Nearly ten years since the first Shadow Warrior, a reboot of the 90s shooter, by Flying Wild Hog we’re finally at its action packed conclusion in Shadow Warrior 3.
Shadow Warrior 3
Developer: Flying Wild Hog
Price: $50
Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One
MonsterVine was supplied with a PC code for review
Shadow Warrior 3 picks up a bit after the second game where so-called “hero” Lo Wang accidentally lets loose an ancient dragon that eviscerates half the planet. After repeated failed attempts at killing it (in a pretty humorous way to do a tutorial) he teams up with former enemy, Orochi Zilla to take the dragon down once and for all. Then you do it and the credits roll! There’s the thinnest line of a plot here, and if you’re coming here for anything other than a six hour action romp you came to the wrong place. Lo Wang is as goofy as ever and surprisingly a bit more humanized in this game, which is nice to see from a character who started out as a racist caricature.
Shadow Warrior 3 sees the series at its visual best, with some of the silliest (in a good way) designed enemies and a colorful world that’s a welcomed change from the gritty realism of the previous two games. The humor and aesthetic of the series finally harmonize in a game that’s just fun to play around in.
Taking some *very* clear influences from DOOM, Shadow Warrior 3 has its arenas feel as much like puzzle rooms as they do slaughter fests. You’ll dance around making snap decisions of who to target first, what weapon to best use in the situation, or when to utilize environmental hazards. Arenas can get pretty hectic with the number of enemies that flood into them so staying constantly on the move is key. To help with that is Wang’s ability to wall run and a fancy new grappling hook. You can use your hook to swing on rings dangling around the arena to get out of a jam quickly, or to pull yourself to smaller enemies. The movement is definitely the highlight of Shadow Warrior 3’s combat as you easily bounce around the arena leaving carnage in your wake. Taking further influence from DOOM is the inclusion of finishers that you can pop off to immediately take out an enemy. The difference here however is that it requires energy to use because when you perform it on an enemy you’ll rip out a powerful weapon from their body to use.
These start out pretty basic like a freeze grenade from the early grunts, but quickly escalate in silliness like the fireworks gatling gun that’s just a treat to use. These complement your own arsenal of pain that begin as pretty standard weapons, like some akimbo SMGs or a shuriken launcher, but with upgrade points you acquire by completing challenges or finding them in levels, you can radically change how they work. The SMGs for example can lay thunder traps when fully upgraded, which when paired with another weapon that freezes groups of enemies can make for a particularly nasty combo.
Lo Wang isn’t all guns and bullets however, with his sword and chi blast being critical tools for fights. Your katana is a deceptively powerful weapon to use between firing guns, that can also shoot out elemental blasts like a freeze slash or fireball. The chi blast in particular is useful for pushing certain enemies off cliffs or into hazards like spike walls or gigantic rotating blades that cut across the arena you need to watch out for too. My only gripe is that you sort of have to “force” larger enemies to get pushed off arenas, as an invisible “rope” will sort of keep them from ever falling out. I get it, the chi blast has a pretty quick cooldown and you’d be able to easily just blast everyone off immediately. But in that case I would’ve preferred a wall being there or something, it’s just a bit jarring to blast an enemy off a cliff and seeing some invisible force pull them back constantly. The sword and chi are also the simplest they’ve been in the series. Gone are the intricate maneuvers you could perform to cast a chi spell and the katana combat feels spammier than it’s ever been. That’s not a particularly bad thing, as the game moves so quickly and there’s so much going on that you don’t really get a moment to stop to even think about doing anything more complicated than “shoot and slash”. It just makes them feel a bit underutilized in Lo Wang’s arsenal compared to his guns.
And circling back to how quickly this game moves, I really want to stress how relentless this game is. Shadow Warrior 3 has zero interest in taking things slow as it shoves you from arena to arena, with the occasional platforming segment. As thrilling as the game is, it’s almost emotionally exhausting as you don’t really get moments to just breathe before you’re in the next fight. If you ever wanted to feel what a six-hour nonstop action movie felt like, this game is it.
The Final Word
Shadow Warrior 3 is a fun, hilarious nonstop adrenaline rush of a game and a fitting cap to the trilogy.
– MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
