Shadow Warrior 2 wins at fun gameplay but fails in substance and humour. In fact, it's better played on mute
Lo Wang is back along with the crass humour and jokes that go along with a name like Wang. For the uninitiated, the protagonist is a ninja warrior who goes around killing demons. There is a shallow thin story attached to the game that won’t draw you in. What will draw you in is the amazing procedurally generated levels, the fun gore and the crazy weapons.
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Shadow Warrior in many ways feels very old-school, almost like it was made 10 years ago, but with visuals from this era. The make looks stunning. The gore is at almost comedic proportions and moves away from the modern sophisticated blood splatters. Instead, the blood in the game is thick and just bounces everywhere. The gore is really at another level. You can blow a hole in your enemies and see right through them, slice off parts of their bodies while they keep coming at you. It’s grotesque and just plain fun and makes me feel like I am in the 90s playing Duke Nukem 3D, with better graphics but with a character that’s nowhere as cool as Duke.
Wang can do all sorts of acrobatics and can pretty much fly. Though he doesn’t actually, the double jump and dash move can be used to pull off some sweet kills. Not to mention there is no fall damage.
There are tonnes of weapons available through the game, around 70 and they look beautiful and are fun to play with. The weapons feature names like Boner, the stick of doom and Wang touch, which can get a little annoying at times.
It’s trying too hard to be funny and that is the major problem with the game. Five minutes into the game and the humour just seems to procedurally claw at your brain and we didn’t care much for Wang’s banter.
For a game that provides such uplifting methods of killing demons by combining quick weapon switching and acrobatics, the humour is a big letdown.
On the easy mode, Shadow Warrior 2 is a smooth ride and you can finish your first play through without dying too many times. Once that is done, it makes sense to play the game again and again with higher difficulty, as the levels are procedurally generated, it always looks different. This also makes it interesting when you play co-op with your friends.
At its core, Shadow Warrior 2 is a great game as long as you manage to ignore the humour and banter. We love the 90s FPS feel of the game and it is a refreshing change from the sophisticated FPSs released this year. We would recommend getting the game if you are a fan of Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, the gameplay and especially the gore will make you feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Shadow Warrior 2
Rating: 3.5/5
Publisher: Devolver Digital
Developer: Flying Wild Hog
Platform: PC
Price: Rs 849
Platform: PC (Steam)
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