Shadow Warrior’s plot is as thin as the walls of the various pagodas dotting the opening levels of the game. Not that Hoji gets to have all the fun, since Lo Wang gives as good as he gets and their constant mutual needling put me in mind of a buddy cop movie at times – at least, if there were a buddy cop movie about a demon invasion from another dimension. This is how Shadow Warrior signals its knowingly humourous brand of ultraviolence in terms of tone it’s just as crude and shallow as its predecessor, but thanks to Hoji it can at least be self-consciously crude and shallow and take the piss out of itself. You are, in fact, a massive walking cliché (part of the reason The Touch is so ironically appropriate), but that’s only on the surface very soon after the game starts Lo Wang is bonded with a demon called Hoji who mercilessly skewers Lo Wang at every single opportunity with his ongoing sardonic commentary. You have a mansion with a secret underground lair. You are Lo Wang, corporate assassin for hire.

Said road isn’t without its bumps and potholes, and Shadow Warrior isn’t immune to falling foul of them, but what’s here is very fun indeed. Shadow Warrior goes down the same fun-over-realism road that Bulletstorm tried to travel several years ago, except this time it actually gets to the end rather than only partially committing to the concept and careening off that road halfway. And what is more, it does so remarkably well. Shadow Warrior isn’t so much a throwback to 90s shooters as it is an attempt to imagine what the genre might have been like if Halo and Call of Duty had never happened while its link to the past is never less than obvious it also manages to avoid the pitfall of being fully retro for the sake of it, and instead includes a whole host of original features and modern quality-of-life improvements that ensure it stands on its own two feet. Thankfully this reboot of the “classic” 1997 shooter knows its business – mostly, anyway – and so the only time you hear The Touch is during a short segment in Shadow Warrior’s opening cutscene to establish both the character of its protagonist, Lo Wang, and the tone of the game as a whole. your target audience) is already a cliché. Mystical Powers – Call upon mystical powers to protect yourself and paralyze your enemies or use their own severed heads and still-beating hearts to bring them to their knees.I promise this is the last FPS I’ll review on this blog for at least a month.Įven though it’s only the second game I’ve played to do it, Shadow Warrior is still proof that including Stan Bush’s The Touch as what you think is a knowing wink to the ‘80s generation (i.e.Each weapon offers several unique upgrades to increase power, speed, and add devastating alternative firing options. Upgradeable Arsenal – Utilize every gun in your formidable armory – from stylish revolvers and quad barrel shotguns to explosive-tipped crossbow bolts and laser-guided rocket launchers.Elegant Swordplay – Unsheathe your legendary katana to slice enemies apart with precisely targeted swings or unleash fluid combos and special attacks to cut down hordes of enemies with one swift pass through the enraged hordes.Shadow Warrior Reborn – A bold new vision of Shadow Warrior elegantly blends classic first-person shooter gameplay with thrilling action, inventive combat, and a contemporary retelling of the hilarious legend of Lo Wang.Now the reluctant hero must become legend through a masterful combination of gun, blade, magic and wit to uncover the truth behind the demonic invasion and banish evil back into the darkness. Betrayed and left for dead, Lo Wang learns of the blade’s connection to ancient gods from another realm preparing to push our world to the brink of destruction. Shadow Warrior tells the offbeat tale of Zilla Enterprise’s corporate shogun Lo Wang as he is ordered to acquire a legendary blade of limitless power by his deceitful employer.

Combine the brute force of overwhelming firepower with the elegant precision of a katana to annihilate the merciless armies of the shadow realm in an exhilarating and visually stunning transformation of the classic first-person shooter. Shadow Warrior is a bold reimagining of the classic 3D Realms’ shooter from independent developer Flying Wild Hog (Hard Reset) starring the legendary and quick-witted warrior Lo Wang.

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