It works, but it makes it a little tough to use them quickly, especially when you’re trying to activate the healing power while dodging enemies. I have mixed feelings about the controls, which use a double-tap of a directional button followed by a click to activate a power. Stringing a few of those together feels pretty badass, and that’s reinforced by a score system that pops up after each fight (however, it’s never clearly explained how you’re supposed to max it out). Swordplay starts out as simple melee slashing, but becomes much more interesting when you unlock Wang’s advanced moves, like a powerful lunge and a whirling attack that slices enemies on all sides in a fantastic slightly slow-mo spin. That’s Shadow Warrior’s best technique for making you feel powerful in a way that few other games do, and enemies’ elaborate deaths make up for their merely satisfactory character animations in life. Usually it happens so fast I barely notice, but every so often I stop to appreciate that yeah, I just cut that guy’s head clean in half, or severed both his legs at the knee with one swipe.
Human character models (including Wang himself) in particular don’t look so hot, and demon designs aren’t anything particularly memorable outside of Hoji’s distinctive mask, but slicing them into bits with Wang’s katana delights. The intentionally cheesy fortune cookie gags are a great reward for thoroughly searching these large levels, and… well, there are demon bunnies. Of course, the abundant crude humor is there as well, and it works more often than not. Considering Wang is basically a walking penis joke, that’s a lot more than I anticipated from Shadow Warrior. The acting is pretty good, especially from Wang’s spirit sidekick Hoji, and the contrast between the tone of the light-hearted banter between them and the somber backstory in the cinematics somehow works. But by the end of the tale more than 20 hours later, our wisecracking ninja warrior is fighting his way through demons against a backdrop of a surprisingly deep tragedy. It begins as a simple quest to recover three pieces of a magical sword in order to destroy ancient spirits from another dimension – nothing new there. I didn’t expect it, but yes, the plot impresses.
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