Customer Reviews

Shadowman

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

As there are a dearth of Dreamcast games in this genre, I sawthis puchase, at best, as a consolation while I patiently awaited therelease of other more promising titles. I reluctantly handed over my cash, resigned to my fate.

Boy, was I wrong. In my opinion, Shadowman is the premiere Dreamcast adventure title to date. Here's why: massive, highly detailed 3-D environments, interesting and creative level design (you'll flip the first time you see the asylum), tight control, deep story line, beautiful graphics, outstanding music and a sense of atmosphere that is well executed.

My favorite aspects of the game (other than that it's fun to play) are its size and its atmoshere. This game is enormous; you're going to get your $$ out of it. I hate to buy games that I can beat on the same day. (I always feel cheated.) Shadowman is going to take quite some time to beat, and not because it is too dificult; the learning curve is well proportioned: it isn't frustrating, but it's no cakewalk either. The other element I admire is the game's atmosphere. The music and the visuals combine to create a disturbing experience--this is not a game for children. I know, you're thinking, 'Why would I want the play a game that's disturbing'? Good Question. It's disturbing in that the storyline itself is disturbing and the atmosphere does a remarkable job of pulling you into Shadowman's world. (It's a disturbing place to visit, and you really wouldn't want to live there!) The environments are surreal, but in a believable way--there's not a hint of B-movie in this game. It's seriously disturbing, no wait, maybe it's disturbingly serious--I can't decide. It's all good in any case.

Any complaints? Two. The framerate of the game stutters when the soundtrack switches songs. Come on Akklaim, this is a Dreamcast, for pete's sake--work it out. My other gripe is how dark the game is--sometimes you can't see where the heck you're going. It's so dark that I can't even play during the daytime because I cant' see the dang screen. Admittedly, it does add to the atmosphere (playing only at night,) but it's limiting nonetheless. Fortunatley, these are minor concerns and are easily forgivable in the grand scheme of things.

In summary, if you're looking for the finest Dreamcast adventure title, look no further than Shadowman. It's a thoroughly enjoyable, thoroughly distrubing experience.

This game, while realllly slow at first, rocks when you actually get into it and start collecting items. Game play is rather fluid, but due to it's immense size "hesitates" when loading differrent levels, switching between game play and the cinema scenes, and when switching music tracks. The soundtrack is awesome; exciting and "spooky" at the same time. Shadow Man is not for the faint of heart, or for kids. It's ESRB rating of MATURE is there for a reason. If the music doesn't get to you, then the setting will. With zombies trying to slash you with claws or hooks, firing automatic weapons, sling handfulls of "slime", or using VooDoo magic, this game has the potential to scare the hell out of you. If you survive, the ending will not disappoint you. If you don't, that ending is pretty cool as well. The only drawback (or another top selling point, depending) is that the game is LONG, and will take more than just a couple of hours to complete. Be prepared to play this game for days, and replay it forever.

I played a little of the Playstation version that a friendbought and I was not impressed because of the bad graphics and thechoppiness- When the Dreamcast version came out, I thought it would be better- I bought it put in the disk and sat back- Too soon, I became annoyed by the horrible load times and lack of directions (I had no idea what to do)- I was disappointed but I kept playing it for a few days. Do not be fooled when you start this game! This is a great game! It starts real slow but the story develops and gets good real fast! The story freaked me out with the screams and moody music. I am not even 1/5 of the way done with the game and I am very impressed with the huge worlds, graphics, imagery and atmosphere. The creepiest part so far is when you encounter the shrines of the 5. My hats off to Acclaim for creating such a great game! - If you liked games like, Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Nightmare Creatures, You will love this gory but well made game- You WILL get lost, but keep playing, you will realize just how good this game is- 100 stars in my book and one of my all time favorite games!

This is not a game for those of you with a short attention span. It takes a while to get to the action, but it's worth it in the end. First off, the graphics are superb, a little dark at times, but I think that adds to the eerie nature of the game. Turn out the lights and play for a while, it's downright spooky at times. The sound effects match well with the whole feel of the game and include some scary death screams and such. The real reason this game is good, however, is that once you get started the game is almost completely non-linear. You can go just about anywhere at anytime. For the average gamer this can become tiresome, but if you are like me it just adds to the challenge. Trying to figure out where to go and what to do next are sometimes difficult, but I hate games that are too easy. The amount of time it takes to figure out these challenges means a lot of playing for the price of a game. I spent 30 or so hours beating the game, and for me that means pennies per hour of entertainment. If you give up easily and don't like a challenge, this game is not for you. If, on the other hand, you are a hardcore gamer like me you'll eat this one up.

