Shadow Warrior (2013)

Shadow Warrior is a first-person shooter video game developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Linux and OS X. It is a reboot of the 1997 game originally developed by 3D Realms, featuring the same protagonist and a modern era setting with Asian mythology elements, all of which were redesigned with modern, full 3D graphics and new gameplay features, while also being a throwback to classic first-person shooters.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Lo Wang now has a personality similar to a Deadpool-esque Anti-Hero and mercenary that collects comic book art, listens to 80s rock and likes to drop references to video games and movies rather than a perverted old man who only spouted out martial arts movie quotes and clichés.
 * 2) This game along with the Rise of the Triad remake was one of the first games to go back to the classic Boomer Shooter formula that many First-Person Shooters had abandoned at this point. This includes the lack of regenerative health, the extended weapon arsenal, and finding secrets by exploring the levels.
 * 3) Wang can upgrade his abilities and weapons with multiple forms of in-game currency for different aspects.
 * 4) * Money is used used to upgrade weaponry such as recoil laser sights, extra barrels and new fire modes.
 * 5) * Karma points are gained through how well the player performs in combat, like well-aimed gunshots and katana moves such as head shots and limb removals (indicated briefly in-game) or large deposits hidden within stages. These points can be spent on new skills.
 * 6) ** Katana Mastery: Increases katana effectiveness in combat.
 * 7) ** Knowledge: Increases killing effectiveness against both lower and higher demons. Also lets you use Demon Heads as a weapon.
 * 8) ** Luck: Increases amount of money, hearts and ammo you find in the game.
 * 9) ** Mind: Increase your damage output, health pool and gives immunity to fire.
 * 10) ** Movement: Increases Lo Wang's movement effectiveness.
 * 11) ** Restoration: Increases Lo Wang's healing abilities and survivability in the fights.
 * 12) * Ki Crystals that can also be found hidden in levels that allow Wang to learn new powers that can be used in combat, including shockwave attacks, health and damage properties and stunning or manipulating enemies. These new abilities are represented through tattoos on Wang’s body.
 * 13) Great voice acting especially Jason Liebrecht as Lo Wang whose voice perfectly fits the sarcastic and playful nature of the character.
 * 14) A pretty good story involving Lo Wang having to stop a legendary sword known as the Nobitsura Kage in order to fix the Shadow Realm.
 * 15) Every now and again, you can find areas that are recreations of levels from the original Shadow Warrior in all their pixelized glory.
 * 16) Decent graphics for its time.
 * 17) Great soundtrack that makes it feel like you're in a samurai movie.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The bosses are nothing special. All require you to a specific spot on their armor before revealing their weak points.
 * 2) Some of the voice acting sounds phoned in at times.
 * 3) The game does have some technical problems including glitches with triggering cutscenes, framerate drops, and instantly dying by dashing off a high place.
 * 4) While the game looks decent, the overall graphics looks pretty cheap (most likely because of the game's low budget). The corpses found littered throughout majority of the levels especially look more like mannequins covered in red paint.
 * 5) The game combines the elements of a hack-and-slash and first person shooting since you can shoot up enemies and then hack them to pieces. While this isn't a bad idea, the game seems to rely too much on the sword since there are many enemies that ambush the player and the guns don't do as good of a job of killing enemies overall and messes with the flow which makes the gameplay somewhat repetitive.

Reception
Shadow Warrior received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. M Randy of Destructoid scored the game an 8.5/10 with the consensus "Impressive effort with a few noticeable problems holding it back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash." GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd awarded the game a 7/10, he favorably compared Shadow Warrior over other modern reboots in terms of gameplay and humor, particularly against another former 3D Realms series Duke Nukem that "unlike Duke's return in Duke Nukem Forever, Lo Wang's reappearance isn't a sad and outdated one", also noting the variety in the combat segments, finding "that magical sweet spot where you feel as if you overcame the odds without ever encountering the frustration." When commenting on the boss fights, however, VanOrd felt that while they "make for a fearsome presence" visually, he noted the overly straightforward strategy for all of them, causing them to "drag" and become "slogs". Dan Stapleton from IGN gave the game a score of 8.6/10 saying that "Shadow Warrior's excellent fast-paced swordplay and surprising story make Lo Wang's comeback tour a great success." On VideoGamer.com, Pete Worth's scored the PC version a 6/10 score and said "A fun, if limited, throwback.", while Tom Orry scored the PlayStation 4 version a 7/10 and stated that "Shadow Warrior is old-school in all the right ways, bringing the original into the modern era while leaving some of its less desirable aspects in the past where they belong."

Videos
D3GG6xbevhg mvhEYbNAE9E FZnTkzJwEHw aNdQ4kAheI4