Thank you THQ Nordic for sending us this game to review!

Sine Mora was originally released for PC in 2012. In August, owners of the original game received a free upgrade in Sine Mora EX and the game became available on the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The Ex version adds many great new features including native 4K at 60FPS, improved rendering, new versus game modes as well as two-player local co-op in the story mode. The new English voice acting is a noteworthy addition too.

This 2.5D horizontal shoot ‘em up comes with seven unique stages and a cool time mechanic. Unlike other shoot ‘em ups where you have a health bar to worry about, this one has time. Whenever your aircraft takes damage or collides with an object, you’ll lose valuable time needed to finish the level. However, you will get time added for each enemy you shoot down.

Power-ups can be collected from fallen foes and they are lost just as easily through enemy contact. Most of the time you can re-collect your gun upgrades, but they can get lost during the level’s auto piloting through the story sequences.

The game’s story is rather interesting as it is told through multiple perspectives. The first character you’ll meet is Ronotra Koss who is vowing revenge on the Empire who killed his son for refusing to nuke a race called the Enkies. Besides nuclear missiles, there’s talk of unethical experiments and rape. Between the mature themes and intense language (f bombs included) and blaspheming, Sine Mora EX earns its Mature rating from the ESRB.

The mature content is a shame since the gameplay is pretty solid in this shoot ‘em up game. The levels and enemies are diverse and the multi-stage bosses are both intimidating and challenging. The visuals look and run great on the Switch. I was anticipating frame rate issues, but didn’t encounter any! I like how you get eight credits per game and can resume the game from various levels instead of having to start fresh.

Besides the story mode you can partake in boss training, an arcade mode, challenge mode, as well as versus and co-op play. There’s plenty of replay value despite the relatively short story mode. Once you complete the game on normal difficulty, you can try doing it again at the challenging difficulty.

The Switch version is great because of portability, however it’s the most expensive platform to buy the game on. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions are ten dollars less while the PC version is twenty dollars cheaper. If you have the other platforms available, you may want to consider it on those. If the portability is important to you and the morality isn’t, Sine Mora Ex on the Switch is a solid shoot ‘em up game to add to your library.