Mini Video Game Review – Shadow Warrior

Recently I have been playing Shadow Warrior; and have found it a real struggle to get into! Developed by Flying Wild Hog; Shadow Warrior is a first person shooter game where the player takes on the role of a mercenary trying to acquire a sword from a supernatural horde. The game is a reboot of a 1997 game with the same name, and from looks alone it should be something that I would enjoy: It’s Japanese themed, it contains sword usage as well as guns and looks very different to other things on the market. The art style is pretty simplistic but at the beginning is quite a fun little laugh and makes you think of games like Goldeneye and Red Steel. The sword mechanics are pretty good, at the beginning; but can get quite dizzying. The other weapons on show have a tendency not to work all that well, so you’ll use the sword a lot more. The levels are overly long and don’t seem to go anywhere. There are little puzzles to solve such as needing to break a shrine to unlock a section, but at times you can’t move forward until you have destroyed all enemies in a given area, which in practice means that looking for a shrine to open a door seems all rather pointless. The maps are basically the same with little difference in-between, and so to are the enemies meaning it can get boring very quickly! There are things to collect, but how you unlock things with them is briefly mentioned and you may struggle to do them in the future. It’s a very dizzying experience with a few flaws that don’t take you anywhere majorly interesting. It starts with some beauty and promise, but after a short time, you’ll quickly feel like you’d rather be playing something else.