace their two-dimensional predecessors, abandoning altogether many of the genres we had grown up with. Although attempts were made to drag platformers out of their 2D homes (with mixed results), by and large store shelves were slowly taken over by first-person shooters, open world adventures, and MMOs. It seemed as though we'd never again rough up bad guys in a place like Metro City, or blast our way through another derelict planet Zebes. Two generations of consoles and seven years later, however, and the pendulum has begun to swing back. Game makers are recognizing the value of nostalgia, giving old-school archetypes a chance to shine alongside their younger cousins.

This movement has assumed two forms: re-releases of classic games (sometimes with visual upgrades) and brand new titles that utilize tried and true game styles and mechanics. Searching Xbox Live Arcade, the PSN Store, or Steam will yield hundreds of classic sprite-fests for download, but you'll also find a growing catalog of new side-scrolling platformers, point and click adventures, and two-dimensional fighting games, all developed in the last few years. Some of the new crop are total throwbacks, like Ubisoft's gorgeous hand painted Rayman Origins or Amanita Design's Machinarium, whereas others are a fusion of old and new, like Blazblue with its 2D characters fighting on 3D backdrops. Street Fighter IV and Shadow complex, on the other hand, utilize polygonal models exclusively, but restrict the camera angle to retain the 2D feel. Whatever the technology, they all feel wonderfully familiar, and their success has made it somewhat less risky for developers and publishers to rummage through the video game industry's attic in search of valuable antiques.

Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Realms, the co-developers of Sine Mora, have unearthed another forgotten genre in that dusty room: the shmup. And damn, y'all--I'm excited. Born in the arcade, the shmup was ubiquitous during the 8 and 16-bit eras, but production of new titles in the U.S. slowed to a trickle and then went dry in the mid-late 90s. Thanks to Microsoft Studios and the relative success of classic shump re-releases on XBLA, however, the genre is back, rising like a level boss to challenge gamers once more.

The official site for Sine Mora includes a handy bullet point list of the game's features. Right at the top? 'The shoot 'em up of yesteryear with tomorrow's production values'--I've already gone on at length about that, but in this case it means that movement is restricted to the x and y axes, but the graphics are rendered in 3D. What else? 'Engrossing story'. I'll be delighted if this motley cast of humanoid animals can make me care about the super serious plot, 'a complex tale of honor, bonds, and morality', but I'm not counting on it. *Sigh*, am I going to have bone-melting ordinance or not? 'Over 50 different weapon combinations with time manipulating devices'. Bring on the lasers!

With the promise of so many ways to pew-pew through the skies, it would be easy to miss the last part of that sentence: 'time manipulating devices'. In a video from last August's Gamescom event in Germany, we see two facets of the time-based gameplay in action, and we're reminded once again of the mingling of old and new. First, the old--a ticking clock that counts down to failure, which you can extend by blowing up enemy ships. While we're used to seeing this mechanic in older Sega arcade racing games like Sega Rally and Daytona USA, I can see it working really well here. Combined with the already frenetic shooting and dodging, this countdown element will no doubt be responsible for many sweaty palms and prematurely gray hairs.

Then we have the new--the power to slow time, making the filigree of colorful projectiles easier to evade. We've been familiar with this kind of effect since Max Payne introduced us to "bullet time", and it remains prevalent in action games to this day, but it's never been utilized in a shmup. It remains to be seen whether this time manipulation mechanic is simply a crutch for all the slow thumbs out there, or if its use will be a requirement for survival.










You can see for yourself in these videos that the game is beautiful, showcasing a wacky Steampunk-inspired world dripping with color and charming details. There's a boss--part train, part house--that calls to mind the fantastical sights in the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki (Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away). I can't say much about Akira Yamaoka's music yet, but what little I can hear in the available videos seems to fit well with the light-hearted visual design.

I sincerely hope that Sine Mora will find an appreciative audience among today's gamers. It is, after all, the ambassador of a forgotten breed, and a risky move for Microsoft Studios, Grasshopper and Digital Reality. Its sales figures will no doubt weigh heavily in the battle to "retrofit", to remind us why we started playing in the first place, before online multiplayer, DLC, and Hollywood story lines were de rigueur. Make it simple, make it fun, make it challenging and the rewards will follow. I'll be there on day one to see if Sine Mora's got the stuff.

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Sine Mora will be released via Xbox Live Arcade on March 21st for 1200 MS Points ($15).