Shadow Warrior 3 reader review – Reader’s Feature
A reader gives his views on old school first person shooter Shadow Warrior 3, which he feels has been overshadowed by Wolfenstein and Doom.
Of all the ‘80s and ‘90s shooters that have been resurrected over the last decade, Shadow Warrior never got the attention it deserved. Not long after MachineGames gave us a modern, soulful take on Wolfenstein, and a good few years before Doom found its mojo again in 2016, Polish developer Flying Wild Hog revamped 1997’s Shadow Warrior for modern audiences.
Released on PC in 2013, and on the then new PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2014, the first Shadow Warrior felt like one of the first truly next gen games. It also had a fun story and some excellent combat, especially in its use of protagonist Lo Wang’s katana to slice up monsters.
The sequel shook the formula up considerably by ditching the narrative and putting the focus on looting, randomly generated encounters, and cooperative multiplayer. In doing so the charm of the first game was lost, and Shadow Warrior 2 failed to steal much thunder from similar games like Borderlands. Shadow Warrior 3 has returned to the more bespoke and linear adventure of the first game, and it’s all the better for it.
The game opens with Lo Wang at his lowest ebb. Recounting his defeat at the hands of a world-eating dragon, Lo Wang is holed up in a deserted mountaintop temple that he has converted into a ‘Wang Cave’ – whose name is much less cool than he thinks it is – compete with arcade machines and a fixer-upper sportscar. Lounging around in his underpants, Lo Wang pours his heart out to his dead mate Hoji. Of course, it isn’t long before Hoji’s back on his feet and a spiritual McGuffin has been introduced that allows Lo Wang to redeem himself, kill that
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