Sine Mora Ex Xbox One Review
Sine Mora is a time manipulating side scrolling shoot em up! Sine Mora EX is the remastered version that hit PC and consoles. The EX version added new features such as two player local co-op through the story campaign, full English voice overs and three new competitive modes which include Race, Tanks and Dodge ball.
One of Sine Mora Ex best new features is the improved rendering and if you buy the game on PS4 Pro or a high end PC you will be able to play in native 4K at 60fps!
Also great news for Nintendo Switch owners as the series will be making it’s way to Nintendo’s portable console as well on October 10th.
So the Xbox one version has been around for just over a month now, having never played the Sine Mora original I wasn’t sure what to expect from the title.
Sine Mora’s features an over the top story mode with plenty of swearing and some chat about slavery and rape to name a few things! There is also an arcade mode to keep players coming back after the story mode is complete for a real challenge!
Being a 2D shooter you would expect a really old school feel and Sine Mora really doesn’t disappoint! From the off players are thrown in and once a very short tutorial is over which basically tells you the buttons for the guns and how to move, you are on you’re own!
Also as soon you start you can hear the full English voice-acting which is a fantastic addition! Sound effects are punchy and accurate as well as a decent soundtrack!
Onto the difficulty and while the difficulty will be frustrating for some, players of old 2D games will relish the challenge! The game does give players the option of two difficulty settings, novice and experienced, anyone new should choose novice because there will be no let up if you struggle.
One thing you will notice when you get playing are the breathtaking visuals, for a 2D sidescrolling game it really is something to look at! Bearing in mind this is only the Xbox One version that doesn’t feature native 4K (Yet Xbox One X maybe?) it really does look good! Visuals are bright and colourful and gameplay is smooth and responsive with absolutely no noticeable slowdown.
Back onto the difficulty and Sine Mora does a few things to help the player but also many to increase the pressure! Players will find as they progress through the levels and defeat enemies that their foes will drop power ups these range from weapon upgrades which basically add another blaster to the fighter allowing the player to deal massive damage, to the time increase power up which adds time to the timer, the time increase is majorly important because while Sine Mora doesn’t have players worrying about a health bar, players will have to fight against the clock adding pressure! Don’t think however oh that’s fine I will just cruise through the level taking hits, this is because every hit the player takes makes the timer countdown even faster! Having a timer that actually makes the levels tight for time to get to the end is a massive amount of pressure and really makes the player work and think fast to actually make it to the end!
Another important power up is the Time Capsule control where holding the RT will allow the player to slow time and dodge incoming fire, this is also something that will run out and will require picking up power ups to keep the ability.
The fighters all come with a main weapon but also carry a sub-weapon, the sub-weapons are different for each fighter, these range from massive powerful laser beams to multiply projectile mines. Upgrades to the main weapon are picked up during the level and will increase the amount of blasters on the fighter, these are easily lost though just by being hit or crashing into anything and then you will need to work fast to retrieve them as the power up floats away.
The level design throughout really uses a good amount of imagination, each level will have it’s own bosses that all have their own weak spots that you will be required to take them down. Bosses can be challenging especially on the higher difficulty but this is certainly not a bad thing although can get repetitive having to do the level again if you keep dying!
One of Sine Mora’s new features for the EX edition is the local co-op, this has to be one of it’s best features and is an absolute blast! Action on screen can be a little frantic but is great fun to play through the story with a friend!
Obviously 2D platformers aren’t going to appeal to everyone but any fans of the genre can’t really go wrong with Sine Mora EX, it’s fun, fast and really shows off how good a 2D game can look, combined with the new EX version features it all comes together well for a great experience.
Verdict:
Stunningly good visuals for a 2D game, full English voice acting and decent soundtrack. Great imagination gone into both level design and bosses. Controls feel sharp and accurate all adding up to a great experience throughout! Story can be a little weird in places but plenty of replayability in arcade mode!