Shadow Warrior Classic Complete

Welp, easy review: one of the very best classic doom-like of all time, can be bought by beginners of the genre and hardcore fans alike. Needless to say, I will not write more about its mechanics or all the good innovations it has brought to the genre itself ( which I don't think needs more words to be explained since it's freaking awesome and a true Cult-game). As said before, the game that started it all (speaking of the new Shadow warrior saga) has it all and explain it would just be a waste of time. However, If you are a newcomer, prepare yourself for one of the most beautiful, engaging, funny, and underestimated game of all time ( although most consider duke Nukem better, this one is actually my favorite). Lo Wang, even after all these years, remains one of the best characters you will ever see ( even in its clichè stereotypes remains cool and funny as hell). So, enough said, Who wants some Waaaang?!

This game is like wine. When it first released it was late at least a few years. Old engine, dated gameplay. But that was a long time ago and now we can use nostalgia glasses and simply do not care about that. What we recieve is a good game with gigantic balls, because we expect it to be dated. Solid purchase.

First of all, play this in a source port. I recommend Raze, which is easily the best looking and running port, though you'll have to download the .grp file for Twin Dragon from somewhere (freeware), since Raze doesn't support the loose files included in the GOG distribution. Playing Shadow Warrior in a source port is also an infinitely better experience than suffering through the buggy Redux version. Explaining why Shadow Warrior is such a gem is somewhat difficult. In terms of gameplay, it's not much different from Duke Nukem 3D, with strong emphasis on key hunting, finding the level exit, and shooting baddies. Tonally, the shareware episode in particular is quite a bit darker, despite Lo Wang's one-liners easing things up a bit. Speaking of, recently there has been a debate about Lo Wang's lines and portrayal being "racist" and "politically incorrect," which they definitely are, but none of this is played straight, so I don't think this criticism really applies. Rather, much of Shadow Warrior's appeal lies in its tight mechanics coupled with its relentless difficulty, which always keeps one engaged without ever feeling cheap. Coupled with Lee Jackson's highly memorable and atmospherically enriching score, Shadow Warrior is a weirdly addicting experience that simultaneously manages to never get boring or repetitive, despite the gameplay essentially not changing outside of the locale you're finding yourself in. Even though the expansions aren't quite on the same level as the original game, they include some neat level design ideas, and definitely are worth a playthrough if you enjoyed the main campaign. In general, you'll be hard pressed to find a level that doesn't do something cool or original in terms of design or looks in Shadow Warrior. Overall, Shadow Warrior is another 3D Realms great, and well worth playing for anyone who enjoys classic FPS even today.

If you like Duke Nukem 3D Atomic edition then you will surely like this game as well. It feels and plays like Duke Nukem. Actually it feels like a chinese version of Duke Nukem or should I say, it feels like an events that happened at the same time when the aliens invasion happaned in Duke Nukem. The game is very good. If you like mad action games with some humor, than this one is for you. The only problem is, old style controls but its not a problem to get used to it. Anyway, the game is currently free, so you should try and see for yourself if this game is for you. I definetelly recommend it to all old style shooter fans. And yeah, more than 5 stars to this game and a big thanks to GOG for adding it.

Similar to Duke Nukem 3D this was a game that did not attempt to beat Doom at its own game but instead bring a distinct different identity to it delivering FPS gameplay, and the fact that this one was forgotten probably does come down to that it just did not deliver quite enough that hadn't been seen before. The engine is fairly similar to Duke Nukem and lacks some of the most fun stuff of that one. I will say that they did a fantastic job on the vehicle combat where you can actually drive certain vehicles and fire guns and it's incredibly smooth. And they also don't overly rely on that. It does deliver on playing a martial arts flick. This was back when a number of the major video games set out to let you do in a game what you like seeing in genre flicks and like many others it absolutely excels at it. The sword is absurdly powerful but does of course also force you to take a huge risk because you have to get really close to every enemy you attack with it so there's a great cost benefit analysis when it comes to it. The various ranged weapons all have their effective uses. There was nothing that I found myself just never firing and there's some quite cool choices. The level design is cool, there are some real nail biting challenges. In one part you actually have to run on the outside of a plane flying fast through the air. I mean obviously it doesn't quite have realistic physics considering when it came out but even so yeah. One misstep and you immediately fall off the thing. That's really really fun. It's quite clear that they wanted to fit in as many cultural elements as they could and it really is impressive how much there is. It's in the music, enemy designs, environments your arsenal which includes throwing stars. I appreciate that it features outside and inside areas. The graphics are quite good, the sound design is great and the two worked together to deliver gnarly bloody brutal gore and violence.