Shadow Warrior 2 - Review
With a sword in your hand and Stan Bush's “The Touch” blasting out through the car stereo you can't help but smile as you boot up Shadow Warrior 2. (The sequel to Flying Wild Hog's 2013 Shadow Warrior reboot.) Yes, this brutally visceral melee-focused shooter is back and it's just as silly as ever.
Packing more weapons and cheesy one liners than an 80's action movie, Lo Wang returns to the fray. Once again running errands for the Japanese mob before getting embroiled in a demonic plot that threatens to tear the world apart. But none of this phases Wang as he slices his way through wave after wave of hellspawn with the same cocksure attitude we remember from the first game.
The action all kicks off as you are sent to rescue mob princess, Kamiko, who has been working undercover for billionaire industrialist and all round general bad guy Orochi Zilla (the same Zilla that caused all the trouble in the first game) in one of his labs. But something inevitably goes wrong and Kamiko's body is corrupted by a demonic serum. To save her soul from the same fate part-time mechanic (and full-time quest giver) Master Smith shoehorns Kamiko's spirit into Wang's body. This may sound a little familiar to anyone who played the first game but (rather than being a wise-cracking disembodied Ancient taking up real estate in Wang's head) Kamiko is a less than reluctant riding shotgun with our hero. And this uncomfortable relationship filters through into the writing and story of the game.
Now don't get me wrong, this is definitely not the sort of game you play for its story but at least in the first Shadow Warrior it had a little more direction to it. Each chapter drove you forward to your objective with the back story told in some nicely animated little cut scenes between levels. In Shadow Warrior 2 the format has changed significantly, leaving the linear game design and storytelling behind for a more open world approach. This means the narrative is broken up into lots of little side quests and sub-missions. Though this is a forgiveable compromise given that the player now has a lot more choice in how they approach the game the lack of focus in the overall narrative arc has meant the writing has suffered.
Wang himself maybe a one dimensional walking penis joke that you're never really meant to like or even empathise with but at least in Shadow Warrior 1 his odd couple relationship with spiritual passenger Hoji resulted in some fun banter inbetween battles. In Shadow Warrior 2 every character interaction you have, even with Kamiko, feels like you're talking to a rejected NPC from some half-baked MMO. Whose only goal in life is to send you out on fetch quests. All the jokes seem to fall flat and returning to the hub world to pick up new missions quickly turns into a tiresome chore. Even the fortune cookies that are dotted throughout the levels that used to be a fun little collectible (as they'd always have some bad pun written in them) have been replaced with a bunch of stock quotes from the likes of Oscar Wilde, Douglas Adams and Charles Bukowski. Clearly the writing staff from the first game have been lost somewhere in the Shadow Realm and they've taken with them all irreverent charm that accompanied the original.
What about game design then? Well as I mentioned the game has had a fairly significant structural overhaul leaving behind its linear, almost corridor shooter origins to embrace a more open world format. It feels less akin to the old school shooters like Doom and more like Borderlands, especially in the fact that every enemy you kill explodes into a shower of loot and you can play entire game in 4 player co-op. You bounce between the hub world at Dragon Mountain (where you buy supplies and pick up new missions) and the 3 large maps - a futuristic neon city; a more traditional looking village; and a mountainside forest filled with caves, swamps & shrines. These maps are all quite large with a good degree of verticality to them and thankfully, given the size of them, you do get a mini-map that guides you to your objective and points out pick ups along the way. (This was a feature that was sorely missing in the first Shadow Warrior.) You also find that some of the maps are interconnected in some way, though they do spend most of their time as closed off loops depending on whatever mission you are on.
Also the linear upgrade path for your weapons and skills is gone, replaced by gems you can slot into your dizzying arsenal of guns & blades and skill points you can spend on perk cards you can pick up from mini-bosses or from completing quests. These gems give you nearly infinite customization options for you weapons and can be found in the countless crates scattered throughout the world or more likely as drops from vanquished foes. And each one gives you various buffs such as faster reloads or explosive ammo or some kind of elemental damage. And as you go through the game you not only choose that better suit your play style but are also better suited for taking down enemies with various resistances and vulnerabilities.
This game is definitely a lot bigger in both scale and scope than it's predecessor. Though at times it feels like it may be a little too big with too much choice. You may well spend half your time just wandering around the map looking for the next objective. Or spend ages swapping out gems into that new weapon you found 5 minutes only to revert back to your tried and trusted sword the moment you get into the thick of battle. Infact if it weren't for the 4 main bosses in the game (that require some form of ranged combat) you could probably play the entire game just using melee weapons and your Chi powers.
So if we're not playing the game for it's story or the way it's designed how about the look and feel of it. Well Shadow Warrior 2 is definitely not a bad looking game. It may not be as slick as other high profile shooters this year, like Doom or Overwatch, and it definitely has a few bugs here and there (clipping issues, texture pop-in, and flickering images as the lighting engine struggles in certain areas). But the environments are engrossing, from the Bladerunner-esque city that houses Zilla Labs to the Yakuza filled streets of old Japan. They all have a distinct feel and you will find yourself happily wandering around them for hours hunting for secrets and a little pockets of enemies you may have missed. What makes it even more impressive is the level of destruction you can wreak upon the world around you. Not only can you blow your enemies up into huge meaty chunks that ragdoll hilariously into the air, lots of the environmental furniture can be smashed, shattered and exploded too.
Though this too causes issues as the Havoc engine buckles under the pressure of too many physics objects on screen. On more than one occasion I had the framerate tank (and even freeze altogether once) after detonating a large group of enemies into a shower of viscera and loot. It only happened occasionally but it is definitely something to bear in mind if you are playing on a lower end PC or even looking to buy the game on console next year. (That said it is a lot more stable than a lot of AAA titles I have played recently.)
Okay then, so what makes this game so appealing?
Simply put – the mechanics. This is a balls to the wall, fun as hell shooter that has had the already solid shooting mechanics from the first game beefed up somewhat. With a wide selection of armaments available to despatch your foes however you see fit. And right from the start you zip about the map and feel like some super human ninja. You can't describe the enjoyment there is to be had dashing into a group of enemies and turning them into a selection platter of what I like to call “fillet-o'-demon” with a few well placed shotgun blasts and a flurry of my katana blade.
So this somewhat average FPS with a mediocre story, a lot of aimless wandering and often times grindy loot-focused RPG elements certainly redeems itself with an inane sense fun and incredibly satisfying first person hack 'n' slash combat. This is not for everyone and if you are after an old school shooter you may well still want to pick up the new Doom but if you were a fan of the Borderlands games and are after some brainless fun you can maybe play with your friends this is certainly worth the money. The campaign will take you between 12-16 depending on how many of the side missions you do and there is definitely some replayability here if you are an obsessive achievement hunter or looking to challenge yourself on the harder difficulties.
And as such I'm giving Shadow Warrior 2 an often time flawed but still devilishly fun 6 out of 8 Bits.
