As a fan of the genre, I’ve seen my fair share of modern scrolling shooters or “shmups” as they’re often called. Yet, after the magnificent Gradius V back in 2004, I haven’t seen very many that actually look modern. Even some from this year tend to look like something you might’ve seen in the arcade as much as a decade ago.

That’s the first of many ways in which Sine Mora sets itself apart. The game is gorgeous. There’s a real sense of depth to the environments that manage to strike an effective balance of being attractive without being distracting. Colors are often vibrant, environments are varied, and giant bosses are real spectacles to behold thanks to art direction from Grasshopper.

And yet, as great as the visuals were, it was the unique mechanics developer Digital Reality put into the game that kept me coming back for another try. Sine Mora is not about one hit kills or traditional health systems. Sine Mora is about time (in more ways than one). While you’re playing, the clock always counts down. Killing enemies will send the clock backward a bit, while getting hit drastically reduces your time. When the clock strikes “00″, you die.

This game of chronological tug o’ war creates an exciting sense of urgency, while forcing you to prepare for the worst by playing smart. You may be able to get to the boss and avoid his attacks, but if you played the part of the pacifist beforehand, you might not be able to defeat him in time before your imminent death. It’s far easier to hoard time by killing off small enemies than breaking parts off a boss, and seizing the opportunity to do so can be a matter of life and death.

Time can be manipulated in more ways than just what’s left on the clock. You also have the ability to slow the game down while retaining your own movement speed. Of course, this ability is very limited and should be used wisely.

Like most shmups, there are a variety of power-ups to acquire, including primary weapon upgrades, secondary weapon ammo, and refills for your slowdown gauge. The primary weapon I had in the demo would spread increasingly wider as I picked up upgrades. But, every time I took damage, they would fly out of me, allowing me a brief chance to grab them again. My secondary fire (of which the full game will have several) shot a barrage of heat seeking missiles. One of the most interesting things, though, was that by collecting time beyond a certain limit, I was able to generate a temporary shield to avoid further damage.

The stages I played in the two available demos were quite varied. I flew through the bright, blue sky, submerged my ship into an aquatic stage, and maneuvered through tightly crafted caverns with acid-spewing worms bursting through the environment. Each boss encounter was equally diverse, pitting me against some sort of boat fortress, a robotic squid-like creature, and a multifaceted weapons train. Even these individual encounters often mixed things up by dividing the battles into several unique phases with their own attack patterns.

Sine Mora hopes to attract both newcomers and hardcore players which was expressed very well by the two demos I played. The Story Mode, which was set on easy, was quite manageable and I was able to complete it with relative ease. The second demo featured Arcade Mode and was set to insanity. On insanity, enemies explode into bullets when you kill them, similar to Ikaruga (minus the ability to absorb them). Try as I might (and I visited the booth for quite a few tries), I couldn’t quite finish this mode, but I was always left with that “Just one more try!” feeling instead of frustration. The various game modes, in addition to a dynamic ranking system that changes enemy behavior based on your performance, should suit players of all skill levels.

Of all the games I managed to play with my limited time on the show floor, Sine Mora turned out to be my game of the show. Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture have a real winner on their hands with this one. The unique mechanics and beautiful art direction make this a game you won’t want to miss.

Tags: Akira Yamaoka, Digital Reality, Grasshopper Manufacture, hands-on impressions, PAX 2011, preview, ps3, psn, Shmup, Sine Mora, Suda 51, xbla, Xbox 360

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