SHADOW WARRIOR 2
Have you got Wang?
Whether you call it a ding-a-ling, dong, chopper, schlong, skin flute, tally-whacker, or wiener, you’ll know a word for it. Dick jokes – this game’s got the lot, starting with its hero Yu Wang. The genitally-named protagonist, selfproclaimed super ninja, is on a mission to free the girl (stuck in his head), save the world from a demonic army, and wisecrack about swimsuit areas. If you can stomach a script that drops innuendos like its hero chops body parts, then Shadow Warrior 2 may just surprise you. Surface impressions are of a frenetic Doom-alike run ’n’ gun shooter. Every pull of the trigger results in a screen-splattering mix of blood and sputtering particles. Shadow Warrior 2 is nothing if not bright and breezy. Add melee attacks, which reduce enemies to slivers of body parts with a satisfying shhhhhhunk, into the mix, and there’s an immediacy here that’ll put a smile on your face. It helps that the game runs at a hectic pace, and hot-swapping between shotguns, rocket launchers, and twin samurai swords is as simple as hitting wo(or for melee – my go-to getout-of-jail button).
Scratch deeper below the surface, and Shadow Warrior 2 offers more than bad taste and dismembered bodies. Weapons can be upgraded with magical gems, armour is enhanced with ornaments, new skills can be unlocked and boosted. It all means those simple whooshing shootouts turn into a race for randomised loot to upgrade your armoury. We’ve been here before with Borderlands, only there were fewer willy jokes.
YU WANG M’LORD?
This sense of familiarity will leave you itching for more, as while there’s variety and depth in weapons and mods, the direction of travel lacks diversity. Story missions and side quests, both accessed by talking to the colourful cast of demons and cyborg ninja, boil down to simple pursuits for quest items. The sense of déjà vu only worsens as you scurry through more procedurally generated levels. All too soon you find yourself staring down the gun sights at the same cut-and-paste scenery, as Yu Wang launches another lyrical love-stick one-liner.
Of course, the game knows it’s puerile – the female companion stuck inside Yu’s head tells you as much at every opportunity – and there’s also an understanding of the genre limitations being played with. Tetrising soft-RPG upgrades and loot hunting with brash ’90s-style gunplay means there’s a depth to Shadow Warrior 2 that often surprises.
There’s a lot of fun to be had; experimenting with the sliceand-dice melee moves raises a smile, and anyone craving a Borderlands gun-party should sign up. Shadow Warrior 2 is a solid shaft of pun ’n’ gun shooting where every kill is met by hero Yu Wang’s juvenile wit. If you can stomach that, it’s worth a fumble.
VERDICT
The swift gunplay is upgraded with some basic RPG features, but the repetitive quest hunt structure slows down the fun. This Wang needed a virtual Viagra to impress. Ian Dean
“SHADOW WARRIOR 2 OFFERS MORE THAN BAD TASTE AND DISMEMBERED BODIES.”