![]() ![]() Many feel like standard shooter fare, which is a tough disappointing for a franchise that has had some truly absurd weapons. I like the weapons in Shadow Warrior 3, but I don't love them. This is in addition to your handy katana, which can be given elemental ranged attacks. You have a standard pistol that can be upgraded to set things on fire, a shotgun that can be upgraded to have full auto and no reloads a pair of sub machineguns that can be upgraded to shock foes a grenade launcher that can be upgraded for more booms a railgun that can be upgraded to slow time, pierce foes, and freeze everyone around it and a shuriken launcher that does limited damage but stun-locks foes to leave them vulnerable to other attacks. Shadow Warrior 3 has a good - but not great - selection of weapons. Certain weapons only become fun to use after you upgrade them multiple times, whereas that same investment could be used to make a particular gun absurdly strong instead. It's neat to get more powerful, but the value of certain skills is so low that they're not worth touching while others are absurdly overpowered. Pushing it into the natural flow of combat helps it feel fast-paced.Īll of the standard weapons and some character abilities can be upgraded by finding upgrade tokens throughout the stages or completing challenges that reward them. Sometimes you want a "kill everything nearby" button, much like how Doom has a BFG. A lot of the weapons feel overpowered, but that's not always a problem. At the same time, you can use it on a regular mook to sacrifice potential damage for a huge health buff or an ice-bomb that freezes everything nearby. I preferred to save mine for the katana-wielding monsters that gave me a powerful blade that tears through a dozen strong enemies. This system is an encouragement to not save insta-kills for a tough enemy but for the enemy that'll provide the best possible buff. Basic yokai mobs will double your health, big hammer-wielding foes give you a giant hammer, and massive chaingun-wielding behemoths let you temporarily use their chaingun. Once you perform a finisher on a baddie, you gain a unique buff or weapon based on the enemy you kill. ![]() Stronger enemies require more bars, with large foes taking two bars and a specific foe taking three. ![]() Once you fill up enough orbs, you can perform a finisher on a foe, and that instantly kills them and refills your health. Speaking of glory kills, Shadow Warrior 3 has its own version of the concept that mixes it with a chainsaw and a new feature. ![]() It's difficult to complain about a good reason to cut zombies in half with a magic sword. This feels a little less balanced because your katana is always available, so any theoretical weapon limitations are functionally nonexistent because you're getting constantly ammo. Similar to the chainsaw and glory kills, constantly swapping between the two keeps your ammo and health full. Likewise, any enemy you kill with your guns drops health. Most weapons only have a handful of shots at any given time, but any enemy you kill with your katana drops ammo. Like Doom Eternal, Shadow Warrior 3 also has a limited pool of ammo that you can quickly replenish. It's fast, furious, and it has little time for anything but rip and tear - or, in Shadow Warrior 3's case, slash and quip. When you pick up the game, fans will find it very familiar, but newcomers may take a while to adjust to the shift in gameplay. It's a very fast-paced, arcade-style shooter with an emphasis on nonstop movement, constantly getting close to enemies, resource management, and lots of violence. I don't usually like to be so blunt, but the best way to describe Shadow Warrior 3's gameplay is Doom Eternal. The game does a bit of a disservice, as the funniest jokes are usually character-based, but Shadow Warrior 3 ultimately knows what it is: a game about an annoying motormouth ninja who saves the day and makes everyone want to kill him. Some can be hilarious, but others are duds. Every word out of his mouth is a curse word or an inside joke. This is Lo Wang's entire deal, so fans should be used to it, but newcomers have to understand that Lo Wang is what happens if Travis Touchdown were obsessed with old American pop culture. The biggest barrier to enjoying Shadow Warrior 3 is probably how much you can tolerate a game that is an homage to '80s movies with a protagonist who does not shut up about '80s pop culture references. He'll need to recover the mask of Hoji and bring it to a mysterious witch. Zilla offers Lo Wang exactly what he needs: the chance to kill the dragon and get his mojo back. He appears to give up, but then his old frenemy Zilla appears. His every attempt to defeat the dragon ended in miserable defeat. His preview adventure left his best friend dead and a giant dragon destroying the world. Shadow Warrior 3 opens with a broken and defeated Lo Wang playing with his action figures. ![]()
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