Co-developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality, and published by Microsoft Studios.

The ingenuity of the game design radically changes the concept of being a side-scrolling shooter game.

If you are looking for a no-frills straight forward shooter game, you would have thought this will be the one.
However, upon closer examination of the game by going through the stages, you will find it is cleverly setup so you need speed, skill and brains together to clear different stages of the game.

If you are a SHUMPs player, you would know storyline is not important and most gamers would skip them all together. However, the developer of this game actually wrote up a very in-depth plot for the story and presented it sadly in a very monologue textual way.

Aside from the story, the graphics and landscapes are visually pleasing and will the game let's you enjoy some beautiful scenes for every stage before enemies start appearing in screen.

This game offers only 1 weapon, that would be your vulcan gun.

Albeit you can upgrade it by collecting some red orbs, you will find it does change the direction it shoots(horizontally).

The game is difficult even in normal mode, so we dare you to take the challenging mode if you are a seasoned SHUMP gamer.

In the normal mode, you will have 10 continues.
For challenge and arcade mode, there are only 5 continues.

Activating the time-manipulation ability to slow motion the game so you can dodge those swarms of bullets or avoid that deadly trap.

When you power up with the red orbs, they will make firing at enemies easier, however they will be dispelled from your plane when you're hit. (Luckily they can be retrieved back)
The increase in fire-power is minimal but essential in making it easier to clear enemies and fight bosses swiftly to save precious time.

Survival
Time will be your ultimate factor in winning the game.
You do not get killed immediately when you are hit. (not literally)

Whenever you are hit, you lose time.
Once time reaches zero, it's game over.

However with some continue credits, you can resume from the last check point of that stage.

Each stage has it's own unique theme and the environments can be a deciding factor whether you survive or get killed in most stages.

The will be pounding machines, laser beams and caves, fires and many other treacherous traps that will bring you instant death.

So be warned being observant of where you are heading is vital in this game.

The bosses for every stage are intricately designed to make every battle a hard fought one.

Most enemy bosses have a fighting pattern, so you would have to look out for their various actions and where bullets fly in certain form.

And every boss you beat satisfying to the last second.

There will be some very interesting stages that requires your brain to think rather than just using your weapons to win.

And that is where you will find the best gratification in this game.

Overall, Sine Mora is a true remake of the classic shooter game.

Weapons
Other than the basic turret, you have a limited amount of bombs you carry with you.
The bombs you carry will vary on different stages and they come in very handy when you need to clear raining bullets flying in the screen or enemies that just annoy you with no end.
However, use them sparsely as they are best saved to the stage boss which are usually extremely hard to defeat.

Tons of Unlockable characters to playable characters.

Unlock bosses for training mode.

Difficulty modes.

Arcade mode.

7 beautifully crafted stages

Over 50 different weapon combinations with time manipulating devices

Great accessibility - Story Mode is tailored to not scare away absolute newcomers to the genre

Risk and reward - multiple difficulty levels in Arcade Mode with deep scoring and hidden rank system for the more experienced players

Music composed by Akira Yamaoka, Sound Director of Silent Hill and Shadows of the Damned

Boss designs by Mahiro Maeda, one of the most prominent Japanese anime creators (Blue Submarine No. 6, The Animatrix - The Second Renaissance, Kill Bill: Vol. 1)

Stages
Prologue -
Fly through the sky with your team mates where enemy sky fortress abound.
Then go through some basic training, Mid way in the story, you will be prompted to select a path either Novice or Advanced pilot.
If you select the advanced pilot, you will have to fly through a very narrow maze and you need to slow down your plane using time capsule to avoid crashing into the wall.

Stage 1 - Moneta Point
Flying above the sea waters, you take down a few planes and then the 1st subboss Kolobok sentinel hexapus (machine octopus) does a quick showdown with a powerful laser weapon.
Then you begin to descend underwater after defeating it.
There will be an underwater way and you have to dodge mines in there.
Whilst underwater, sadly, your plane does not feel like it's threading underwater as the speed remains the same and no water current effecting your movement.
In there, you will face the boss Acridoidea, a warder submarine who have an arsenal of weapons such as torpedoes, sea mines dropped from above.

Stage 2 - Bokumono
Here, you fly above waters with the landscape of tiny islands around the background.
You will fight the sub-boss Melkor (watch tower).
After defeating Melkor, you begin to fly into a dark cave and your the only lights are your plane lights to help you see your passage way.
You will meet the guardian train boss Matoushka, you have to defeat it to proceed to next stage.

Stage 3 - Airborg Factory
In this stage, there will be lasers all over the walls, so you have to shoot them down quickly and collect the lootdrop items.
The interesting challenge is when you descend into the waste pipe, in there you need to fly carefully and some thoughts to understand how to clear it. No spoilers here though.
After clearing the tunnel, you will meet the sub-boss Tsuchigumo, a giant robot spider.
You will fly out the cave and enter a valley, in there you meet the boss Papa Carlo, a giant heavy cutter loader robot.

Stage 4 - Cardinal Canyon

This stage is short but dangerous, where many flame torches blowing out from the walls, you need to dodge them with care. There you meet Libelle, an ancient predator robotic bird.
Upon defeating it, you fly into a factory and meet the stage boss Angrenost (Aibot assembly hall). You need to find his weakness to defeat him swiftly.

Stage 5 - Mirage Mountain
You enter into the empire and will see intricately detailed city building landscapes.
You will shortly fight Leonard, a chameleon canon. His multiple laser cannons are are incredibly fast and you have to be wary of the sky beams that will bring instant death if it hits you. The boss is an extraordinary airship named B630214, who has tons of ammunition to rain bullets at you.

Stage 6 - Tira
This is the main city of the empire and exotic landscapes awaits you.
There will be a few repeated enemies found in the early stages of the game.
Then shortly, you will meet a red airplane which will fly to the center of a giant ferris wheel looking machine.
This wheel is the boss called DOMUS.
Then, you have to enter into this giant metal wheel which is actually a maze.
You have to find the weakness of the wheel and destroy them to complete the game.

Stage 7 - Siriad
You enter into the inner reaches of the empire where it's higher ground and lots of observation towers will attack you.
In the switch version, you will get to fight a gigantic robot boss before heading for the super AI computer last boss.

Sadly, the ending is just as unfulfilling as the starting story presentation.
But if you are just looking for some insane bullet hell shooting, this game will not disappoint you.
Our verdict, this game is a true classic in the making, however, we hope the developer would make a better ending to entice players to complete the game.