Sword swinging fun in modern Japan

A minigun!

The stats at the end of each level are excellent.

Shadow Warrior (2013)

Platform: PC

Developer: Flying Wild Hog         

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Price: $7.00 Sale

I played the original Shadow Warrior (1997). I enjoyed it. Not as much as Duke Nukem 3D (1996). But I enjoyed the game. It had innovative puzzles and enemies which posed a tactical challenge. Weapons were varied. Submachine guns, swords, throwing stars, and magical hearts were commonplace. The protagonist of the original game: Lo Wang was a mixture between Duke Nukem and Mr. Miyagi. Shadow Warrior was a successful but short lived venture for 3D Realms as no sequels for the game were released. Only two expansion packs were fielded.

Shadow Warrior (2013) is similar and different to the original game. Lo Wang is back, but he is now a thirty-something hitman for the Zilla Corporation. In a similar vein like Doom (1994), Lo Wang is keeping  a supernatural force at bay. The levels are excellent, even though the player will see a deterioration back to the ages of Doom (1994) and Wolfenstein 3D (1992) as there are hunts for keys and destructible set pieces to unlock doors for level progression. This does get old.

This game is most certainly an FPS. But the player’s firearms are hardly relevant in close quarters combat. In situations like that, the sword is the best option. Even the submachine gun called the PDW in the game (Its really an Heckler and Koch MP7) is better used when far away from foes even though it is designed for close quarters battle. The single action revolver has the same circumstances. All-in-all, the combat does not make much since to me at all with how the weapons are configured in game.

The sword centric combat is aged by an abundance of these Hell borne demons that the player is engaging throughout the game. They get up close mainly. The enemies are why I quit playing this game. I became frustrated with the large ‘generator’ giants that kept re-spawning the prior mentioned demons. It requires multiple hits to take them down, and they have no weak spot that is clear and present. This got old fast. Frankly, I have better games to play that remakes that aren’t better than the original game, and are not even as good as the original.

Who should play this game? The answer is likely those who have never played the original, probably as there’s no way to be disappointed then. Frankly, I hope the sequel is better than this. As this got boring fast, I stopped playing at the fourth chapter. I wouldn’t say this is a bad game. Its just not for me. It could be for you. Why not give it a try?