Shadow Man

"The Best thing next to Zelda..."

What more can you ask for from an N64 game? Acclaim released Shadow Man for three systems and PC, and N64 made it what it is today. As a big fan of Shadow Man, I must say that Acclaim did very well with this game (sorry I can't say that about the sequel). Here are my ratings in the following areas:

Control: Controlling Shadow Man was bliss. I've played all versions of this game and Nintendo certainly takes the cake. I found no problem getting around as well as blasting the piss out of zombies. 9/10

Sound: This is one of the games strongest points. Every level had its own soundtrack. The scary sounds of zombies creep you out to where you'd think they were right behind you. I found no problem in this area except the dialog scenes. Why is it that the characters look like they have food in their mouths? Whatever. 9/10

Story: The story behind this game is your basic ''ave the world from total destruction.'' The games story although long and dragged, was in fact interesting enough to keep you busy. 8/10

Gameplay: This is what most people would hate. It took me at least 3 weeks to beat this game. There was a lot of back tracking and repeating. I think that this is the games strongest feature, but some people would feel irritated. The one flaw in this are was the fact that the bosses, besides the last boss, were too easy to beat. If you died, you were placed in the exact spot you were left dead, including the damage to gave to the boss. Not that challenging. The most challenging part of this game was actually trying to get all the Govi. The average amount of Govi per level was about 8 (some levels had only 2,but some had 13). Still, the game was and is a good one.

My advice to you if you're trying to figure out whether to buy or rent, it depends. If you're like me, buy it, you won't be disappointed. If you don't like the dragging on type plots, rent it. Good job Acclaim (can't say the same about The 2econd Coming though).

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/25/02, Updated 04/25/02