Blog:TigerBlazer's Thoughts On "Shadow Warrior Classic"

Recently, I purchased a free game from GOG.com called Shadow Warrior because I was bored. For those who do not know, this game is a first-person shooter developed by 3D Realms, famous for their previous work, the world famous Duke Nukem 3D. It released in 1997 to positive reception, but is considered inferior to their previous work. Having never played Duke Nukem 3D, I wasn't sure what to expect from this game. So far, I have played through the first five levels, and I would like to give you guys my feedback on it.

'Disclaimer: I am playing the original 1997 release for this analysis, not the Classic Redux version. Also, since I never played "Duke 3D", I may find some aspects of that game amazing when they have been done before, so don't call me a hypocrite or anything like that.'

Level Design
I levels in this game are pretty large. Yes, you could be taken from a small house and courtyard to the center of a lava pit all in a single level. Due to the large size, there are a lot of secrets hidden about the levels. This is one of my favorite aspects of this game so far, the fact that the game encourages you to look for secrets to survive, since this game is freaking hard (More on that later). In all the levels I have played so far, I have found at least two secrets, with five found on level 1 alone. Finding these areas is pretty much essential to your survival, as the extra health gained from fortune cookies and the small armor boost will go a long way. The levels also have some fun Easter eggs too. But best (or maybe worst, idk) of all, you can find some naked anime girls if you look hard enough. Trust me, you won't believe how shocked I was to go around the level finding a key, only to find a girl bathing. It's nothing very explicit, but still something your parents likely don't want you to see.

But anyway, tons of secrets. But what about the levels themselves? Well, the best part is that the levels are very open so you can look around at your own leisure, but there is a path you follow to get the keys to another area in the level, similar to pretty much every other classic FPS like Doom. Along the way, there are enemies placed about the eliminate, as well as some items to collect. That's the kind of level design I like, not the bullcrap the Call of Duty games have. The environments are kind of boring to me, and the only real standouts for me is the city area in level 1 and the lava sections in level 3. There are a lot of brown colors, as well as some dark greens and grays. Overall, nothing very pretty, but the design makes up for it

Weaponry
Lo Wang, the protagonist of this game, starts out the game with a katana and a fist attack, as well a shurikens to hurl at enemies. A short while later, you will be given an Uzi, which burns through ammo at a rapid pace but is good for taking out enemies. You can later carry two at the same time once you retrieve another Uzi, which takes a lot of ammo and reloads longer, but does double the damage, and that was enough that I never felt like I needed to go back to only one Uzi. This also apparently the first game to have sticky bombs, so I guess Halo didn't do it first. There is also a grenade launcher, a missile launcher, and some shotgun-like weapon. From what I heard, you can even use a decapitated head of an enemy as a powerful ranged weapon later on, so that's cool. Overall, the arsenal is both familiar and oddball, which is refreshing for me. However, I just stuck to the Uzis most of the time.

One thing that stood out to me was that there are secondary fire modes to the weapons, which surprised me for a game this old. For example, the shotgun thing can fire a burst of shots and the missile launcher can be fired as a nuke ("Just like Duke Nukem" says Wang). I took advantage of these as much as possible.

Story and Characters
Nothing important, as expected. I had no idea what was going on the whole time. There are no characters to interact with. The only good guy is yourself, Lo Wang. Throughout the game, he spouts out dialogue (Duke Nukem did this too, apparently) and it's actually kind of funny at times. It could be offensive, since Wang is pretty much a Chinese stereotype, but the dialogue makes him memorable, an there were only a few times he got annoying.

Enemies
The enemy variety is pretty cool. There are ninjas to fights, as well all sorts of strange monsters. About halfway through the first level, there is an enemy you encounter that runs at you with dynamite, and killing him will cause the dynamite to explode and bringing the body down. However, after killing him, a host comes out that you have to kill too, he just won't let you kill him! Now that's what I call perseverance. However, using an explosive weapon on the main enemy will cause a bigger explosion when killed and no ghost will come out.

Later on, you have to fight these very tiny bees. They are incredibly hard to hit due to how small and fast they are, so I spent most of my time just swinging my katana around wildly hoping to hit something. I recommend turning on Aim Assist in the options menu for this reason, as it's much easier to eliminate enemies this way.

Other Stuff

 * You can control vehicles in this game. I never used to ones I found in combat, although that's an option. I mostly moved stuff around to find secret areas.
 * This game is incredibly hard. I am playing on the Tiny Grasshopper difficulty level (The easiest option), and I get my ass kicked from the most basic of enemies at times. You have to stay on your toes the whole time while playing, kind of like a real ninja. The first level even begins with an enemy popping out and you have about half a second to figure out the controls and kill it. From then on, you have to be at the top of your game. This game is not for people who are new to FPSs. And I recommend starting at the first two difficulties. On the hardest, it's a nightmare to manage (I saw gameplay of it on YouTube. Not for me).
 * Some of the levels have puzzles that you must complete to progress. Personally, I don't like this, as it slows down the overall game quite a bit. Come on, I'm supposed to feel like a Chinese death machine in this game.

Final Thoughts
Overall, I am highly enjoying this game so far. It's a little rough around the edges, such as the difficulty spikes and the puzzles feeling like they were tacked on, but the overall gameplay is pretty engaging. And since the game itself is free on all platforms it's on since 2016, I recommend checking it out, and if you don't like it, at least you didn't lose any money. But if you do like it, make sure to tell me your thoughts on it.

Current Score: 8.5/10 (Will likely change as I progress further through this game.)