Shadow Man 2econd Coming Updated Preview

Shadow Man is boasting a ghastly new look.

Those who played the original Shadow Man in its numerous incarnations will surely remember it as an incredibly cool yet technically flawed game. It was quite moving aesthetically, and, from a design standpoint, everything was very solid indeed. The weakness of the engine, however, brought it down quite harshly. Ghastly worlds that could have been a frightful pleasure to explore wound up feeling stilted and choppy, which almost nullified the cool aesthetics contained therein. The Dreamcast and N64 versions did fare a bit better than the PlayStation version, but the fact that the engine was forced to stretch across all three platforms was painfully apparent.

Shadow Man: 2econd Coming, though, seems to be faring much better. There's a whole new engine powering the game, and it definitely seems to bring the game's gritty world to life much more effectively. Everything still focuses on Mike LeRoi, the man whose alter ego, Shadow Man, is charged with protecting the living world from netherworld assaults. The Shadow Man games are built around a very Soul Reaver-like system--both the living and spirit worlds exist alongside each other, and your adventures will often have you crossing the barrier between them. You also make use of both of the protagonist's forms: Mike LeRoi and Shadow Man. Both characters are suitably different, mostly in regard to the weapons they use, but they should feel similar enough to most players.

Demons of this sort are the root of your troubles, this time around.

Shadow Man is a voodoo champion charged with protecting the living world from baneful spirits, and the stories the series is based on incorporate this theme heavily. The first game had Shadow Man fighting off the assaults of a being called Legion, a powerful spirit that was trying to manifest itself in the living world by enlisting the aid of Earth's most depraved criminals. This second game puts Shadow Man in a fairly similar situation. A cadre of demonic spirits is trying to resurrect its unholy leader, and, through a series of auspicious events, Shadow Man's lover, confidant, and zombi master Mama Nettie catches wind of their plans. Shadow Man is dispatched, and he becomes embroiled in something altogether huge. The struggle involves one of Nettie's rivals, a certain Papa Morte, who runs drugs, among other things, from a derelict plantation just outside of New Orleans. As it happens, the uneasy truce that Nettie and Morte have formed is about to be broken quite explosively.

2econd Coming takes place all across that particular stretch of Louisiana, on through Deadside, and beyond. Many characters from the original game will make appearances, and you'll undoubtedly come across certain stretches of land you'll be familiar with. One thing, though, has changed for the better: the quality at which all these things have been rendered.