Parents' Guide to Sine Mora Ex

This shooter is a beautiful looking game, but its focus on completing tasks inside certain time limits creates a fresh take on the classic shoot-'em-up genre. Yes, you can be shot down by incoming fire, but the real enemy is the clock that counts down quickly (some missions start you at 10 seconds and go down from there unless you can add more time to the clock by defeating enemies). Gamers have done the "side-scrolling, firing willy-nilly, destroying everything in front of you" style of game, but when you can slow time for short bursts (this is a finite skill), pick up power-ups that add seconds to your timed run, and then crank up the difficulty, the genre takes on new and exciting elements.

On the downside, while the creatures of the game are imaginative looking aliens, the language is a bit much at times. It's fine to create an atmosphere that embodies a military mindset and fighting intensity, but expletives can fly fast and furious with little discernible reason, making this a game not to be played if small children are about. And there are some repetitive elements to battles (flying around the screen, shooting enemies while dodging attacks that come in patterns, repeat) leading up to the boss fights. Of course, players will have to move to avoid the big shots from bosses that can decimate a much smaller ship, and bosses won't be stationary; they'll move and swing around to angle toward your ship, making their engines as much of a threat as their guns and missiles. The only edge players may get is by trying out the boss battle mode before the regular campaign to figure out how to beat the behemoths. Overall, Sine Mora Ex features a nice variety of game modes, is visually appealing, and is quite challenging. It raises the bar for side-scrolling action/adventure shooters.