[Software] Shadow Warrior 3 Review

[My baby Sam]

Wang is back with an arsenal of guns and puns
 

Kevin Sebastian

By Kevin Sebastian 

Feb 28, 2022

 

 

 

I recently replayed all of Shadow Warrior right from the time the game came out in 1997 and while Lo Wang has tamed over the years, the games have definitely held their ground especially when Flying Wild Hog revived the property nearly a decade ago. Shadow Warrior 3 definitely takes a different direction this time around with a more linear take that focuses on what Lo Wang, the proverbial love child between Doom Guy and Deadpool, does best.

 

Making terrible jokes and killing yokai in style.

 

 

A gameplay change in direction, for the better
 

While Shadow Warrior 2 turned the series around with a more slightly open world with a looter shooter mechanic attached to it. It was a change getting used to given that the focus changed slightly despite having the same crazy gunplay the series had. Shadow Warrior 3 now goes back to its linear experience instead of opting into open arenas in the world that give you these high octane moments of action.

 

It's a shame though given that this world is more cartoonishly and creatively designed and I wouldn't have minded an open world to explore but for those of you who are experiencing the fatigue of spending 200 + hours to finish a game 100% percent, Shadow Warrior 3 will definitely provide some light respite.

 

 

Shadow Warrior as a series was notorious for portraying some Asian stereotypes because of its titular character Lo Wang. Shadow Warrior's reboot does away with this and I'm happy to say that Shadow Warrior 3 does focus on Lo Wang a bit more and the fact that all he rather do is be a huge nerd and his bromance and borderline obession with his best friend, Hoji who's back to provide you with some commentary.

 

Shadow Warrior 3 picks up right from the ending with the previous game where the damn dragon has almost had its fill of the shadow realm and Lo Wang is forced to work with his former enemies to deal with it. The story plays out in minor cutscenes in the game though there are some minor audio lags that may play out, however the game ran perfectly fine

 

 

Dance like a butterfly, sting with your Katana
 

The gameplay however is as Hoji says, "If it's worked once, it will work again." Shadow Warrior's an extremely stylish shooter. You can double jump, dash, crouch slide, all while aiming your gun in the arena style environments that set up the fights. Shoot a demon, and they'll drop health, slash with your katana, you'll get ammo. Balancing the two is key and quite honestly, using only the katana got the better of me purely because of how fun it is.

 

It introduces different enemies, weapons and then there's "gore weapons". These are weapons which you can acquire by executing different enemies to get a specialized weapon that's timed but you can rain absolute destruction on anything that's spawned. You gain the execution ability by killing demons over time. You traverse level with a grappling hook which Lo Wang breaks the fourth wall by saying, "It's mandatory at this point." You then jump and wall run with vines which make up for the platforming sections of the game.

 

You can upgrade your arsenal of weapons and abilities by finding chracter or weapon orbs that are either in obvious locations or some that you'll need to look for. A fully upgraded Lo Wang will absolutely rip through the game on the medium difficulty so I'd recommend playing it on hard for a challenge.

 

 

Everything from the music, the weapons, and the slashing of the katana are the tenants of great sound direction. Mike Loh's run of Lo Wang is hillarious and he brings much soul to a character that many often considered one dimensional and some of the jokes are so corny yet I couldn't help but laugh.

 

However, there are few technical glitches that I experience in my run of the game which should be patched out by now. The game runs for about 6 maybe 7 hours depending on how fast you finish it but unfortunately with only two major boss battles, it is underwhelming especially given the variety of enemies the game throws at you and that's the one thing that makes this game from being great. There is a new game plus if you want to play with all abilities unlocked but you have to go through the process of acquiring the weapons again. Speedrunners are going to have a real kick out of playing it.

 

 

Verdict: Short and Sweet
 

Despite having not much to offer in terms of content, Shadow Warrior 3 focuses on its strengths and provides a very tight gun and swordplay. In a year of video games filling up with content spanning for hours. The game never takes itself seriously and a shooter that was born from the Duke Nukem age, this is keeping in line with tradition and I'm all for it.

 

Shadow Warrior 3 works as an absolute palette cleanser serving sweet gratituous demon slaying violence that left me wanting more.

 

https://me.pcmag.com/en/gaming/13580/shadow-warrior-3-review