Shadow Warrior (Unregistered Shareware) Apogee Reviewed by: Chris McMullen Platform: DOS. Category: 3D blaster Price: Shareware Release: Registered version: September, 1997 Version: 1.0 Author: 3D Realms Multiplayer: None. Graphic modes: 320x200x256, 320x400x256, 640x480x256, 800x600x256 Controls: Keyboard, Mouse, Joypad Sound devices: Gravis Ultrasound, SoundBlaster, Sound Man 16, Pro Audio Spectrum, AWE 32, Soundscape, Disney Sound Source, Tandy Sound Source Computer Memory HD space CD speed Minimum P75 16 M 32 M Reviewed on P133 40 M 32 M Recommended P133 16 M 32 M Reviewer's Hardware: SB AWE 32 OFFICIAL PAGE Splice Girls Come in number seven, your time is up. Genetics has long been a source of controversy. Scientists now believe that they have isolated the gene responsible for a certain socially unacceptable condition, and will be able to predict whether or not a child has that condition. Sounds like a good idea at first, but think about parents-to-be, faced with knowing their child will be so afflicted. They will have to make the heart-rending decision whether they want to continue with the pregnancy, knowing that their child may be... a Young Conservative. Doesn't bear thinking about, does it? And then there's cloning and gene-splicing, something else that has provoked moral outrage. Scientists in a top secret facility in Coventry have now managed to breed a strain of pigs that are very long and thin, and are born wrapped in clingfilm, all ready for the supermarket. And elsewhere, record companies are trying to be the first to combine Stephen Hawking, a male voice choir and a flock of supermodels, in an attempt to produce an all girl group with looks, brains and real musical talent. It'll never work. Goldblum Incoming! But in Shadow Warrior, the new 3D shoot-em-up from 3D Realms, things have got a little out of hand. A typical despotic psychopath named Zilla has, in a Fly type situation, started creating all manner of spliced monsters in attempt to take over the world. Or something - Shadow Warrior isn't that strong on plot. You play the Shadow Warrior of the title, a hard as nails ninja type person who's decided to put a stop to Zilla's misdeeds. Well, someone has to, or there'd be no game. Shadow Warrior is the second and probably the last of 3D Realms' titles to use the Build engine, last seen in action in Duke Nukem 3D. There's been a lot of whinging about how the Build engine isn't 'True 3D', mainly by Quake fans. But since Duke 3D, the engine has been tweaked, and boasts various new capabilities. And anyway, if a game's good, does it really matter whether it's 'True 3D' or not? Kung Fu Violent, innit? Well, in this case it certainly doesn't matter, because Shadow Warrior is one of the best 3D games I've played to date - yes, better than Duke Nukem 3D, and easily as good as Quake sans mission packs. Unfortunately, this being the shareware version, you're limited to blasting your way across four levels - but unless something goes drastically wrong between now and the release of the registered version, 3D Realms could have another major hit on their hands. Shadow Warrior certainly scores highly in the originality stakes - there are whole heap of new features and ideas, all perfectly executed, from the various tricks and traps around the levels, to the new weapons and more. But I'll get to those later. The game takes place in a variety of locations; you start off in the city, ending up at a monster infested tube station. The other levels take you to a construction site, dojo and dark forest respectively. All of which are filled with with mutant creatures baying for your blood. The baddies you'll face are all of an extremely high standard, both graphically and from a design point of view. You'll have to deal with giant gorillas, lizard monsters and kamikaze bombers, to name but a few. The latter wander around clutching a box of TNT, and on seeing you rush forward to make friends in a quite explosive way. And if you manage to take them out before they reach you, it's not over yet. Sometimes the spirits of the dead bombers will be released from their bodies at which point, slightly unchuffed with their demise, take it out on you, hurling fireballs in your face. Very nasty indeed. King Prawn Run rabbit run rabbit, run run run. Fortunately you can utilise all manner of lethal weaponry to make things a tad easier. You start off with a particularly sharp sword, an economy size bucket of shurikens and a healthy taste for bloody martial arts induced violence. The sword can take out the smaller enemies in a few swipes, and the shurikens can be merrily lobbed at anyone who gets in your way. And should you miss with your throwing stars, they'll lodge in a wall where you can pick them up again. Just one of dozens of nice touches that makes Shadow Warrior such a joy to play. But it's not all kung-fu and throwing stars. There are plenty of hi-tech and devastatingly powerful weapons around. There's the riot-gun, which can fire single shotgun style blasts or switched to rapid fire mode for on the fly devastation. There's a missile launcher, with normal or heat-seeking modes, a grenade launcher and an uzi. And if the latter isn't nasty enough, pick up another uzi and you can use them both at the same time. And finally, in the shareware version at least, there's my personal favourite, the sticky-bombs. These are spiked-grenade style weapons which when thrown will embed themselves into whatever they come into contact with. You can lob them at walls or at the ground and wait for some unsuspecting monster or human player to wander into them. You can even lob them at a creature and watch them wander round obliviously until the grenade stuck to them goes off. Ouch. Sushi 'Quite a nasty papercut you've got there.' And while the body parts are flying, your character makes all sorts of wisecracks - he's more your martial arts movie star type rather than being of the black clad silent ninja type. Which is a bit of a shame since I generally would have preferred the latter. Still, it adds an element of humour to a game which is already brimming with sly digs and gags. You can even find Lara Croft, star of Tomb Raider chained up - 'She's raided her last tomb' quips Lo Wang, your character. Each level is superbly designed with all manner of secrets and traps - you can now have rooms above rooms, a la Quake, or high beams from which to snipe during deathmatch, or 'WangBang' as Shadow Warrior calls it. You'll keep coming back just to check out bits you might have missed. But pride of place in Shadow Warrior really has to go to the vehicles. There are three different 'vehicles' in Shadow Warrior. On level 2, you can find a gun turret and a fork lift truck, equipped with a rocket launcher and machine guns respectively. No, I don't know why a fork lift truck would have a built in machine gun. Maybe it's a particularly violent neighbourhood. And on level four, there's a tank. Yep, a tank, a huge rocket firing one. Imagine the fun you can have in deathmatch, rounding a corner after your bleeding and bruised opponent, only to find him belting towards you in a huge tank. Help! Outstanding Tanked up... The graphics and SFX in Shadow Warrior are of an equally high standard. While the characters may be sprites, and not real 3D, they look damn good - and the level graphics are brilliant. Plus the game runs smoothly in SVGA on a Pentium 133, which in today's land of the rising spec is definitely a good thing. Plus, Shadow Warrior actually manages to get one over on Quake by having water that you can see into and out of, so you actually know what's in there before you leap into a piranha infested pool. The SFX and music are great too, perfectly rounding off the game. Well, what more can I say about Shadow Warrior. It's great to play, excelling in every department and .. what? It's over? Damn. Okay, maybe the four (big) levels still aren't quite enough to keep you going to the final registered release, but you still can't afford to miss this. Outstanding stuff. Pros: It's hugely playable. It's bloody fun. There are loads of original touches. Cons: There are only four levels. Still, it is shareware... Copyright © Chris McMullen for the Games Domain Review, 1997 . All rights reserved. code================================================= Shadow Warrior, unregistered shareware - Games Domain Review
GDR Masthead

