Shadow warrior review. Review of Shadow Warrior (2013) Japanese Policeman

At one time, it was remembered for the rivers of blood, two-handed shooting and the general meaninglessness of the events taking place on the screen. Remake from a Polish studio Flying Wild Hog only pretends to be a loyal supporter of retro classics, but in fact uses selected attributes, like hipsters use a moth-eaten sweater. The lack of health regeneration takes you back to the good old first aid kits that are hidden on every corner, and those who have already eaten their share of magic pills will be offered healing magic that can be used at any moment of their free time. Automatic regeneration spells will come in handy during fights with countless hordes and obnoxious bosses. For the most hopeless, there is a last chance perk, which, with one health, gives you a few seconds and incredible strength to destroy the enemy and steal the energy of his soul.�

Closed doors, magical barriers and the absence of a map are another hello from the nineties. But the game is too linear to get lost in the labyrinths of identical rooms, and the illumination system for the desired door makes navigation much more predictable. But sometimes it fails, leaving you wondering about the next step. It’s a fashionable theme among Poles to clone the same interiors (hello, Lords of the Fallen) is more likely explained by a modest budget, rather than by the complexities of national identity. True, by the end of the game the levels become too vast, and the repetition of the same arenas is painfully depressing. Cut it out Flying Wild Hog at least half of this content would make it much easier for everyone. The already mentioned magical seals, which at the beginning of the game serve as a serious challenge, forcing you to sweat to find the hidden well of darkness, by the end of the game stand every meter, rewarding their destruction with another wave of condemned opponents.

The main character of the story - ninja Lo Wang - on behalf of his boss Orochi Zilla must buy back the ancient blade of Nobitsura Kage. But everything does not go according to plan, and Lo Weng himself enters into a contract with the ancient demon Hoji. It is on the sharp dialogues of Hoxha and Weng that a good half of the charm of the game rests. Sometimes the heat is turned up by fortune cookies like “politeness is as contagious as gonorrhea” or pixelated anime girls taking a bath with demons. But no matter how hard we try Flying Wild Hog It’s quite difficult to make the hero as antisocial as possible; in a world where shit has long become an art object, it’s quite difficult to surprise with sexism or an obscene joke. But you can be amazed by a completely artistic plot in a genre that considers the presentation of the story optional. In many ways, it is the desire to know the story of Khoja that will force you to complete this game to the end.�

Since the main character prefers a sharp sword to all weapons, for most of the game you will be chopping, shredding and decapitating dozens of types of enemies. Starting from harmless devils and ending with huge demons in stone chain mail. Necromancers in Chinese hats, raising dead brothers from their graves, two-horned overlords with whips and lightning-fast ghosts will give you a lot of trouble. Particularly surprising are the black rabbits, which, accompanied by “heavy metal,” knock almost all your health out of you. But individual bosses in the arenas do not cause delight or rejection - they are just ordinary.

When I played the original Shadow Warriorem in 1997, I was still in school. I remember that the game didn't make a big impression on me at the time. This is an FPS in which you move forward, overcome countless crowds of enemies and open the next door with the help of the keys you find. The game Shadow Warrior was unlucky, because in the same year Blood hit personal computers, which became an icon of the genre for many years. This doesn't mean that Shadow Warrior was a bad game, of course. I would rather say that he was a fairly typical representative of the genre, which I just didn’t like very much. What this game looked like in the 90s. XX century, however, you can check it yourself, because it has been available for free on the Steam platform since May 29, 2013. Shadow Warrior is worth paying attention to, first of all, because the Polish studio Flying Wild Hog took responsibility for its remake.

Plot.

In the original Shadow Warriorze, the protagonist, Lo-Wan, was a security guard who worked for Zilla Enterprises, a huge corporation that controlled almost every aspect of industrial production in the Land of the Rising Sun. Its president, Teacher Zilla, corrupt and with unlimited power, decided to conquer Japan with the help of creatures originating from the world of demons. Standing in his way was Lo-Wan, who defeated him in the final battle (a man versus a large fighting robot similar to a samurai) and put an end to his crazy desires.

The new Shadow Warrior, although it did not completely abandon the ideas of the original, placed emphasis differently. Events take a bad turn, the hero is captured, and to top it all off, the creatures from hell begin to invade. To save his life, Law makes a pact with the demon Hoshim and thus finds himself in the very center of a conflict that he does not understand at first. It quickly becomes clear that it is caused by three legendary swords. Combined as one, they are able to kill the Ancients, so it is not surprising that demons try to lay their dirty paws on them.

Of course, Teacher Zilla is still one of the main antagonists, but in the new Shadow Warrior the conflict unfolds more globally. The authors decided to present something that had not previously been mentioned, namely the motives behind the demons. The plot is introduced gradually during the game, with the help of short animated inserts, similar to those used in the game The Witcher 2. Like in a good movie, we will gradually reach the finale, in which the fate of not only the Earth, but also the entire world of the Ancients is at stake. The story in Shadow Warrior is one of the game's strengths, providing the necessary context for hours of slaughtering hordes of enemies.