Now THIS is the way a game should be made. Shadowman has it all, from good control to great graphics to eerie sound affects and music. I also like the mood of the game. Shadowman doesn't treat you like an 8-year old. Lets put it this way: Shadowman makes the original Hellraiser seem like a romantic comedy. Plus, instead of biologicly created super-zombies as the main bosses ala-Resident Evil, you {as Mike Leroi/Shadowman} must kill 5 serial killers. One of them even is a real person! {Jack the Ripper, anyone?} The story centers around Shadowman as he must stop Legion {the angel of death} from bringing about the apocalypse. Unfourtunately, Legion has assembled in army of zombies and demons to mutant pigs with hooks for hands to 5 serial killers known only as "the 5". Fourtunately, as Shadowman you are armed to the teeth with shotguns, UZIs, various vodoo weapons, the gads {vodoo tattoos that make impervious to fire in certain ways}, the Shadowgun {a gun that rips the soul from a persons body}, and the Violater {VERY satisfying}. And all the while, the game remains scary. If I may quote The Lizard King {leader of the 5} on their alliance with Legion:"What we see in death's dominion is as void as a dead man's gaze, as cold as the light from a dying star."

Nuff said.

Shadowman is the best I've spent on a Dreamcast game so far. It has a good storyline, good control, great music and will pull you in with it's gameplay. The only problems with it are that sometimes when the music tracks change, there is a slight hesitation in the game. Another problem is the load times at the beginning of the game. They're pretty long. This game starts off slow, but after the first couple of hours of gameplay, things pick up considerably and you'll find yourself losing track of time playing this game.

I own both the Playstation 1 and the Dreamcast versions of this game, and the differences between the two are night and day. I can't really fault the shortcomings of the PS1 version given the hardware capabilities of that console (it was simply too much game for the box and it suffered as a result), but then it must be said that the Dreamcast version runs SO much smoother and looks several times better graphically. There just is no comparison. Shadowman shows off the strengths of the Dreamcast better than just about any game designed for it.

Given the tragic fate of the Dreamcast and Sega's announcement that they were not going to develop any future consoles, only games (I remember being extremely frustrated on hearing that because the Dreamcast is STILL a damned good system that had a lot going for it, having a 200 megahertz processor, 16 megs of RAM and 8 megs of video memory incorporating features such as anti-aliasing; I attribute their patch of rough road on the fact that they tried too hard to be the first 128-bit system on the market and that they didn't advertise it nearly as much as Sony did for the Playstation 2), this game stands as one of the console's most epic titles.

GAMEPLAY-5 Stars
Shadowman is set up on a third-person perspective basis. The controls are relatively easy to learn. They're a little basic compared to today's generation of games, but at the time, this was one of the most involved games around.

The format of this title is rather hard to classify. It's set up as an action/adventure platformer and all of the combat is real-time, but there are so many elements that put it in the realm of a roleplaying game that I hesitate to call it anything else. There is no system of 'experience points' for it that allows you to accrue and improve your abilities or statistics such as Strength, Intelligence or Finesse, but over the course of the adventure, you perform activities and acquire things that up your health, your 'level' (if it can be called that), and grant you additional powers you didn't have at the onset. Your gear also gets truly b*tching after a while, particularly in regards to some of the projectile weapons and the magical voodoo artifacts you end up acquiring. As you improve, so does the challenge level, not only in puzzles or the number of creatures you might face in an area but in the type, some spirits of which are undoubtedly tougher than the area's original inhabitants. There's also the length of the game. At the time of the Dreamcast's presence on the market, the average game length was around 5 to 8 hours. It's possible to log in over 50 hours on this one before seeing its end. Not only are the domains you roam around in large enough -and convoluted enough- to get lost in easily, when you improve your powers, you can backtrack and explore places that weren't previously accessible, adding an additional level of depth to an already deep game. You don't sit down an expect to finish Shadowman in a day or two, even if you have that kind of time. Key word: patience.

STORY-5 Stars
The game itself is based on the long-time running comic book series also titled 'Shadowman', and its theme is as dark as it gets. It ain't your kid's Saturday morning cartoon show. You play Michael LeRoi (French for 'the King'). He's a daytime cab driver, nighttime savior of Liveside, the name used to refer to the world as we know it. He's angst-ridden in the extreme and has ample reason to be so. The backstory is: after accidently causing the death of his kid brother before giving up on life and falling into the gutter, Mike's been tricked into his role of protector of Liveside by a hundred year-old mambo priestess (who looks like she's about twenty; voodoo magic, man!) who infuses his body with the Skull of Shadows. This artifact transforms him into a fearsome undead creature at night, unable to truly die, bound to do the priestess's bidding whenever she commands it. For payment, he gets a little somethin' somethin' on the side (if you know what I mean) which in turn helps her to keep her youthful appearance. Resigned to his fate, and not really wanting to turn down a little horizontal aerobic exercise, he takes up the mantle of hero, unthanked and unloved by a largely unknowing society.

