Sine Mora

The shoot’em up genre is known for its demanding gameplay and oftentimes insane difficultly curve, making it appeal to more niche audiences in recent years.

Developers Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture initially introduced Sine Mora to XBLA where it garnered much praise and critical acclaim. Seven months later the game was released on the PSN and PS Vita.

Sine Mora puts you in an airplane pilot’s seat as you fly through various industrialized worlds that culminate in massive multi-staged boss battles. You’ll control various characters and their ships throughout the game and each one has their own primary and secondary weapons. In Story mode, players can also utilize a time-freezing ability that’ll slow down the action around the plane allowing for quick movements through incoming projectiles. Honestly, you’ll need all the help you can get if you’re to survive.

Rather than a set amount of health, Sine Mora uses a set amount of time. Defeating enemies can add valuable seconds onto the clock so simply avoiding everything isn’t going to cut it. Every hit your plane takes also detracts seconds from the clock. Ultimately, winning requires a familiarity and finesse of each stage and enemy. Don’t be surprised if you see plenty of D and E ratings before you even begin to think about an A. I’m only talking about the Normal difficultly here, too. Hard and Insane difficulty settings are just that. More enemies, more bullets coming at you, and less time only means one thing; more deaths.

It’s okay, though, because it gives you more time to take in and appreciate Sine Mora’s stunning visuals. While the game plays like a 2D side-scroller, all the visuals are rendered in 3D. They look absolutely phenomenal, whether you’re playing on your home television or the PS Vita’s OLED screen. Each stage has its own unique feel to it and the enemies and bosses are varied enough so that you’ll never know what to expect.

READ THE REST OF THIS REVIEW ON PS3 ATTITUDE