I recently completed a pretty good meat shooter Shadow Warrior 3. Perhaps not everyone is aware, but the modern trilogy Shadow Warrior is both a continuation and reincarnation of an ancient game called.. Shadow Warrior (this is the turn!), who was originally a copycat Duke Nukem 3D (if I’m not mistaken).
My first encounter with the series Shadow Warrior I don’t really remember anymore. I can only remember that it was at the house of a friend who owned such an outlandish thing at that time as a PC. I myself, in those distant times, was the happy owner of such a wonderful device as Sega Mega Drive 2 (or Sega Genesis, whoever is more used to it).
Accordingly, my shooter experience was limited to games such as Bloodshoot And Zero Tolerance. If I didn’t like the first one at all (no matter how many times I tried to play it), then I played the second one to pieces. Perhaps there were some other shooters on Szege, but I didn’t know about them. Except that I can still remember one level from Toy Story. True, it was not so much a shooter as a regular 3D labyrinth, where you had to find several toys and deliver them somewhere (I could be wrong in the details, this was a very long time ago).
Oh, how much time was spent on her!
And this is what Zero looked like in real life
But this one somehow didn’t work
This is what Bloodshot looked like in real life
Naturally, against the background of the above, such games as Doom, Duke Nukem 3D And Shadow Warrior looked like a Mercedes against the backdrop of a Lada. And some Quake – and could even be compared to a starship. But I didn’t have the opportunity to play them normally then. I got my own computer much later. My own PC gaming experience started with shooters like Half Life, Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament, Serious Sam etc.n.
But let’s get back to today’s topic. A reboot was released in 2013 Shadow Warrior. As far as I remember, the game was positioned as an old-school shooter in the spirit of Serious Sam. And since, "Cool Sam" I really like it, so I decided to try it Shadow Warrior. And, frankly speaking, I was disappointed. Not that the game was bad. But she didn’t resonate with me at all. My main complaint about it at the time was that the graphics were very colorful and the enemies rushing from everywhere seemed to blend in with the surroundings. As a result, it was enough for me to get through a couple of levels, after which I abandoned the game.
The second part, released 3 https://filiplaycasino.co.uk/ years later, just passed me by. After the first one, I just didn’t really want to try it.
Well, the final, at the moment, third part was released last year and, despite a somewhat biased attitude, it remains in my memory that it was quite actively praised, comparing, among other things, with Doom Eternal, in terms of gameplay dynamics. Well, since the last one Doom I really liked it, I wanted to try playing Shadow Warrior 3.
Actually, “someday, someday” has arrived (just think, more than a year has passed since the release) and I finished the game. So, let me have the audacity to share my impressions of her.
In terms of gameplay, many parallels can really be drawn here with Doom Eternal.
Most of the battles take place in closed arenas and the player is required to actively move around these arenas, along with shooting living creatures of various calibers. True, unlike Doom, the arenas here are noticeably smaller in size.
There are also platforming sections between the arenas. But unlike Doom Eternal, these sections here seemed to me much simpler and conducive to a little relaxation before the next contraction. Plus, they’re quite effective.
There are also spectacular finishing moves here. But, unlike Doom, V Shadow Warrior 3 these finishes are much (or even MUCH) longer. Due to their duration, they are somewhat annoying. But also spam them as in Duma, won’t work because they require you to gain something called rage (I forgot what it’s called in the game, so I’ll call this thing "rage"). Moreover, depending on the caliber of the enemy, different amounts of this “rage” are required, which is displayed on the corresponding scale. Brutal finishing off of any enemy (except for the trashiest samurai) gives the main character a temporary weapon, unique for each enemy. Thus, finishing moves here play more of the role of a chainsaw from Thought, but with its own cool feature.
All weapons obtained in this way are quite usable and, despite the short duration of their use, can quite well thin out the ranks of enemies. Moreover, I’m not talking about petty trash, but about quite serious opponents. For example, one of my favorite enemy weapons is the katana, which kills even the toughest enemies in a couple of pokes. Also, I really liked the freeze grenades. Firstly, frozen enemies can be destroyed very quickly with your regular katana (not the one you get from enemies), and secondly, these grenades are obtained from almost the trashiest enemies, so to get them you need a minimum amount of filled “rage” bar on the indicator.
Interesting point. Every time we meet a new enemy for the first time, we can instantly execute him and thus see what kind of weapon he will make.
Needless to say, the feature of obtaining unique weapons from enemies for finishing moves adds a certain twist, which is what distinguishes the game from Doom Eternal. Well, apart from the purely visual aspects.
By the way, about the visual. IN Shadow Warrior 3 – very bright colors and in general, the design of the environment and monsters gives off a cartoonish quality, which not everyone will like.
I have already mentioned that the first part of the restart did not work for me, precisely because of the motley visuals, against which the opponents did not stand out very well. So, here I didn’t have a similar problem, although, it would seem, everything around is also bright and colorful.
As for the manufacturability of the picture, in this regard Shadow Warrior 3 does not affect. But due to the good art design, everything looks very nice and the game, time after time, pleases with beautiful landscapes.
I won’t say much about sound design and music. In my opinion they are normal. Nothing special, but not offensive either. Voice acting of characters – the same.
It’s worth mentioning here that the characters talk a lot, a lot. In addition to skirmishes in the arenas, any progress through locations, including using platforming, is accompanied by non-stop dialogues of the main characters of the game.
At the same time, they constantly make wisecracks. The humor in the game is specific and not everyone will like it. Personally, I didn’t experience any rejection, but at times even it seemed to me that there were too many jokes here.
Among other things, the game has leveling. You can upgrade used guns and personal skills. For each of these areas of pumping, its own special spheres are used. Some of these spheres can be found at levels, mostly in secrets, and some are awarded for certain actions (in-game achievements).
Probably, if I bothered and found all the secrets, then I could upgrade all the weapons and all the skills. But I didn’t bother with it and I can’t say that I regret it much. Although, on a higher difficulty level, I suppose this could cause a problem. On medium, it was quite comfortable to play, although some moments still had to be replayed.
In the end, Shadow Warrior 3 I really liked it. This is a solid, dynamic shooter based on Doom Eternal, but with some of its own characteristics. He’s not as polished as Doom, it is noticeably shorter, but it also costs significantly less. So, if you want to play something decent, in a similar style, I strongly recommend it.
By the way, despite the fact that I liked the third part, I’m still not sure about the first and second. As far as I know, all parts of the restart differ significantly in terms of gameplay. This is due to the fact that each of them, at the time of creation, was guided by the trends of its time. Well, as far as I remember, the first part was indeed somewhat different. Although I didn’t walk very far then. So, at the moment, I have no plans to play through the first two parts of the restart Shadow Warrior.