Developer- 3D Realms System - PC CD-ROM Review By - Dave Z Graphics 
BGM 
Sound FX 
Control
Replay Value
Originality
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Overall:
Shadow Warrior is the latest first-person 3D action game from 3D Realms, the developers that brought us the smash PC hit Duke Nukem 3D. Much like they did with Duke Nukem, 3D Realms has given Shadow Warrior a sense of style and some comedic values, both assets that are sorely missed in most of today's first-person 3D action games.
The story is based on Lo Wang, also known as the Shadow Warrior, a Japanese man who has been the most feared and respected ninja to walk the mortal plane since the mid-70's. Lo Wang was the assassin of choice for the Yakuza and other eastern underworld families as he was known as not only the best, but also the most lethal. As he is armed with 10,000 bullets, 1,000 Shurikens, 1 sword and an assortment of deadly body parts, the Shadow Warrior must embrace his destiny. A destiny teeming with hideous foes far beyond the Shadow Warriors wildest expectations.
The story isn't exactly something that will inspire you to play the game, but the game does provide a sense of comedy and style that may attract some gamers. Much like Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior has a lot of voice from the main character and enemy characters. With Shadow Warrior, the developers wanted to parody the various martial arts movies from the 70's by giving a Lo Wang a very outrageous Japanese Accent. The way Lo Wang and the other characters in the game speak may offend some people as being racist, but in all honesty I don't believe they are slamming the Japanese, but rather the movies from the late 70's.
Basically, Shadow Warrior is one of the better single player first person action games that are currently available on the PC. The graphics don't quite match up to the likes of GL Quake or other 3D Action games that are coming out in the near future, but they are fairly good and are improved over those of Duke Nukem 3D. Overall, if you like what you have played of the shareware version, you should take a look at the full version of the game as it has a wide variety of levels that should keep you busy and having fun.
Playability
The game controlled well with either the keyboard, keyboard and mouse, or with a regular controller. All of the controls are pretty much the same way that they were in Duke Nukem 3D, so if you have played Duke 3D or just about any other game in this genre, getting used to the controls should not be problem. Overall, the control is pretty good and offers you all the important character movements such as jumping, ducking, running, climbing, flying, crawling, belly crawling, side-stepping, etc. Also, there are background effects such as earthquakes and tornadoes that will affect your character movements, something that I haven't really noticed in other games in the genre. Another unique feature is that in Shadow Warrior, not only to you get to control Lo Wang, but you get to drive around in tanks and use other machinery such as bulldozers, forklifts, remote control cars and water crafts.
Replay Value
Assuming you don't hate first-person 3D action games, the replay value in Shadow Warrior is fairly high. First of all, as a one player game, the levels offer a lot of variety, which is something that games in this genre are generally poor in. Some of the environments include a Battleship with working turrets and weaponry, a Volcano with a hidden base, a construction site with working machinery, and Japanese temples and ruins. The full version of the game includes the four levels of the shareware version plus eighteen other levels, and with five different levels of difficulty, it should provide enough challenge for most gamers.
And if the one player game doesn't really give you the challenge that you are looking for, Shadow Warrior is eight player network and two player modem supported, featuring both deathmatch and co-operative play, giving a lot of added replay value. The one complaint is that as a multi-player game, Shadow Warrior isn't in the same class as Quake because the levels aren't nearly as well suited for deathmatches, it doesn't seem to have the same client side protection that you get with Quakeworld, and it just isn't as fun to play.
Graphics
Shadow Warrior is based on 3D Realms' Build Engine that was used for Duke Nukem 3D and for the most part Shadow Warrior looks a lot like Duke 3D. The graphics are based on actual voxelized sprites, not polygons, that are both detailed and realistic looking. In addition to that, there are also a lot of graphical features such as fog effects, colored lighting, realtime reflective mirrors, water with wave action, transparent water that you can see into and out of, and a lot of huge and very interactive environments. At the lowest resolution, which I had to run Shadow Warrior at to get a good frame rate, the graphics are very pixilated, especially when you get close up to objects and enemy characters. If you are able to run Shadow Warrior at one of the high resolutions the graphics will be much sharper (duh), but objects, walls, and enemy characters still get very pixilated when close up. By the way, the computer that was used for this review is a Pentium 75 with 48 megabytes of RAM, which barely meets the minimum requirements of a Pentium system with 16 megabytes of RAM.
Sound
The sound is one of the coolest and most hardcore aspects of Shadow Warrior, as it is what separates it from most other first-person 3D Action games. All the sound effects are great, but the best part is the voice of the characters, which are extremely funny and add a lot of character to the game. And just remember one thing, "you no mess with Lo Wang!"
80% |
