Sins of the Flesh

Xbox Live Indie Trial Game – Sins of the Flesh

Sins of the Flesh is a a 2D psychological shooter developed by Silver Dollar Games for Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace or XBLIGM for short. I played many Silver Dollar including Office Affairs, Head Shot series, Raid and a bunch of others. I know sorta know what to expect from most games developed/published by the company.

Sins of the Flesh is a psychological themed 2D shooter about a protagonist who recently died and is trapped in some kind of purgatorial realm fighting demons. Matter of fact, you hear the sounds of a car accident during the start up screen which was black. Next, you see a black and white 2D world littered trees and rocks with a dark shadow walking who is coined as a womanizer by some disembodied old man who sounds like Gandolf from Lord of the Rings.

The beginning of Sins of the Flesh you hear a creepy young girl as she gives you tips and helps guides you through the realm and on how to destroy the demons. You use only the Left Thumbstick (black) and Right Thumbstick (white). You use separate thumbsticks to kill black or white demons who look like cybernetic crabs with weird troll faces. As the protagonist fired waves of dark and white energy at the demons the screen fills with bright red blood which stands out against the white foreground.

In essence Sins of the Flesh is a twin-stick shooter set in a 2D setting. It felt kinda weird at first since i grew up (and still) play most twin-stick games with a top down viewpoint. Silver Dollar Games tries to mix up ideas and implement them into they’re games. There is a Boss Fight with a big demon face that shoots outs huge amounts of small demons that you killed leading up to him. I took out the boss pretty easy, his health gauge wasn’t big enough.

The psychological elements deal with following directions and making choices. Early in my play-through the disembodied little girl tells you to not answer a ringing phone. The scene is that of me killing demons then you hear a phone ring. I let it ring. Next i see a big icon on screen saying “Press A” answer phone or something close. I refused to answer listening to the little girl. The screen fades to black and i’m still trying to kill demons. I died game over. Next playthrough i answered the phone and the game continued like nothing never happened.

The visuals are decent. Its more artsy then anything. Sins of the Flesh has that art-deco look. The animations were fluid and the controls simple yet effective. The sound design concerning the music, voice acting and narrating were serviceable and contributed to Sins of the Flesh atmosphere. Gameplay is simple, the entire game seems simple but fun as long you’re are not looking for some super layered deep gameplay.

Sins of the Flesh is a decent 2d psychological shooter. If you’re a fan of Silver Dollar Games you know what to expect. If you like something alittle “different” with your indie games i say try out the trial game on Xbox Live for Sins of the Flesh.