Far From The Pulse Game Review: Shadow Warrior (2013) - Finally, a game I love.

I've a terrible habit of playing a lot of games well and truly later than most other people. Sometimes it's because I delay it until it's cheap on Steam, GoG, or Humble Bundle. Mostly, it's because the 2012 era potato I play games on just can't handle things very well as time goes on. Everyone's played Andromeda and I'm jealous as shit right now, because I loved the original trilogy (ending notwithstanding).

In my current state of unemployment, I can't afford to buy new games, and with my desire to play Skyrim hampered by A Series Of Unfortunate (Technical) Events, I've been taking advantage of free offers via GoG and Humble Bundle (as well as a few small purchases back when I did have some temporary work), but one thing seemed to reign supreme: I just don't enjoy most of what I downloaded. Games just don't seem to be 'clicking' like they used to, and it frustrates me.

That is, until just recently, when I downloaded Shadow Warrior from Humble Bundle, utilising their very attractive "It's free!" offer. Seriously, though: get their newsletter if you don't already! I haven't really done shooters in a while.

I played the original Shadow Warrior as a kid, as most of my friends with PCs did. It was a different time in the 90s, and we all loved the irreverent humour. On finding a bath-house fill of bathing women, the protagonist - Lo Wang - exclaims "You want to wash Wang? Or you want to watch Wang wash wang?" The game was full of these little moments, and given it was free, and the 2013 title would run on my ageing PC, there wasn't really any excuse to not delve back into the franchise.

To start with, Shadow Warrior is a hell of a fun game. The plot is simple: the protagonist, Lo Wang, is tasked to purchase an expensive sword from a warlord and collector of antiquities. Shit, naturally, goes awry, and Wang pretty much spends the rest of the game fighting demons from hell. It's not complex, but it's not a story-driven game, but an action driven game. Don't expect high literature here, but that also lends to the game's strengths by not trying to be something it's not, and will never be.

The action, speaking of which, is regular and frenetic. Every level introduces a new demon type to deal with, slowly introducing you to them in a slightly controlled manner. There are small pockets of fighting in between massive open-area battles with dozens of enemies, many of which require slightly different tactics to best take care of, but Wang has a huge array of options at his disposal to take care of business.

Before

After

The katana is always present, and is capable of slicing and dicing, as well as opening up a variety of special 'Ki' attacks - more on these in a moment. You also unlock, as you go, a small variety of weapons - standard fare for most first person shooters - such as a revolver, uzi, crossbow, shotgun, rocket launcher, and one or two others. Each weapon can be upgraded to improve accuracy, damage, or load times, using the incredible amount of currency available for collection around the levels, allowing you to upgrade your favourites.

In addition to weapons, you can unlock a variety of powers using Ki Crystals (rare) and skills using Karma Points (less rare). Powers allow you to heal, create shockwaves, calm enemies, protect yourself from attacks, and more. Skills are passive, allowing you to deal more and take less damage, get more money and ammo, and a whole lot more. Each place that sits as a site for a large scale battle is covered in a variety of objects that can be exploded - cars, barrels (always with the exploding barrels!) and even fireworks carts, arcade machines, and more) giving you even more options for dispatching your many enemies.

And fortunately, too, because you are rated after each battle out of five stars for the variety of attacks, how damaged you get, and how efficiently you operate. Using a variety of weapons, powers, and the environment to your advantage.

On topic of, the environments are expansive and gorgeous. They still hold up well, even four years later. Generally speaking, most environments are linear, with sections that allow for exploration. Huge, lavish homes located on gorgeous gardens and bamboo forests. Hidden around the place are secrets - both things to collect and easter eggs to find - and aid towards your completion of every stage.

Every stage is rated at the end - speed, damage dealt, secrets found, karma and money found, etc. I rarely bother with the perfection, but will go back and find any secrets I missed, if I can be bothered, but there's plenty of demands for improvement for the completionist. Higher difficulty modes and challenge modes await those who are keen to keep playing, and want to push themselves.

Some minor niggles to the game - while the pace and action is fantastic, the set-pieces and levels are amazing, I couldn't help but feel I was missing why I was in the level to begin with. I found myself running around a giant mansion on an immense property, after being advised I needed to 'head to the cemetery' from several levels back. How or why we were on the property, I'll never know. It seemed to me like the sets were designed first, but the plot came later. Another example of the disconnect comes from Wang's own home - entered from an underground sewer into his pool (for some reason?) we find his home itself is on fire, but a secret entrance (with a laser identity checker) leads you to a Chinese-inspired Bat-Cave, replete with water you can't traverse, a mounted minigun for a 'shoot the flying monsters' set piece, and statues everywhere. Perhaps playing to the fantasy a bit, but the only reason we were there was to collect the crossbow, which is kinda shit anyway.

The game seems to have lost a little of the dirty charm of the older one, but I don't know if that's me being 33 instead of 14, or that they removed it. It seems there's a lot less than the older games - but like I said, the 90s were a far different time. Wang dispenses with the occasional quip, and you can find 2D pixellated 'bathing beauties' hidden in some level, for those prone to such interest, and occasionally you can see a couple of rabbits mating for.. er.. some reason? Kill them, and you spawn a very tough 'shadow rabbit' that tries its best to murder you to brutal metal music.

Fortune cookies litter the levels, offering Karma and handy advice

Humping rabbits. Now I've made you look at them

Finally, the upgrade system seems to suffer from the all too familiar issue of having too many options. Most likely put in place to allow you to customise how you play, the issue is that all the weapons can be fully upgraded, but you're restricted on how many powers and skills you can have. This is a common misconception from devs who seem to think that people will play the game again but choose options that increase stamina (largely unused in the game) or defense, instead of healing and damage to enemies. It's not an RPG - no one's going to choose a healer over a tank next time, they're just going to use the same skills that worked best.

In conclusion, though, the game was still utterly enjoyable. Like Half Life and Bioshock before it, the game really shines by providing the player with the tools needed to play their style, while providing frenetic, fun gameplay, without taking itself too seriously. It's responsive and while the gameplay can be brutal, it's not a one-hit-kill level of frustration until you start looking at more challenging modes.

+ Fun, frenetic shoot-em-up game-play
+ Gorgeous levels and set-pieces
+ Holds up well, even today
+ A great variety of options to dispatch your enemies
- Misses some of that irreverence
- Potentially confusing and irrelevant upgrade options
- An illusion of repeated gameplay.

Rating: 8/10