Shadow Warrior (Unregistered Shareware)

Apogee

Reviewed by: Chris McMullen
Platform: DOS.
Category: 3D blaster
Price: Shareware
Release: Registered version: September, 1997
Version: 1.0
Author: 3D Realms
Multiplayer: None.

Graphic modes: 320x200x256, 320x400x256, 640x480x256, 800x600x256
Controls: Keyboard, Mouse, Joypad
Sound devices: Gravis Ultrasound, SoundBlaster, Sound Man 16, Pro Audio Spectrum, AWE 32, Soundscape, Disney Sound Source, Tandy Sound Source
ComputerMemoryHD spaceCD speed
MinimumP75 16 M 32 M 
Reviewed onP133 40 M 32 M 
RecommendedP133 16 M 32 M 
Reviewer's Hardware: SB AWE 32

OFFICIAL PAGE  

Splice Girls


Come in number seven, your time is up.

Genetics has long been a source of controversy. Scientists now believe that they have isolated the gene responsible for a certain socially unacceptable condition, and will be able to predict whether or not a child has that condition. Sounds like a good idea at first, but think about parents-to-be, faced with knowing their child will be so afflicted. They will have to make the heart-rending decision whether they want to continue with the pregnancy, knowing that their child may be... a Young Conservative. Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?

And then there's cloning and gene-splicing, something else that has provoked moral outrage. Scientists in a top secret facility in Coventry have now managed to breed a strain of pigs that are very long and thin, and are born wrapped in clingfilm, all ready for the supermarket. And elsewhere, record companies are trying to be the first to combine Stephen Hawking, a male voice choir and a flock of supermodels, in an attempt to produce an all girl group with looks, brains and real musical talent. It'll never work.

Goldblum


Incoming!

But in Shadow Warrior, the new 3D shoot-em-up from 3D Realms, things have got a little out of hand. A typical despotic psychopath named Zilla has, in a Fly type situation, started creating all manner of spliced monsters in attempt to take over the world. Or something - Shadow Warrior isn't that strong on plot. You play the Shadow Warrior of the title, a hard as nails ninja type person who's decided to put a stop to Zilla's misdeeds. Well, someone has to, or there'd be no game.

Shadow Warrior is the second and probably the last of 3D Realms' titles to use the Build engine, last seen in action in Duke Nukem 3D. There's been a lot of whinging about how the Build engine isn't 'True 3D', mainly by Quake fans. But since Duke 3D, the engine has been tweaked, and boasts various new capabilities. And anyway, if a game's good, does it really matter whether it's 'True 3D' or not?

