Shadow Warrior 2

The Way of the Wang

Good, solid game that's worth it. -Some small bugs and mild age shows, but it plays well -The combat is good, both swords and gun -The story isn't why you're playing this really, but it's passable -Easy to learn, hard to master. Multiple top difficulty tiers. -If you like games like Borderlands and Doom, you'll probably like this.

The Wang is a damn racist

[h1][i]Two wangs are better than one.[/i] ~Lo Wang, Shadow Warrior (1997)[/h1] The 2013 reboot was... A weird beast. No, seriously, it was a rather strange move on Devolver Digital's side. They approached 3D Realms, who didn't do well at the moment (to say the least), got rights for one of their famous IPs (the original Shadow Warrior was one of Build Engine's “Holy Trio”) a-a-and... Gave them to a young Polish team, which just released their first game, an FPS called Hard Reset. Strange choice and, well, the result was rather strange too. If something, the 2013 game felt more like Red Steel from Wii than the original Build Engine game. It wasn't bad, though. Wasn't bad at all. I mean, sure, level design was poor (secrets, for example, were often placed right next to the main objectives) and the attempts to be funny were rather cringey, but the katana thing? It worked. It totally did. So at the end of the day, I think I can say that I liked the reboot. Up to a certain degree, sure, but still, I did. And naturally, I've waited for a sequel. I mean, there was a lot of potential in the 2013 game, right? A more polished and more optimized (aside from other things, the 2013 reboot was [i]terribly[/i] optimized) version of it sounded like a good idea. Now, the game's here a-a-and... It's a totally different thing. I'm serious. Shadow Warrior 2 feels like a completely different experience. Which is rather ironic, you know? If you'll check out early prototypes of the original 1997 game (available for free as a part of Shadow Warrior Classic here, in Steam), you'll see that the early versions of it were more akin to Wolfenstein 3D, then the game was switched to something Hexen-like, and only then Apogee renamed themselves to 3D Realms and decided to compete with the big, truly 3D games. The series literally began with an identity crisis. Like I said, ironic. The reboot's sequel is nothing like what came before it. Instead of a Red Steel-like experience that did its very best to re-create a Wii-like experience, we've got... Borderlands. You heard that right, Shadow Man is a looter shooter now. Why? Well, because those are cool. Apparently. Like in Borderlands, we've got ourselves a series of maps, which can be accessed from the main Turok-like hub. You buy things in the hub, then select one of the maps and, well, that's it. Sure, sure, Shadow Warrior 2 is less open-worldish (is that a word?) than Borderlands, its maps are much smaller (there's a randomness, though; the game combines pre-designed chunks in order to add replayability), and the approach is rather different (even though you'll be able to find lots of secrets, loot, and optional bosses on Shadow Warrior 2 maps, it's one mission = one map here, while enemies won't have levels, only different immunities and vulnerabilities), so it's not like it's the same exact thing, but still, the feeling is there. And it's hard not to notice it. In other words, you want more of what we had in the previous game? It's not here. I mean, sure, they kept the katana controls and magic, but... The idea, I guess, was to polish things up. The 2013 game was known for its clunky controls. Activating the healing spell during the battle, for example, can be quite a problem in there—again, very Wii. Here? They “fixed” it by removing stick manipulations. That's right, you just press the D-Pad button and that's it. Did it make things more comfortable? Sure. But it also killed a lot of the atmosphere. I mean, there was a good reason why Wii was so popular, right? So, like I said, this game feels much more akin to Borderlands than what we had in the 2013 reboot. Does it mean that this game's bad? As fun as it is, it does not. If something, Shadow Warrior 2 is a lot of fun. No, seriously. It's fast-paced, it has lots of loot (instead of Borderlands' weapon porn, though, we've got upgrades, which we can install into weapons, and there's even a grind-oriented DLC that allows us to remove negative side effects from them and infuse them into our weapons permanently), it's properly optimized (it's not perfect, sure, but it's not nearly as poor as that 2013 disaster), it has co-op, and, most importantly, it's not just yet another Borderlands. I mean, let's just admit it, Gearbox is totally out of ideas at this point. Having something that feels a lot like it without being yet another bunch of copy/pasted content? It feels good. Does that mean that this game's good? Well... About that. First of all, the story's a joke. Quite a sad one too, since it's not even funny (again, all the attempts to be funny feel cringey). Instead of Hoji (our hero, Lo Wang's spirit companion), we've got a girl called Kamiko, and she's [i]so-o-o[/i] boring! Quite b*tchy too. Imagine having a spirit of Karen with you all the time. It's [i]that[/i] entertaining. The worst thing about the story, though, is that the characters are nobodies and there's not a single reason to care. There's literally nothing to remember here. Remember what Anthony Burch did to Borderlands 2? That certain thing that made us want to purchase the collectible figures? Shadow Warrior 2 desperately needs that. Ah, and the game ends with a cliffhanger. The one that will make you wonder about some sort of a secret ending locked under the highest difficulty. Spoiler alert—that's not the case. Shadow Warrior 2 ends with a lame cliffhanger, and that's it. Like... what? Also, don't even think about balance. Sure, both looter shooters in general and Borderlands specifically are not really known for the perfectly balanced gameplay, but honestly, this here is a disaster. Especially with that DLC I mentioned in mind. The so-called The Way of the Wang DLC adds the ability to remove the negative effects from weapons' upgrades (most of those have not only a couple of positive effects, but also a negative one as well, forcing you to compromise), infuse them into weapons forever, and even upgrade weapons themselves, making them stronger. All you need to do is to grind for a new currency. Be patient and you'll become so OP it won't even be fun anymore. So, we're back to the question I already asked—does that mean that this game's bad? The answer's the same. Shadow Warrior 2 is not bad. Cheesy? Sure. Messy? Absolutely. Imbalanced? Obviously! But not bad. It's one of those “stupid but fun” things that are enjoyable just because. Not because they tell a story for us to remember and not because of being a perfectly polished experience. But because they're fun. Simple like that. Shadow Warrior 2 doesn't want you to think too much. Heck, it doesn't want you to think at all! You can even skip all the cutscenes without missing anything (the game's actually better that way if you'll ask me). Like Ash Williams likes to say—shoot first, think never. That's what Shadow Warrior 2 is all about. Did I want to get more of what we had in the previous game? Sure. Do I feel bad about not getting it? I don't think so, no. Shadow Warrior was never a series with a strongly established look. So having another game that doesn't feel like the previous one? Fine by me. Shadow Warrior also never had some of those important characters. That means there was nothing special to lose. I mean, sure, some of us do miss Build Engine's version of Lo and stuff, but I think all of us can agree that losing him is not the end of the world. It's not like they took Sephiroth and turned him into a space cowboy here, right? When it's about Flying Wild Hog's Shadow Warrior, I actually like it how they kept trying the new things. The only thing that seriously stinks here is the netcode. Even a pregnant yak can do a better job. But again, it's a Polish shooter, and expecting too much from those is a bad idea. Not like anyone expected a new gaming discipline here, right? And it's not like co-op is worth it, especially with everything I said above in mind. But for a simple fun? It's a good game. Just remember—shoot first, think never.

какое-то гивно с кучей багов, мне все не понравилось, лосяру игра не заслуживает(

digital degloving experience

Incredibly fun! Slick movement and fun power ups. I love the melee weapons so much, and the gunplay is fu ntoo. The graphics hold up really well, and I love the ragdoll/sliced-up-enemy animations. The most fun I've had with a shooter in a while. It's up there with DOOM, also from 2016, and may even surpass it for my taste.

Баланса нет, сетевого кода нет, нормально работающей игры нет, мамы у разраба нет. Короче кусок кала с кучей багов и поломанным коопом.