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Review  Shadow Man
- By Ryan Eid
There are those games that go out of their way to try and gross you out with bodily mutation and decapitation. Then there are those that try for the cheap scare with monsters breaking through windows. And then others still try and instill fear through vile enemies and a deceptive story line.
Then there is Shadow Man.
You haven't seen anything like it on your N64, and you probably never will again. It doesn't just scare you, it instills fear. The entire basis of the game has deep roots in the art of Voodoo, and the game portrays this very well.
Mike LeRoi, a college drop-out and now taxi driver from Louisiana, is desperate to save his brother Luke from a rare desease. In order to do this however, he needs to raise money for an operation, and fast. "Luck" was in his favor one day, as one of his passengers were killed by loan sharks chasing after LeRoi, leaving $20 grand in the back seat that Mike quickly took and fled back home, where he got his brother the operation he so desperately needed.
Unfortunately, the gang was persistent and continued to chase LeRoi. Desperate for protection, he sought out a Voodoo Priest. In exchange, LeRoi would become the egnimatic man's personal Zombi hitman and slave. The plan worked far too well however, as the gang decided to instead go after Mike's family, killing his parents and brother, Luke.
Soon after a Voodoo priestess, Nettie, had the mask of shadows, which allows a person to travel from Deadside (the afterlife), to Liveside (what we're all in), sewn into LeRoi's chest to give him invinceability, and have him do her bidding for her. His brother's death still torments him inside though.
And that's just the background. The game begins by Jack the Ripper, famed 19th century serial killer, killing himself in order to go to deadside and rule in this teeming world of death and decay. Nettie has a premimition of such, and orders LeRoi, now known as Shadow Man in the Deadside, to stop this before chaos brews. Unwillingly, Shadow Man complies, and sets forth. His instrument allowing him to travel between Live and Deadside? His little brother Luke's teddy bear. And it only becomes more freaky and sadistic from there.
Of course, games can't live on the merit of a plotline alone; it has to have good play mechanics. And fortunately, that's another area Shadow Man exceeds in.
Gameplay:
Shadow Man must travel between Deadside and Liveside collecting Dark Souls, which power up his Shadow Meter, making him progressively stronger, more sadistic, and more heartless. The game is set up much like Tomb Raider, as you must press switches, pull levers, jump from platforms, and swing across ropes to accomplish your goals. Along with collecting Dark Souls (which are the main items in this game), you must find various other trinkets and equipment upgrades that range from prophecy files (which depicts future items) to Gads. Gads are enscriptions branded onto Shadow Man, enabling him to preform previously unthinkable feats. The Gad Toucher allows him to to touch firey objects, walls, and ledges. The Gad Marcher enables him to trudge through molten lava which would previously instantly kill Shadow Man. And the Gad Nager allows him to submerge into molten lava and other scalding-liquid pools.
The game consists of five main bosses, all of which are infamous serial killers that Shadow Man must take out. For better or worse, most of the bosses are rather easy, once you realize what their patterns are. As the game progresses, players come across various creatures, ranging from undead zombies (who make eerie shrieking noises when being shot at) to rabid dogs and killer fish. Fortunately, the Shadow Gun, your main weapon, never runs out of ammo, and automatically locks on to targets. And as your Shadow Power grows, so does the charge-up feature on you Shadow Gun, which helps a lot in later levels. But other weapons such as the shotgun and MP-909 don't offer much more power then your Shadow Gun, rendering them somewhat useless since they consume ammo.
Make no mistake about it; Shadow Man is far from linear. Ths game is as open-ended as it gets. There's no set direction you have to go, nor is there a set order you have to do things in. However if you access a part of Deadside that you can't get across because of lack of items or equipment, a lot of back tracking is involved, which can get annoying. The one sore point in Shadow Man's gameplay is the fact that it's easy to get lost, and not know what the hell to do next. This game is enormous, and there's nothing telling you where to go next, or what to get next. You have to guess, basically. It becomes very frustrating. Fortunately, Acclaim lightend the blow by allowing you to warp to various points of Deadside using the teddy bear, and the ability to save anywhere. Nevertheless, Shadow Man's world can get confusing and frustrating.
Control:
Along with the gameplay aspects, control is also similar to Tomb Raider. Moving your control stick moves Shadow Man around, however pulling back on the stick does not turn him around, rather makes him leap backwards. The same can be said moving the stick side to side; Shadow Man strafes instead of looking in that direction. Think of it is Turok's "C button" setup, only using the joystick. Overall this doesn't detract from the game though, it actually works quite well.
The Z trigger fires your Shadow Gun, and as said above, automatically targets enemies. This works farely well, especially with multiple enemies on screen; each one gets an evenly distributed amount of bullets.
Overall the control is tight, if not a bit awkward at first. It'll take a while to get used to, but once you do, it'll become second nature.
Aesthetics:
Clean, crisp, and dark. Those are the best three words to describe this game. It's arguably one of the best looking games (that don't contain bubbly trees and balloons) on the system, but there's a snag. Often times it's just too damn dark. You'll be adjusting your TV set just trying to see down a hallway. Or even worse, you'll THINK you're going down a corridor, when you're actually just running into a very dark wall. It gets annoying. The areas that are lighted are done very well, however.
The upside is that the charcaters, enemies, and environments have a very gothic quality to them. The walls look amazing, with Voodoo artwork and blood stains all abound. There's never a hint of fog, and all the polygons are smooth and rich in color, even if the overall color-scheme is rather drab.
The one thing that sticks out are load times. Yes, that's right, true, real life CD-esque load times. You even get a little screen that says "Loading". Why are they here? Who knows. Are they annoying? Yes, but you get used to it.
Sound:
Wow. Just wow. The story is done completely with voice acting, and done very well, I might add. Every character gains a real personality with the range of voices (from LeRoi's deep raspy voice, to Jaunty's hillarious Irish accent), and you'll be amazed to see the amount of voice that can fit onto a cart.
The music is just as stellar. Gothic themes can be heard throughout. Scores range from tribal chanting to organ-playing church themes, all of which add great atmosphere to an already well-engraved Voodoo theme.
Multiplayer:
N/A
OVERALL:
Shadow Man is an utterly frightening experience that should not be missed by action/adventure fans. The game instills fear into the player like no other I've ever played. It has it's share of problems; namely an open-ended quest that can get confusing, daunting, and frustrating, and unexusably dark graphics in some areas. but overall it's worth a purchase; this is one gaming experience you won't forget.
The Lowdown on  Shadow Man
| Aesthetics: Very Good |
Control: Above Average |
| Gameplay: Very Good |
Multiplayer: |
| Sound: Awesome |
Innovation: 4/6 |
| Lasting Appeal: 5/6 |
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Overall: Very Good!
"A Must-Buy"
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This game is:
Very Good
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INFO |
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Release Date:
TBA 1999
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IN A
NUTSHELL: |
| Shadow Man is frightening, fun, and a nice change of pace on your N64. |
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