Kung Fu


Violent, innit?

Well, in this case it certainly doesn't matter, because Shadow Warrior is one of the best 3D games I've played to date - yes, better than Duke Nukem 3D, and easily as good as Quake sans mission packs. Unfortunately, this being the shareware version, you're limited to blasting your way across four levels - but unless something goes drastically wrong between now and the release of the registered version, 3D Realms could have another major hit on their hands.

Shadow Warrior certainly scores highly in the originality stakes - there are whole heap of new features and ideas, all perfectly executed, from the various tricks and traps around the levels, to the new weapons and more. But I'll get to those later. The game takes place in a variety of locations; you start off in the city, ending up at a monster infested tube station. The other levels take you to a construction site, dojo and dark forest respectively. All of which are filled with with mutant creatures baying for your blood. The baddies you'll face are all of an extremely high standard, both graphically and from a design point of view. You'll have to deal with giant gorillas, lizard monsters and kamikaze bombers, to name but a few. The latter wander around clutching a box of TNT, and on seeing you rush forward to make friends in a quite explosive way. And if you manage to take them out before they reach you, it's not over yet. Sometimes the spirits of the dead bombers will be released from their bodies at which point, slightly unchuffed with their demise, take it out on you, hurling fireballs in your face. Very nasty indeed.

King Prawn


Run rabbit run rabbit, run run run.

Fortunately you can utilise all manner of lethal weaponry to make things a tad easier. You start off with a particularly sharp sword, an economy size bucket of shurikens and a healthy taste for bloody martial arts induced violence. The sword can take out the smaller enemies in a few swipes, and the shurikens can be merrily lobbed at anyone who gets in your way. And should you miss with your throwing stars, they'll lodge in a wall where you can pick them up again. Just one of dozens of nice touches that makes Shadow Warrior such a joy to play.

But it's not all kung-fu and throwing stars. There are plenty of hi-tech and devastatingly powerful weapons around. There's the riot-gun, which can fire single shotgun style blasts or switched to rapid fire mode for on the fly devastation. There's a missile launcher, with normal or heat-seeking modes, a grenade launcher and an uzi. And if the latter isn't nasty enough, pick up another uzi and you can use them both at the same time. And finally, in the shareware version at least, there's my personal favourite, the sticky-bombs. These are spiked-grenade style weapons which when thrown will embed themselves into whatever they come into contact with. You can lob them at walls or at the ground and wait for some unsuspecting monster or human player to wander into them. You can even lob them at a creature and watch them wander round obliviously until the grenade stuck to them goes off. Ouch.

Sushi


'Quite a nasty papercut you've got there.'

And while the body parts are flying, your character makes all sorts of wisecracks - he's more your martial arts movie star type rather than being of the black clad silent ninja type. Which is a bit of a shame since I generally would have preferred the latter. Still, it adds an element of humour to a game which is already brimming with sly digs and gags. You can even find Lara Croft, star of Tomb Raider chained up - 'She's raided her last tomb' quips Lo Wang, your character.

Each level is superbly designed with all manner of secrets and traps - you can now have rooms above rooms, a la Quake, or high beams from which to snipe during deathmatch, or 'WangBang' as Shadow Warrior calls it. You'll keep coming back just to check out bits you might have missed. But pride of place in Shadow Warrior really has to go to the vehicles. There are three different 'vehicles' in Shadow Warrior. On level 2, you can find a gun turret and a fork lift truck, equipped with a rocket launcher and machine guns respectively. No, I don't know why a fork lift truck would have a built in machine gun. Maybe it's a particularly violent neighbourhood. And on level four, there's a tank. Yep, a tank, a huge rocket firing one. Imagine the fun you can have in deathmatch, rounding a corner after your bleeding and bruised opponent, only to find him belting towards you in a huge tank. Help!

Outstanding


Tanked up...

The graphics and SFX in Shadow Warrior are of an equally high standard. While the characters may be sprites, and not real 3D, they look damn good - and the level graphics are brilliant. Plus the game runs smoothly in SVGA on a Pentium 133, which in today's land of the rising spec is definitely a good thing. Plus, Shadow Warrior actually manages to get one over on Quake by having water that you can see into and out of, so you actually know what's in there before you leap into a piranha infested pool. The SFX and music are great too, perfectly rounding off the game. Well, what more can I say about Shadow Warrior. It's great to play, excelling in every department and .. what? It's over? Damn. Okay, maybe the four (big) levels still aren't quite enough to keep you going to the final registered release, but you still can't afford to miss this. Outstanding stuff.

Pros: Cons:
Copyright © Chris McMullen for the Games Domain Review, 1997 . All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission.

[Navigation Bar]