Mood is another thing that prevents the player from getting bored between bloody battles. Our hero inserts jokes and funny phrases at almost every step. Another cute element is the fortune cookie, which contains “life” advice and sayings. At some point, I found myself carefully examining new maps so as not to accidentally miss any of them. A nice twist towards the 90s. XX century, are also gambling houses, which contain slot machines with public projects and programs Devolver Digital and Flying Wild Hog. This is a really great product placement idea that is not annoying.

Gameplay.

Shadow Warrior is a return to the classic FPS genre. Consists of passing through successive waves of enemies, finding keys that open doors and constantly moving forward. The developers, however, managed to introduce several elements in this aspect that enliven and make this process diverse.

The katana combat here is very well thought out and, above all, looks great. This is largely due to the various types of powers that are purchased during the game. It turns out that instead of mindlessly pressing the attack button, we plan various combinations of attacks, with the help of which we make a bloody mess out of our opponents: heads roll on the ground, severed limbs, fountains of blood splash. Almost every encounter, however, is analyzed based on the creativity and variety of attacks, with the player receiving points for beautiful attacks. Believe me, the desire to get the highest score provides strong motivation for completing subsequent battles. The Flying Wild Hog programmers tried very hard to ensure that the game was not monotonous.

The same applies to opening new doors. Despite the fact that technically all this is the same, in one level we are looking for a watch that needs to be destroyed in order to open the door, another time a key or a smart card, and also various kinds of sensors, valves, etc. From time to time it also happens, for example, to plant charges and blow up shipwrecks, which also adds some variety. In addition, we can play hidden object, however, this aspect, by the way, is less diverse.

The weaker element of the game are the boss encounters. I won’t reveal how the final fight goes so as not to spoil the fun for anyone, but the previous skirmishes are too short. This happens because by shooting at certain places in the enemy’s armor, when they are temporarily deactivated, you must destroy the object he is guarding. And so again and again. It seems to me that the fights could have been changed, because in this form it becomes simply boring to fight them. It's a shame that they let themselves be killed so easily.

Hero Personalization .

The last aspect worth paying attention to is the character development system. There are three types of resources in the game that allow you to personalize the hero. The first of them is money, the second is crystals, the third is karma points. Money allows you to buy weapons and buy more ammunition. Each pistol can receive three different upgrades, of which one always provides an alternative firing mode. For example, the ability to shoot from two UZIs, known from the original, was perceived here as a third improvement - a machine gun. Of course, the more powerful our weapon, the more expensive its modifications. It's a shame that the remake didn't include the railgun, one of my favorite weapons. Although the choice is already quite wide - from a pistol and crossbow to rocket launchers.

Crystals and karma points allow you to develop the hero’s skills and powers. It is this element that allows you to personalize your experience of the game to the greatest extent. The hero can be improved in several ways. You can make him, for example, an excellent swordsman or a master of evasion, and a ranged fighter. You can invest points in restoring health or incredible mobility. You can finally make him a magician. It is best to create some kind of combination, since there are a lot of available talent points.

Finally.

The audiovisual binding of Shadow Warrior is of a high standard. Everything is made with a lot of detail, there are many elements of the environment that are subject to destruction, and a creative approach to destruction gives a great advantage in battle. You can, for example, let an enemy get close to a car and blow it up, or throw your opponents between flammable barrels and cause a chain reaction with one well-aimed shot. A classic, but what else would you expect from a shooter? Perhaps a little more different landscapes.

Corruption of game saves is a serious problem. This is very annoying, as it means you have to replay the entire level from the beginning. Fortunately, the risk of such a situation can be minimized by doing “quiksave” frequently, since they are almost never damaged. Let's hope this bug is resolved quickly.

Shadow Warrior is a great game that proves what the guys at Flying Wild Hog can do. I’ll also add that the game can be completed in about 15-17 hours. If you are fans of this category of games, there is nothing else left to do but start methodically eliminating the demons. Without fail and without talking.

"Alone in the field is not Lo Wang"- ancient Japanese wisdom.

Before us is a classic first-person shooter, the existence of which many probably forgot, and some have never seen. You have seven types of weapons at your disposal, which you carry with you constantly and you can take out the gun you like at any time. There is no cover system - fight your enemies on level ground, forget about those childish boxes to sit behind and walls to peek out from behind. The enemy will come at you in waves, wanting to shred the main character, leaving him with a bald head and a katana. And your task is to survive and kill everyone in style. Let me make a reservation right away that the game only has campaign and arena modes. There is no multiplayer in Shadow Warrior.

