Summary:
Weaponry filling up my 1 through 9 keys, finite ammo, medkits and loads of switches to flip? Yep, this is bringing me back to the days when Half Life 2 was the new hotness. I suppose it makes sense that a 2013 reimagining of 1997's Shadow Warrior would end up feeling like it's from somewhere in-between.
There are parts that feel modern though. The cutscenes, voice work, graphics and smooth melee combat are all of a higher modern quality. In fact, it was the crunchy satisfying swordplay and magic that kept me pushing through this game's penchant for repetition. There are too many demon hoards to slaughter that have no reason to exist other than "It's been more than a handful of minutes since the last one, we don't want them to get bored." The campaign took me a little over a dozen hours but I believe it would have been better off if they had trimmed it down to about eight.
$40 full price for this game is rather outrageous, but I do recommend it when it's on sale. Full disclosure, I did snag this game when they were briefly giving it away. I was looking to play a fast, violent and not too serious game and this scratched the itch nicely.
Full review:
Swords are heavily featured in Shadow Warrior, but gunplay is still a big part of it. I wasn't as thrilled with this part of it. Aside from a couple outliers most of the guns are pretty standard fare. It is nice that certain enemies seem to be more susceptible to certain guns than others. It's fun to figure that out so that when the game throws masses of them at you later you are able to skillfully blast through them. While there is enemy variety, the game needed more if it was going to counteract its problem with repetition. There are a handful of big boss fights to break things up that are particularly refreshing for this genre.
When you aren't locking horns with demons there are tons of things to collect, too many actually. Finding cash in quantities as low as a few dollars when you need 1000+ to upgrade anything feels like a waste of time. And that may be exactly what it is, padding to the game time. Between money, ammo, medkits, fortune cookies and secrets I was constantly on alert looking for the next shiny object. I would have much preferred to see the consumable items consolidated into fewer, richer caches. A few of the secret areas use throwback graphics akin to the original game, which is a fun little intermission.
Shadow Warrior's intro, and our introduction to Lo Wang is a cutscene high point that the game never fully reaches again. The use of music reminded me of something out of Guardian's of the Galaxy. Lo Wang is a rather juvenile character that overuses jokes about his last name. He's not unredeemable, and I prefer him to have character than to be silent, but he could have used a little more depth beyond just being comedic and deadly.
Your demon companion throughout most of the game, Hoji, ends up being the star of the show. Surprisingly, it's the demon characters, their story and their world that end up overshadowing anything the human characters have going on. The limited number of humans are pretty universally clichéd and overacted. The voice actors for Lo Wang and Hoji are solid, which is a relief since the bulk of the voice acting is conversations between those two. The main story is overextended like other parts of the game but still quite enjoyable during its major beats.
Shadow Warrior is a beautiful game, heavily drawing from Japanese influences. It does lack a certain amount of detail, but the overall design, use of color and quality animations make for a feast for the eyes. This is a very linear game so the level design also doesn't allow for much departure from the path. There is a small amount of platforming, which is always a little awkward in first person games. I fell to my death more than once. Make sure not to sprint while going down stairs, that killed me several times and is bad enough that I'd call it more of a bug.
Beyond the primary campaign there is a New Game+ mode, achievements and an arcade Survival mode. Considering the campaign had already tired me out I only gave Survival one quick try before moving on. From a value standpoint Shadow Warrior is on the light side consider its age and what they're asking for it. Oh, and don't bother with the Viscera Cleanup Detail: Shadow Warrior crossover that comes with it, I only lasted 20 minutes with it before quitting. You can see my short, angry review of it here.