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I'll just get right to the ass kicking!
Who wants some Wang?
I have never been more happy to be wrong about a game
Shadow Warrior 2013 is just so awesome I have to talk about it, so having just finished the game I thought I'd review it and show it to everyone here.
Shadow Warrior 2013 is a reboot of the 1997 3D Realms game, it was developed by Flying Wild Hog Studios and published by Devolver Digital.
The plot of the game follows Lo Wang, hired by Zilla Enterprise to locate the Nobitsura Kage, a mystical katana connected to ancient gods that forces him into battle with demonic forces. Throughout the game Wang is also aided by Hoji, a banished spirit. The plot takes a tongue-in-cheek approach similar to the original game, while Wang himself was redesigned.
I was so happy and relieved to have been wrong about this game when I finally played it.
When I first heard about this game, I was happy to hear it was being developed by Flying Wild Hog, because they are known for their game Hard Reset which is a game that has great old school gameplay.
But when the developer interviews, early screens and early trailers showed up, I got very worried and then very angry, the developer interviews stated that the developers were wanting to focus more on the story and making it more acceptable to modern gamers, which gave me the horrible feeling that it would be a repeat of DmC and Tomb Raider 2013, when the early screens showed up, it looked very generic and the enemy designs looked lazy compared to the original, then when the early trailers showed up, the trailers focused on cutscenes and showed signs of handholding which got me very angry at the game because I feared it had been streamlined to hell.
Fortunately I was wrong and I'm so happy to be.
(FYI, These are my screenshots)
Story:
Think I should get this out of the way, the story in Shadow Warrior is not the main focus of the game, but I found the story to be surprisingly good, the narrative of the game takes place mostly through character dialog and some cutscenes as the player mostly never leaves the POV of Lo Wang.
The plot revolves around Lo Wang being tasked to collect the magical sword know as the Nobitsura Kage, a power ancient weapon whom Lo Wangs boss, Zilla, wants very badly.
Lo Wang was sent to a reserve of a private collector who supposedly owned the sword, under orders from Zilla to buy the sword from the collector for two million dollars, however the collector refuses and Lo Wang is forced to retrieve the sword by deadly force when a demonic army invades wanting the sword as well.
Along the way he meets a banished spirit named Hoji, who helps him in the adventure.
Lo Wang himself is a more younger, politically correct version of his older, more offensive 1997 version, but never the less, still a good character.
Gameplay:
The gameplay of this FPS makes it without a single shadow of doubt, the best FPS this year and the best FPS to release in years recent years.
Shadow Warrior 2013 is a FPS designed with old school running and gunning gameplay in which the player must complete objective after objective while fighting a large number of enemies in well designed, non linear old school like levels.
Levels themselves are divided into chapters, each with Wang progressing through smaller stages that have side and hidden areas, occasionally allowing another route or flexibility with movement in combat.
Shadow Warrior 2013 takes the unique FPS sword play from the original 1997 game and improves on it even more, Wang’s signature katana that while is for use in close quarters combat, it is also very effective against enemies. Different swings and strikes can be utilized depending on different computer key and mouse movement combinations, creating unique moves of varying effectiveness depending on the enemy type. For example a well-timed decapitation can instantly take down a foe or a large swing can strike multiple opponents at once. It can also be used as a quick strike when using firearms in closer quarters. The katana can also slice up enemies into multiple pieces.
As you progress in the game you find more weapons which are very satisfying to find, a very rare occasion to find in a modern FPS game, as in old school FPS games like Doom, Duke 3D etc, when you found a new weapon you had that very good feeling to find a weapon, it's hard for me to explain, but old school shooter fans will know the feeling, it's back in Shadow Warrior 2013.
I won't tell you what weapons there are in the game, because it's way more satisfying for you to find them without you knowing what they are.
Also as you progress through the game you can collect money and experience points to upgrade your weapons such as adding laser sights, reducing recoil and such, as well as upgrading Lo Wangs abilities. Money is found by simply finding money laying on the battlefield floor or by collecting it out of crates stashed throughout the game, as well as completing levels.
Upgrading Lo Wangs abilities takes certain experience points called Karma points, you gain karma points by killing enemies, like well aimed gun shots and katana moves such as headshots and limb removals, completing levels and gain Karma bonuses based on your performance in battle.
Also you can gain more Karma points by finding secrets in the game, YES there are secrets in this game and they sure are good ones, some even referencing the 1997 game.
The method of upgrading Lo Wang is finding certain stones called "Ki Crystals" they upgrade Lo Wangs magical powers, such as permanently increasing health, shockwave attacks, damage properties and stunning or manipulating enemies and so on.
One of Lo Wangs powers to help modern gamers is the regenerating health power up, keep in mind that Shadow Warrior 2013 does not have the stock regen health system most games have these days, Shadow Warrior 2013 dons the old school health packs and body armor system very well, however these are of course like old school shooters limited on the battlefield, the Regen health system Shadow Warrior 2013 uses is an unlockable mode where the player must enter a certain move and Lo Wang will begin healing himself, the power however can only heal a certain amount, you can not use the power to restore maximum health.
These new abilities are represented through tattoos on Wang’s body.
Other unlockable powers which give more creative ways to kill enemies on the battlefield can be unlocked throughout the game, which I won't spoil.
Enemies vary in strength, size and attack pattern. Some enemies will attack head on while others will hold back and attack with ranged weapons or their magic abilities to make things more challenging, some enemies can simply be killed while others can be hindered with the removal of limbs.
Shadow Warrior 2013 also has the unique old school boss battles that are mostly massive enemies that require you to attack certain points of them and then fire off at their weak points.
Also, Shadow Warrior has old school, save where ever you want
However I think you can only have one save slot and that gets overwritten by checkpoints.
Graphics:
The visuals of Shadow Warrior 2013 are AAA and then some.
The game is very colorful and the levels are just so beautifully designed.
Shadow Warrior is a indie game that rivals AAA games alright.
I don't think I need to do much talking here.
Worth a thousand words:
Verdict:
It's perfectly simple, Shadow Warrior 2013 is f**king awesome and absolutely worth checking out, especially at it's low price.
The gameplay is loads of fun, the story is surprisingly good for a game that focuses on gameplay and best of all, this game is pretty damn long, it took me near 19 hours to complete single player on normal and I still haven't found all the secrets and upgraded everything yet.
This game is well well worth it.
10/10
My Game of the Year.
YOU GOT THE POWER!!!
PLAY IT!!!
