Shadow Man

"Deep and Disturbing Storyline and Mood, but Flawed Gameplay"

Shadowman sets you up as Michael LeRoi, a man whose powerful alter-ego is known as the Shadowman. A powerful Voodoo warrior inextricably linked to the realm of the dead, Deadside, Shadowman is the servant of a voodoo priestess named Agnetta. It is his job to thwart the evil Biblical figure Legion from causing the Apocalypse by collecting Dark Souls.

This storyline may sound like typical video game fare, with apocalyptic evil and dark magical forces, and it is to an extent. Yet Shadowman is deeper than it may seem on the surface. I feel that its Mature rating does not come from gore or language, but more from the unnerving mood of the game and the dark side of humanity it forces the player to think about. What is Evil and how are we responsible? What is the meaning of Death? When plunged into such depravity, how can we keep from letting the darkness swallow us? This game will burn these thoughts into your mind long after you finish playing it.

The game successfully explores these issues by creating a disturbing ambience. The ''liveside'' environments are all somewhat disturbing, especially once the gameplayer gets beyond the first level in a Louisiana swamp. In the superexaggerated world of videogames, we are often shown the monstrosity we have fostered... Broken-down tenements, rundown subways, and high-security jails certainly paint a grim picture of humanity. And Deadside is a horrific place, from expansive wastelands to the hellish Asylum. The sound in the game hammers home this feeling of evil and despair, from creepy symphonic touches to the sounds of little children screaming and begging for help. The game's creators pulled no stops in showing us what they feel is evil, stemming from human greed, depravity, and desolation. A big emotional effect the game has is its depiction of the destruction of innocence... The sounds of the crying children haunted me whilst involved in the game.

This is the heavy subject matter the gameplayer is dealt when playing Shadowman, something more philosophical and intellectual gamers will be bound to love. And it is the Playstation port's only saving grace. The graphics and gameplay of the PC version are widely hailed, and call for superfast, supercapable machines to handle the detailed graphics and huge game size. The game's graphics were toned down for the PSX port, but the designers tried to keep the game's size and gameplay elements intact--which results in a huge overdrawing of the system's capabilities. This overdraw manifests itself in horrific framerates, slow response time, and many bugs and glitches, from faulty collision detection to drastic slowdown. These faults are so bad that they often will cause the player to die or struggle in an area that should be easy to get through.

Along with the glitches, the game itself contains many faults. Oftentimes, the player will feel lost due to the massive mazelike structure of many areas. This is compounded by the fact that there are often no clues as to where to go next. This effect is disorienting and adds to the feel of the game, but often results in tedium. Tedious as well is fighting with enemies, which all basically boils down to a dodge-and-shoot session that seemingly never ends, as enemies take hit after hit. Add to this large temple areas which involve long obstacle courses that would be enjoyable if it weren't for the fact that the horrific jumping system and slowdown... These faults often result in Shadowman plunging into a boiling pit of lava, only for him to have to start the entire obstacle course over again. All of this tedium is what results in the game's long play time--advertised at 60 hours, I finished the game with 120 Dead Souls and all objects in half of that. Yet the game is much longer than what I am used to playing. Its size and scope is impressive, but often adds to tedium and wears down on the rapidly aging PSX system.

This is the only game I have intensely played that I have not finished completely. The final boss battle is leagues more challenging than anything else in the game, and due to being presented with a different set of resources than apparent N64 or PC players had, I could not beat it, finding only the ''bad ending.'' My inability to defeat this boss also results in the fact that in any other area of the game, you keep dying until you get through a level, whereas on the final bit, you only get one chance. I have read that the ''good'' ending is rather frustrating, but I am still disappointed. This final problem of mine results from a lopsidedness that characterizes the entire game. This uneven nature is manifest in the most basic look at the game--the storyline and ambience of the game far outshine (or maybe in this case, outdark?) the gameplay and graphic elements. My consensus is that this is the perfect rental game--a flawed game that would be a waste of $50 still has enough pros for a gamer to want to play it.* In the first time in my gaming history, I had to rent this game twice to finish it due to its size. The gameplay was tedious, yet challenging and engrossing enough to keep me coming back, and the story is remarkably well done. I definitely suggest that you rent Shadowman and perhaps also buy some painkillers to get rid of the headaches the frustrations in the game are likely to impart and soothe the dark visions it will leave in your head.

*If the storyline, depth, and scope of the game intrigue you enough, you might want to get the PC version instead. I have not played it, but the screenshots and reviews are worlds better. And you will probably feel more fulfilled playing through it than the PSX version.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/00, Updated 07/19/00