Honest review.

[skibidi groilet]

Shadow Warrior is not really like Shadow Warrior.
It's actually an explosive mix of Painkiller,a bit Serious Sam,and some ideas from Shadow Warrior.

The level progression is very similar to Painkiller,you basically run from arena to arena.
These arenas are linked by a fairly linear path (filled with secrets :D) on wich there will sometimes be prespawned enemies.

Once you reach an arena,you cannot walk away from it,as it locks down.
Enemies will then spawn and attempt to erase you.
If you use your magical powers,for instance,to heal yourself,or if you use the katana's magic attacks,the enemies will get enraged,get more health and charge at you.
The enemies are pretty varied,and you'll never get bored of them.
Even the bossfights are kinda fun,even if they're a bit repetitive.

The gameplay is pretty unique.
The game features 5 guns,2 "bonus" weapons,and the katana.
Once you finish the game,you'll get the opportunity to replay it while keeping your upgrades.

The guns get really fun once you upgrade them,and fighting with them is a joy.
You have a rapid firing revolver that can tear enemies apart,you can dual wield SMGs and destroy everything with a storm of lead,and you can blow everything up with a rocket launcher that fires 3 rockets at a time.

The flamethrower isn't really that effective or fun to use,but it gets interesting once you get the grenade launcher upgrade.
The crossbow is the worst weapon in the game.It's really not very fun or interesting,and the sticky bombs upgrade doesn't really make a difference.
The only time you'll every want tu use it is if you have the ability to charge the shot and you want to deal a lot of damage to a boss.

The katana is pretty unique and very powerful.You can unlock magic attacks (I won't spoil what they are,as discovering them is part of the fun :D) that will give you a lot of different ways to fight.Combined with the dashing mechanic,the melee combat is extremely nervous and satisfying.I'm pretty sure you could finish the game using only the katana outside of the bosses.But it doesn't make the guns less appealing.

The other 2 weapons can be obtained by beheading one of the big minotaur thingies,and is essentially a laser beam,and the other one can be dropped randomly by a weak enemy you cut in half.Yes,you can use their hearts as a weapon.It basically makes all the enemies in range explode.

Overall,the gunplay feels very good,and the only problem I have with it is the time it takes to change weapons.Especially after firing a rocket or a grenade.

The levels flow really well,there are no annoying cutscenes that take control away from you,or useless QTEs,or stupid puzzles.

The story,unexpectedly,was quite good.Not because it was incredibly deep and had a powerful message,but because you (at least I did) will get attached to the characters.
Characters wich I really liked.The duo between Lo Wang and Hoji is genuinely funny at times,and even pretty touching close to the ending.(No spoilers)
The storytelling is done almost entirely through Lo Wang's eyes,except for the Acients memories,wich are very stylized narrated handdrawn cutscenes you get before a boss battle.

I'm not even going touch the stupid new Wang vs old Wang argument,because it's ridiculous.
They are completely different characters.
I like the new Wang.He had a cool transformation from ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ to hero.


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

Thank you Flying Wild Hog for the best FPS I've played since Serious Sam 3.
I heavily recommend this game to anyone who is even mildly interested in FPS games.

YOU'VE GOT THE TOUCH
YOU'VE GOT THE POWER

[RBJ]

Nice review.

Funny you mention Serious Sam by the way, just now I found myself thinking this game is similar in how stuff just spawns and starts running towards you.

[Faolchu]

The person who did the voice on Hoji is one of the best i have heard this year. He's excellent.

[Faolchu]

Originally posted by THE TOUCH:

The levels flow really well,there are no annoying cutscenes that take control away from you,or useless QTEs,or stupid puzzles.

The story,unexpectedly,was quite good.Not because it was incredibly deep and had a powerful message,but because you (at least I did) will get attached to the characters.
Characters wich I really liked.The duo between Lo Wang and Hoji is genuinely funny at times,and even pretty touching close to the ending.(No spoilers)
The storytelling is done almost entirely through Lo Wang's eyes,except for the Acients memories,wich are very stylized narrated handdrawn cutscenes you get before a boss battle.

Other devs take note, this is essential for a singleplayer fps-action game where you all fail.

[skibidi groilet]

Originally posted by Yaksha:

The person who did the voice on Hoji is one of the best i have heard this year. He's excellent.

Agreed.
He managed to sound like a funny ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ during most of the game,but managed to have a very powerful,sad,empty tone when you go find him.

[FourMore]

Originally posted by Yaksha:

Other devs take note, this is essential for a singleplayer fps-action game where you all fail.

Notice that in this game, you hardly see facial animations from close besides the intro. It's a nice idea to cut back costs and work on face animation. :D (I'm not trying to flame the game it's just the way it is.)

[KounterFIT]

Every review is 'honest' whether someone gives a good or bad opinion, it's still theirs thus 'honest'.

[Astro-rjs]

Since it's a different Wang they should have just made a new IP.

[skibidi groilet]

Originally posted by Zero:

Since it's a different Wang they should have just made a new IP.

It's a reboot,not a remake.

(Come on,he's pretty cool :D)

[noname]

The only thing I disagree with is your view on the flamer and crossbow. The flamer is pretty nice if you get the damage/panic upgrade as the panic can be used to neutralize enemies and just let them burn.

The crossbow is probably my favorite weapon, as even a slightly charged shot can kill small demons in one hit and the sticky bombs are basically a good replacement for the rocket launcher until you get it.

Just personal preference though, good overview of the game.

[skibidi groilet]

Originally posted by noname:

The only thing I disagree with is your view on the flamer and crossbow. The flamer is pretty nice if you get the damage/panic upgrade as the panic can be used to neutralize enemies and just let them burn.

The crossbow is probably my favorite weapon, as even a slightly charged shot can kill small demons in one hit and the sticky bombs are basically a good replacement for the rocket launcher until you get it.

Just personal preference though, good overview of the game.

The Crossbow's fire rate is way too slow,and the Flamethrower takes too much time to kill people.I would have prefered a railgun that would have been able to shoot through people.

A better desing decision would have been to make the Flamethrower way more damaging,but make its ammo very limited.

I still enjoyed the Flamethrower's secondary fire.

[Drake]

Cool that you noticed the Painkiller elements. Flying Wild Hog has a few devs from People Can Fly on board. So yeah, that's why there are similarities between the two games.

[skibidi groilet]

Originally posted by Drake:

Cool that you noticed the Painkiller elements. Flying Wild Hog has a few devs from People Can Fly on board. So yeah, that's why there are similarities between the two games.

We definitely needed some good Painkiller action after the awful cashgrab that was Painkiller HD.

I also noticed a bit of Bulletstorm.

[Jumbik]

For me this game is mix of Bulletstorm (combos, bonus points, upgrades), Painkiller (the level design) and Serious Sam (enemy spawn and behaviour), it can also be compared to MM Dark Messiah for it's melee combat and RPG elements and lastly it takes all the good humor from the original SW. Well It's at least 5 games in one package... :D

[High Elf of Paragon]

I don't understand how anyone can say the crossbow was bad. It was by far my most used gun and was devastating when used well (ie charged and aiming at limbs/head). Did you not get the upgrade that let's you charge up shots?

[Initial C]

If it's like Painkiller, I'll be skipping it. I wanted a new Shadow Warrior, not a glorified Smash TV.