I reviewed the 1997 game months ago and it got a good response so here's my 2013 review. All in all a decent enough game, but not "old school" by any means.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3GG6xbevhg

My review of your review:

Number one: You can save your game at any point.

(Also, turn off the glowing items in the game options)

Screw that checkpoint system, and it is fairly embarrassing that you didn't realize this before making a review of the game. It make you look like you don't know what you're talking about. So be very very careful when making claims - otherwise you're just another waste of time on the internet. Accuracy is far more interesting than seeing some guy pretend to know something that he clearly does not.

Moving on:

Shadow Warrior 2013 is as repetitive as Shadow Warrior 1998 - actually strike that, Shadow Warrior 1998 is waaay more repetitive and has platform nonsense.

It has everything to do with its predecessor, seeing as this is a prequel of the story and then there's the gameplay, the monsters, the ninjas, the bantering etc. The story for such a game is *only* to set you up with a wafer thin reason to go from point A to point B - a player does not have any free will on where he wants to go next.

That wasn't even on the table in Deus Ex. Even there, in one of the most open FPS RPGs out there, brimming with story and decisions to make, you still had to go from point A to point B.

As for fighting in "arena like settings" yeah that happened a lot in the original Shadow Warrior of 1998 - especially with end bosses but not exclusively. Sometimes one was cut off in an arena like setting, usually smaller than the 2013 version offers, but an arena like setting non the less.

I certainly remember searching for ammo in the strangest places in Shadow Warrior 1998. The cash is just there to support the weapons upgrade system - take it or leave it, it hardly spoils the fun.

And getting a bonus after a fight depending on how much mayhem one caused is neither here nor there.

Remember the amazing graphics of Shadow Warrior 1998? No, me neither - so this game is clearly nothing like the original /sarcasm

It's a new game yes, and it can be criticized, definitely - but you did a very poor job of it, with a sneering voice spouting a stream of factual errors and hyperbole.

1/5
Keep at it, perhaps you'll get an epiphany, but otherwise you're just one more waste of space on Youtube

Jesus christ, your review devolved into "get off my lawn you damn kids" at the end there. Look, the game has flaws, but saying it's not old school is plain wrong. It's fashioned after arcade style action with complex levels and lots of loot, lots of shooting, and surprisingly good writing. That's exactly what old school PC shooters were...aside from the good writing part. And I don't know how in the hell people are saying this game is linear, were they expecting Skyrim? It almost feels like Dishonored at times because the layout is fairly complex.

Liked the review. You got one point exactly right: Developers seem to throw around "old school" just as a buzzword and don't know what that really means. This is often most evident in the level design. Haven't played SW'13 yet, so I can't comment on it. But judging by the developers other "old school" title Hard Reset I don't expect it to even come close to the original.

Don't know if I should really buy the game. Especially after the HUGE disappointment of ROTT '13.

This is hilarious. Haven't played the game, but you will judge it.

You might discover the word "expect" in my post. Look up what that means. My developer commentary was based on Hard Reset, which I played, and gameplay videos and reviews of SW.

It is a game made in 2013 and not with the Build engine, but it is old school. Much closer to Shadow Warrior of 1997 than I would have dared to expect.

After seeing the trailer and some comments, I was not sure - but after buying it and playing it any doubts I had are already forgotten and seem quite silly in hindsight.

Shadow Warrior 2013 is basically what 3D Realms would have made, given the chance back in 1997.

So I just bought the game and I'm pleasantly surprised. They managed to improve on Hard Reset on every level. It might not be Shadow Warrior, but it's totally fun. I think I have been to harsh, probably due to the immense disappointment of Rise of the Triad.

I still think that the level design of the original was cleverer, you could look for a secret in every nook and cranny. But that's a minor criticism.

@scampywiak

Maybe I should visualize what people mean when they say this game is linear:

http://i.imgur.com/vv3Iee4.jpg

They're not asking for Skyrim, they're asking for clever level design. Keep in mind that I like Shadow Warrior and that this is a minor criticism.

You nailed it with your "not old-school". Throwing tons of enemies at the player is not what shooters like Doom, Duke 3D and Shadow Warrior were about. Shooting enemies was just half of the deal, the other half was having an organic adventure. The levels felt like actual places, not an amusement park ride, items were scattered around and often well hidden, their positioning and amount was not based on the route and encounters the developers had planned out for you, and, most importantly, monsteres were roaming the levels, they were not just patiently sitting in one spot waiting for you to come and then attack in waves. Of course monsteres were not actually actively roaming, but they were placed to create the illusion of roaming.

These neo-old-school shooters are designed like shootign galleries. There is nothing wrong with this in itself if all you want is just to shoot enemies with cool guns, but this is not what old-school shooters were about. It is also were the perceived repetitiveness comes from, it's always the same: empty hallway, bubble, empty hallway, bubble... in an old school shooter you never knew if there wasn't going to be something around the next corner, even if it as just a single enemy. It's not that old-school shooters were less repetitive, it's that they created a better illusion of a real world. In Shadow Warrior 2013 you get a rating after battles. Who on earth is giving you those and what for? Doom didn't have anyone giving you ratings during the level because you were completely alone and you didn't give an f' about rating, you wanted to liberate the Mars base and survive.