The game takes place somewhere in Japan. Mercenary Lo Wang sets out on his next mission, the goal of which is to buy back from a collector a rare katana named Nobitsura Kage. Taking a sword in his hands for self-defense and two million dollars for the owner of a unique item, Lo Wang enters the house. Quite quickly it becomes clear that the collector does not need money, and the sale of Nobitsura Kage does not interest him at all, and the mercenary does not inspire respect in him. In general, a mess begins, in which the hero first shreds everyone for a long time, and then comes face to face with the owner of a rare sword. Strange things happen here. A mysterious demon named Hoji appears near the collector, and the intractable seller develops supernatural abilities.

Lo Wang comes to his senses already in a bamboo cage, which protects him from general chaos. The collector's guards and demons from the other world are fighting en masse around him, something is burning, something is exploding. Not understanding what is happening, Lo Wang gets out, arms himself and soon meets with an intelligent, talking inhabitant of the other world named Hoji. After a short conversation, the demon sides with Lo Wang, promising to help him get Nobitsura Kage. For this, he asks the mercenary to perform a favor - to kill the enemies of Hoji, who expelled him from the other world, with the legendary katana. It is worth noting an important point here - the katana is the most powerful weapon against the inhabitants of another reality, they fear it like fire. Demons cannot even touch her, so they created the Whisperers: stupid dolls that can become a courier for the delivery of Nobitsura Kage. One of the Whisperers has already taken possession of the katana and is in a hurry to deliver the sword to its owner. Luo Wang has no choice but to agree to Hoji’s services, because his mission is on the verge of failure, and the demons are not giving him any peace. Despite the fact that the demon has lost most of his memory and does not even remember the reason why he fell out of favor, he still knows much more about the world of demons than a mercenary, and knowledge is a huge power.

The gameplay in Shadow Warrior is very similar to what you could see in such cult games as Duke Nukem, Painkiller and Serious Sam. There is even a tribute to the latter here - in the game you will more than once come across a machine where the adventures of Cool Sam are launched. While playing, you will calmly explore the world until a horde of monsters comes out to attack you. Having fought off her, you will receive an assessment of your actions. The higher it is, the more karma you will receive. Style points depend on how colorfully you dealt with the enemy and how many pieces of his body you cut off from him during the battle. Use different types of weapons, aim for the head, turn on magic, use the environment and a score of five shuriken will be in your pocket.

In addition to the listed weapons, Lo Wang is quite deft with a katana. With its help, he can deliver both light and heavy blows, and in addition, he is capable of carrying out particularly strong techniques. There are four of them in total, but one of them will be available to you from the very beginning of the game. It is performed in a rather strange way: you need to tilt the analogue forward two times in a row, and then hold down the light strike button (R2). When you release it, Lo Wang will make a strong attack. The remaining three techniques are based on the same analogue - two times to the left + strike, two times down + strike, two times to the right + strike. Agree, it sounds inconvenient. Apparently, this is why an alternative option has been offered for PlayStation 4 owners. You can swipe the touchpad in the desired direction, up for example, and then press strike. It comes out faster and easier.

As the game progresses, Lo Wang will become stronger and will have to be upgraded in three directions. The collected money can be spent at any time on improving weapons, Ki crystals will be used to enhance magic, and karma will allow you to strengthen your skills. Crystals can be found throughout the levels on special pedestals. Karma is obtained for colorfully killing opponents and for finding hiding places with altars. Leveling up in the game is not done for show. By discovering certain skills, improving certain skills, you will set your own style of further play. You can focus on healing, or on running speed, or you can increase the damage dealt to demons, or pump up your luck and start finding more ammunition. There are really a lot of options.

The game has 17 levels, and my first playthrough took about 16 hours. The mission took me from 40 to 90 minutes, but it’s worth mentioning that I was trying to find as many secrets as possible, so I looked into literally every corner. And what you won’t find in these nooks and crannies: cookies with strange predictions (“cookies don’t really exist” or “peace, work, Lo Wang”), copulating rabbits (and it’s better not to tear them away from this task, otherwise you’ll be in trouble ), rooms made in the style of the original Shadow Warrior (“I hate this newfangled pixel art,” says Lo Wang). The game is simply filled with all sorts of surprises, barbs, gags, sarcasm and allusions. And the already mentioned fortune cookies are a real treasure trove of quite life-changing humor.

The review was written based on the digital version of the game for PlayStation 4, provided to the editors by the developers. All screenshots presented in the material were taken directly from the specified system. The game is accompanied by Russian subtitles, which do not always accurately convey the situation; sometimes they call Lo Wang by a different name, and sometimes they simply broadcast the English text.

