Sine Mora is a lot of fun. There I said it. Do I need to go on with the review? Okay, I’ll go on. I’ll admit that I didn’t know too much about Sine Mora so my expectations weren’t high or low. I heard a few things and several of my friends were anticipating it so I figured it had to be decent. I’m happy to report that it’s one of the most beautiful games on Xbox Live Arcade.
Sine Mora doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel with its side scrolling action. But what it does is present the same, simple mechanics that you’ve likely played a thousands times in a well crafted way. The gameplay is centered around an unusual theme … time. The more enemies you shoot down, the more time you’ll get to finish a stage. Each time you’re hit, a bit of your time is reduced so fly carefully. Once you run out of time, that’s it. I can recall several moments when I was trying to shoot anything just to get more time to play. The tension is kind of crazy.
One of the cool things about Sine Mora is that it allows you to fast forward its scenes and get straight to the fighting. Personally I wanted to get straight to the action but the set pieces in this game are so wonderfully done, that I found myself enjoying the calm before the storm. A few seconds before you engage in battle, you get a visual tour of the surrounding landscape. Once it’s time for action, the timer begins and the enemies start flying at you. They attack in the air and on the ground so you’re constantly checking for bullet direction. As you destroy the enemy, you’ll see red, green, blue and yellow spheres flying at you. These little circles are your power-ups, bombs, shields etc. Grab them at all costs! What’s interesting about the power-up red spheres is that once you’re hit, you see them fly away. Hurry up and grab them again to keep your weapon properly boosted. I was chasing red circles like a madman.
As you get to the end of a stage (and sometimes during the middle, beginning) you’ll run into some huge bosses that will intimidate you once they’re revealed. They’re huge and it takes a considerable amount of bobbing and weaving to finish off some of them. The bullets come at you in tight spaces and huge amounts. Sine Mora gives you a slow-down power which slows the action down so you can maneuver. It comes in handy but it runs out fast. The bombs are also very useful and entertaining to watch go off as well.
The game is a fun challenge that takes on an entirely different feel because of how well it is presented. The story itself is really intriguing. You follow a group of animal pilots trying to stop some sort of mass extinction. Each pilot has his or her own plane that you control and each has his or her own story to tell. You can sit and listen to the dialogue and story play out or use the fast forward option I mentioned above. As you play the Story Mode, you get to unlock some of these pilots and planes to use. I didn’t find myself fast forwarding a lot because I was either restarting from death or really ready to get that last power-up for the massive firing bonus.
I don’t want you to think it’s too hard but the game is a challenge especially when you play the Arcade Mode. It’s a challenge so be ready.
Visually, as I’ve mentioned a few times before, the game is beautiful. Some of the small details like bullets dropping from your plane are just amazing. Some of the bosses in the game give you plenty of ”wow” moments as in are you serious I have to fight that? There’s an underwater level that you’ll really enjoy and a sequence in which you have to hide in some trash to proceed that will make you smile.
One of the things I wish had been done though was including a bit of co-op. Sadly to say this game is a single player experience. There isn’t even an option to go up against friends on Xbox Live. I would also have liked an option to choose a different plane and pilot during Story Mode. Picking different planes to create a different strategy for certain bosses would’ve been even more fun but as it stands, you have to fly the plane that they give you.
Conclusion:
Sine Mora is a really beautiful side scrolling 2D shooter that really puts the shine back into Xbox Live Arcade. I won’t deny the lack of co-op is frustrating because I would’ve loved partnering with a friend to sift through the air dealing damage to things. It brings back the love affair I’ve always had with old school shooters and reminds me that the quality of titles is only limited to that in which a studio can imagine.
If you have the Microsoft Points to spare, you should take to the skies with Sine Mora.