These upgrades feel anything but trivial, especially when compared to other FPS’, which all too often focus on small buffs that aren’t immediately beneficial. Weapons and Wang’s character stats can be upgraded three times each, making you an even more fearsome opponent to the hordes of demons vying for your head. Latter weapons include an impressively powerful grenade launcher and a gnarly rail gun, and of course, always at Wang’s side is the warrior’s katana, an amuse-bouche complimenting Wang’s satisfying meal of an arsenal. Even the standard six-shooter that Wang begins with packs a pleasurable punch, sure to send a demon’s head scattering from its shoulders. While there are only seven weapons to use throughout the adventure, each makes the player feel enormously powerful against overwhelming odds. Taking on waves of mindless monsters in arena-style combat is an instant power trip, and, just like playing as Doomguy, slicing and dicing as Wang makes for a gratifying experience. After all, you’re here to save a hyper-stylised fantasy Japan from certain doom, and that’s really what the game does best.Īnd speaking of Doom, Shadow Warrior 3 has more than a whiff of the classic FPS franchise about it, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It doesn’t waste time telling an intricate story but instead weaves its tale through short cutscenes and quick whips between the game’s protagonists, which, honestly, suites Shadow Warrior 3’s pacing just fine. This time, the merc with the mouth (not that one) Lo Wang finds himself taking on a giant dragon, as well as an endless stream of killer demons, to once again save Shadow Warrior’s unique version of Neo-dripped feudal Japan. Shadow Warrior 3 continues the franchise’s tried and tested formula of keeping its story beats light, letting the FPS shine elsewhere. Light on features, big on functionality and fun, even when Shadow Warrior 3 does stutter, it moves so quickly that its occasional misdemeanours are quickly – and easily – forgotten. The franchise may not have achieved the grandeur of fellow arena-blasters Doom and Duke Nukem, but there’s something so decidedly charming about the absurd and wholly gruesome world in which Shadow Warrior resides that it’s impossible to dismiss. If the Shadow Warrior series has taught us anything, it’s that a successful FPS doesn’t need bells and whistles to be a blast.
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