Before the turn of the twentieth century, one of the most notorious serial killers known for his day, Jack the Ripper, prepares to commit the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of his art. His hand is stayed by the appearance of an avatar in the form of a well-dressed man bearing a cane with a powerful, haunting voice and blood streaming from his mouth; Legion, who is possibly the angel of death, possibly something else. He commissions Jack to construct an enormous engine of destruction, designed to usher in the end of all things Liveside, in the only place it can possibly be built; Deadside, the place we all go to when we depart our mortal coil. Jack agrees.

Fast forward to the present. It's a hot summer night in New Orleans and Shadowman is laying in bed with his priestess lover when she starts to receive disturbing visions and sees this as a sign of dark things coming. She sets Shadowman on a mission to rectify things. He begins his trek starting out through the lonely twists and turns of Deadside.

The story that Shadowman encompasses is one of the most intricate that I've seen in a video game and is worthy of any horror feature film. You end up going against several different serial killers (and I have to believe they were modeled on real life examples, considering how absolutely twisted each one of them are) who have been transformed into heralds of the apocalypse. They are the prophets of darkness and the only way they can be destroyed is when you are in your incarnation of Shadowman; you can't actually hurt them as Mike LeRoi. The saying goes that sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind and through your quest you make it possible for the coming storm to occur in order to be able to halt it.

SOUND-5 Stars
The differences between the PS1 version of this game in sound as opposed to the Dreamcast port are unbelievable. The higher amount of channels results in a MUCH crisper, clearer, richer production.

The voice acting is awesome. The characters come across as natural real-life humans (or demons, as the case may be). The sound effects are not overdone and simply add to the ambience to add to your unease as you wander around a derelict apartment, a prison, the bayou and the dark corridors of Deadside.

The music score is vintage voodoo African fare where applicable. There are some downright CREEPY tracks, such as one that starts out as a music box jingle with a baby laughing in the background, progressively getting worse as the baby starts screaming and a dentist's drill whirring and splatter sound effects are introduced as it continues to play.

GRAPHICS-5 Stars
Acclaim touted the introduction of the 'Vista' engine at the core of their graphics design for this game, which enabled you to see all the way to the horizon with no visual pop-ups or fade in. The hardware strength of the Dreamcast allows the game to take full advantage of the engine's capabilities without the framerate choppiness that's present in the PS1 version. The visuals might seem a little dated (there were no true physics in games up to that point and for a little way past, so everything reacted in the same fashion) compared to what the current generation of consoles can put out, but at the time, they were second to none when considering Shadowman's scope. The moodiness of the graphics also only serves to enhance the edginess that this game exhibits.

REPLAY-5 Stars
Granted, it IS the same game each time you go through it and with the dearth of online play, some might consider the replay lacking, but online gaming was just coming into its own back then, so I can't really take marks off for that. Also, the length of time coupled with the stuff you get to do make Shadowman worth more than one playthrough.

OVERALL-5 Stars
This was one of the first truly adult-themed games for a console and with the length of research the developers went through (for example, they visited Gardell County jail in Texas and toured it; they said the staff was very gracious and more than helpful, going so far as to provide them with blueprints to the facility to aid in the level's design) to bring this game to life, it's worth more than one time around if you're in the mood for a few chills. It's a shame Acclaim went under, because this game marked them as one to watch. Two thumbs up.

if you own a dreamcast buy this game! the graphics and sound fx disturbingly beautiful.before i played this game i expected it to be just an average adventure game wow was i wrong.to me this is the best adventure game on the dreamcast so far! this is must buy adventure!

Since I played shadow man I can not stop thinking about it and wishing that more games would be like it.

Give this game 1 day and it will bloom into something big, something scary beyond anything you have seem or felt, the sounds of flesh being eaten off still living victims, babies being drilled to death, the gory graphics, the pools of blood, the black majic, it will all draw you in- Don't rely on what you have heard from others...they were too closed-minded to see just how deep the story is- When you start the game, don't worry if you don't have any clue about what to. This was done on purpose so that you could figure out the fate of the world (The living and the dead) the story develops within the game and you are helped by the characters (Nettie and Jaunty)