Genre: FPS

Developer: Flying Wild Hog

Publisher: Devolver Digital

Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Release date: year 2013

System requirements: OS Windows XP/Vista/7/8; AMD/Intel Dual-Core processor with a clock frequency of 2.4 GHz; 2 GB RAM; 8 GB of free hard disk space; ATI Radeon HD 3870/NVIDIA 8800 GT video card, compatible with DirectX9.0c; sound card supporting DirectX9.0c.

Grade: 7.5

The developers from Flying Wild Hog are undoubtedly guys with imagination. In the past, this young Polish studio has already distinguished itself with a good cyberpunk action movie. Now they are planning to resurrect Shadow Warrior, a classic FPS from the 90s that probably few people remember today. Forget about cyberpunk, now we are waiting for a mystical story with demons and other worlds, heavily mixed with Japanese culture.

Revenge of the Yakuza

Let us immediately note, especially for those who played the original Shadow Warrior- the new part is in no way a remake, unlike, for example, - they really tried to make a remake there. And here Shadow Warrior (2013) - This is rather a creative rethinking of the original game.

The story starts out like a standard early 90's Asian action movie. A young killer working for the powerful Zilla corporation receives a trivial task - to go to a rich man and buy an old samurai sword from him for 2 million dollars. But the rich man refuses to sell the sword and sends his bodyguards down on the protagonist, who must first be cut down with a sword (enemies, by the way, also often rush into battle with swords), and then shot with a firearm. But then something very strange begins - our unlucky killer is attacked by hordes of grotesque demons who came from God knows where! Here it turns out that the complex ancient samurai sword is needed not only by bandits from our world, but also by mysterious and powerful entities from the world of demons...

The premise is banal, but, nevertheless, the plot is interesting enough to play the game and expect how things will end. In addition, the main character very soon receives a demonic escort who has a great sense of humor. It’s a pleasure to watch the exchanges between the killer and the demon.

Rubilovo!

Replace the first-person view with the standard view from the back for shredders - and Shadow Warrior It could easily pass for a classic fantasy slasher film, even Japanese motifs and demons would be very out of place. The “meat” is done beautifully and tastefully, sword strikes, shots and explosions literally tear enemies apart. There are also huge bosses clad in armor, each meeting with which turns into a test of endurance. Well, the classic action-adventure scheme - find a key somewhere on the level and use it to open a locked door - is also included. Is it the doors to Shadow Warrior They are closed with multi-colored magical seals, and they must be opened by destroying multi-colored magical altars.

The hero leveling system also came straight from slashers, and it was done very well. In total, we have three different types of in-game currency. We spend money on buying ammunition for in-game weapons - it’s very useful that you can buy from the game store right in the midst of battle. There are not many guns, but both pistols and machine guns are presented with dignity, and there is also a place for exotic things like crossbows. And thanks to the solid reserves of gold in the game chests in Shadow Warrior It's quite possible to play like a standard first-person shooter. Moreover, among our opponents there are not only demons and yakuza with swords, but also well-organized soldiers with machine guns in their hands.

Yes, and demons are different - some are eager to fight hand-to-hand, waving their clawed paws, while others strive to attack from the air, showering them with gouts of flame. A couple of times we even encounter standard shooter entertainment - we are asked to stand behind a turret and shoot a crowd of enemies attacking us.

Magic crystals, the second local currency, can be invested in learning new magical skills, such as healing or slowing down time. Well, the third game currency - experience points - can be invested in increasing the health bar or the speed of recovery of your wounds. And yes, Shadow Warrior (2013) , as well as Rise of the Triad (2013) – the shooter is truly old-school, that’s why health here is not restored by itself, you have to look for first aid kits on the levels.

It cannot be said that the creators Shadow Warrior We were really racking our brains over the game locations. The levels here are not shocking with anything strange and unusual, and, nevertheless, they turned out to be quite memorable and interesting. The game is quite clearly divided into three large components. We begin our mini-war with demons in Japanese villages and towns, where we walk through forest groves, exterminate demons, standing knee-deep in water. Beauty, and that's all!

Then we are transferred to the shipyard of the Zilla corporation, where we have, among other things, to run around a huge ship and crawl through some kind of sewer - the most boring levels in the entire game. And the last third of the adventure is the picturesque snow-covered mountain peaks and the mansion located on them. In between levels, we find ourselves in the world of demons, where bosses await - huge, clumsy and boring (in the best traditions of slashers). And yes, battles with bosses are quite tiring, because you need to drop hundreds of rounds into each of them...

Shadow Warrior the new generation is not enough to become truly memorable. It doesn’t touch the soul like , it doesn’t please with a twisted story like , it doesn’t amaze with an unusual atmosphere like . In essence, everything that shows us Shadow Warrior, we've already seen in dozens of slasher films before it. Except now we look at it all from a first-person perspective.

And yet, the remake was a success - the original is inferior to the new game in all respects. Otherwise, what we have before us is simply a good, albeit somewhat drawn-out, second-tier shooter that you don’t mind spending time on.