There’s a respectable selection of upgradeable weapons here, though – they pay homage to the ‘90s shooter, but also put a good spin on them. I can’t complain too much about that, because using the sword is so much fun I avoided pulling out my guns except for taking out flying enemies. I’d have liked to have one just to make fighting foes with blades or claws feel more like an actual sword duel, but I can definitely see how being locked in that kind of combat would clash with the old-school run-and-gun momentum that Shadow Warrior wants to maintain. It keeps the pace fast and furious, as does the lack of a block or parry ability for the sword. It’s a great compromise that preserves the need to constantly move (rather than hiding behind something to heal) but also removes the need to scour the environment for pickups or load a save because you’ve consumed everything. Speaking of which, the health system smartly splits the difference between regenerating health and pickups, allowing you to manually regenerate about two thirds of Wang’s health bar by using one of his powers, but still requiring you to pick up health kits to max it out. It works, but it makes it a little tough to use them quickly, especially when you’re trying to activate the healing power while dodging enemies. I have mixed feelings about the controls, which use a double-tap of a directional button followed by a click to activate a power. Stringing a few of those together feels pretty badass, and that’s reinforced by a score system that pops up after each fight (however, it’s never clearly explained how you’re supposed to max it out). Swordplay starts out as simple melee slashing, but becomes much more interesting when you unlock Wang’s advanced moves, like a powerful lunge and a whirling attack that slices enemies on all sides in a fantastic slightly slow-mo spin. That’s Shadow Warrior’s best technique for making you feel powerful in a way that few other games do, and enemies’ elaborate deaths make up for their merely satisfactory character animations in life. Usually it happens so fast I barely notice, but every so often I stop to appreciate that yeah, I just cut that guy’s head clean in half, or severed both his legs at the knee with one swipe.
Human character models (including Wang himself) in particular don’t look so hot, and demon designs aren’t anything particularly memorable outside of Hoji’s distinctive mask, but slicing them into bits with Wang’s katana delights. The intentionally cheesy fortune cookie gags are a great reward for thoroughly searching these large levels, and… well, there are demon bunnies. Of course, the abundant crude humor is there as well, and it works more often than not. Considering Wang is basically a walking penis joke, that’s a lot more than I anticipated from Shadow Warrior. The acting is pretty good, especially from Wang’s spirit sidekick Hoji, and the contrast between the tone of the light-hearted banter between them and the somber backstory in the cinematics somehow works. But by the end of the tale more than 20 hours later, our wisecracking ninja warrior is fighting his way through demons against a backdrop of a surprisingly deep tragedy. It begins as a simple quest to recover three pieces of a magical sword in order to destroy ancient spirits from another dimension – nothing new there. You can use these systems requirements.I didn’t expect it, but yes, the plot impresses.
The recommended systems requirements for the system are out now.
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