1. Dusk (PC)(FPS)2. Project: Snowblind (PC)(FPS)3. Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition (PC)(FPS)4. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)5. Wolfenstein 3D: Ultimate Challenge (PC)(FPS)6. Destiny 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
7. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PC)(FPS/RPG)
8. Destiny 2: Warmind (PC)(FPS/RPG)9. Destiny 2: Forsaken (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Star Wars: Rebel Assault (PC)(Rail Shooter)11. Castle Werewolf (PC)(FPS)12. Project Warlock (PC)(FPS)13. Castle Crashers (PC)(Hack and Slash)14. This Strange Realm of Mine (PC)(FPS)15. BioShock Remastered (PC)(FPS)
16. BioShock 2 (PC)(FPS)
17. BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (PC)(FPS)18. Blood (PC)(FPS)19. Blood: Cryptic Passage (PC)(FPS)
20. Blood: Post Mortem (PC)(FPS)21. Shadow Warrior (PC)(FPS)Who wants some Wang? Because I don't. Seriously, someone come and get this thing away from me.
Now that I've bested Blood, Shadow Warrior is the last of the major trilogy of Build Engine games for me to beat, though it appears I'm in good company; MrPopo knocked it out earlier this year. His conclusions and the responses I've seen from other folks on this forum lead me to believe that I'm not alone in my thoughts: Shadow Warrior is the weakest of the major trilogy, has aged the worst, and while it had some amazing ideas at the time, it's also hampered by cultural jokes that now look to be at best made in poor taste and at worst are just straight up racist.
In Shadow Warrior, you play Lo Wang...yep, a dick joke. Wang's master, Leep, has been killed, so he must go up against the forces of the evil Zilla to take him down. His army is made up of ninjas with uzis, zombie coolies that blow themselves up, ghosts, lizard men, ladies with crossbows in dominatrix gear, gorillas, bees, and other absurdities that make me wonder who thought this was a good idea. As opponents they range from interesting to terrible, with the gorillas probably one of my favorites because of how they move, while the bee is the worst freaking thing devised for the game. Also, the game has variations based on the ninjas, including a shadow one that can unleash explosive waves which will most probably one shot you if they connect. This guy appears in the first level. Great. The only thing that might annoy me more would be a sumo boss that dies and then lets off deadly flatulence.
Oh wait, there is a sumo boss who dies and lets off deadly flatulence. Thanks, Shadow Warrior.
To kill these guys, you have a variety of weapons, ranging from a sword and your bare hands, shuriken, uzis, some kind of chain shotgun, a missile launcher, a grenade launcher, sticky bombs, a rail gun, and so forth. Some of these have variations which change how they function to add versatility, but fully half of them blow you up. I complained about how many of the weapons seemed geared towards self destruction in Blood, but here it is full on half the freaking roster. Oh, you also get a nuclear bomb. Don't stand anywhere close to where you fire a nuclear bomb.
How is the level design? Variable. 3D Realms did do some fascinating stuff with the Build Engine here, enabling rooms on top of rooms, weapons now as 3D designs instead of sprites, working ladders, and so forth. However, they also added necessary switches inside secrets, meaning sometimes you're going to get stuck. I got stuck here way more often than I ever did in Blood. This seems most prominent in the original 4-level episode too, along with some poor choices of enemy placement. Later levels vary, but some are quite nice, and there are a few levels that I genuinely enjoyed the design, but then something would come along, and I'd find myself seeking out a secret necessary to advance or being put in a big, open space that just looks bland. In short, it's a painfully mixed bag of good ideas, bad design, and sometimes just dull set pieces.
Have I mentioned the anime ladies that Wang likes to sexually harass? At least the women of Duke Nukem were strippers that Duke paid. Wang likes to just walk up and make filthy jokes about voyeurism and diarrhea.
Ok, ok, it isn't all bad. The bosses are interesting fights at least, with the final boss incorporating a moving floor that I found fascinating. Some of Lo Wang's one liners are painful, yes, but occasionally he does spout a gem. My favorite was the first time I blasted an enemy in the face with the missile launcher, and Wang shouted, "SHIT!" In that moment, I was right there with him. When he grabs dual uzis, Wang also references John Woo, a subtle nod that I appreciate. Some of the levels are fantastic, such as a village hidden in a forest or a few cityscape levels where Wang openly refers to Duke Nukem. I even spotted a Duke Burger ad in one, and I enjoy some self-referentialism. It's just tough to make up for a lot of content I feel was poorly thought through and some that just feels...gross.
Maybe the expansions are better. I'm moving on to Twin Dragon, which was created by Level Infinity and Wylde Productions. I'm hoping it's an improvement.
"The game reveals that Lo Wang has a twin brother,
Hung Lo"
MOTHER FU-