Shadow Warrior 2

The Good
Even though I'm as 18 as they come, it's no excuse to play the classic FPS games of the 90s. Duke Nukem 3D was one fun romp, full of violence, babes, a lack of decency and lots of interactivity beyond most games at the time. It's no surprise that Shadow Warrior would attempt to hold the torch Duke lit, and is virtually identical in some cases - vulgar, sexy, violent and really fun, yet not as fun as Duke 3D. Imagine my surprise when Shadow Warrior was getting a reboot in 2013 to be developed by Flying Wild Hog. The reboot was great, not as amazing but it was just as funny and violent, yet not as extreme than the previous game. Coming out beating Shadow Warrior, I was a little pumped for the sequel, though not as much as the first entry. I got it last week and I beat it. What do I think? Well...let's go in and see.

Lo Wang returns in his glory as a hired gun for the yakuza during an uncomfortable time where demons and humans live side by side. When a scientist loses her body and becomes implanted in his psyche; Lo must traverse lengths to figure out how to get her back in her original skin while a drug known as Shade dominates the sidelines. It's not as strong as the first, but it is a little engaging. The gameplay is just as identical as the first, but very different. You still get to slice, dice and shoot monsters and humans, but the game plays more like of a RPG looter shooter. Enemies (including bosses) will drop upgrades and weapons to use, ranging from damage boosts to elemental power ups for acid, fire, ice and electricity. There's dozens of weapons - ranging from newer ones like assault rifles, bows, pistols, miniguns, grenade launchers, chainsaws and dual blades. Some of the weapons are borderline useless, others aren't. Give them the right upgrades and you could be dishing out serious damage.

Graphics wise, the game is a lot more detailed. While my rig had to run it on the lowest settings to meet 60 FPS, the game's environments are quite an eyesore, and have a lot of neat details. They're also procedurally generated, which adds a little more depth to the worlds you explore. Gore has also improved, with volumetric slicing. You cut and slice where you cut and slice, and it's fun as hell to see enemies' torsos fly off or being sliced in half with a chainsaw. It's also really funny when your dual Uzis rip an enemy to little chunks, or seeing a shotgun split another in half. As for the audio, it's pretty good - Lo is just as snippy and wisecrackey, guns and slicing are meaty and the music is rather well done. The new co-op mechanic plays exactly like Borderlands, yet more simplified.

Of course, it feels like in 2016, something has to bog down these games' quality.

The Bad
The RPG and looter shooter elements are thrown in hastily. While the upgrades are beneficial, the looter shooter elements just happen to be squeezed in at the last minute. It gets monotonous trying to scavenge upgrades off of enemies, and they often drop the same upgrade. You can craft these together to make better upgrades, but they cost money in doing so. You can't sell your weapons either unless if you get the same weapon. Wang also isn't as funny as he was, and some of the jokes and quips can become very tired or overused. The fortune cookies are guilty of this (Harambe jokes? Really?).

The biggest flaw? This game is short. Very short. I managed to beat it in roughly a day and a half on normal difficulty. There isn't a whole lot of sidequests either, and just happen to add to the novelty of the game's new free roaming worlds. You can beat this game in approximately 8-9 hours, 13 if you're focusing on the story and extras. This is in great contrast compared to the 12 hour long story in the previous game, and the 36 approximate hours for the story and extras. It should be noticed that the procedural environments - they always look the same. Always, always, always. Not a whole lot changes save for the enemy placement, and even the enemies are just as bullet spongey as the previous game.

The game also has something I like to call "upgraderitis" - a little thing exclusive to games like Shadow Warrior 2 and Payday 2, where you can't help but try to weapon upgrades because you have skins for them or wanna mirror a playstyle similar of that to classic FPS games. Or maybe it's just me, I dunno.

The Bottom Line
Shadow Warrior 2 isn't a bad game, as it has a great soundtrack and some fun slicing and dicing action. What keeps it down is it's overall length and it's poor looter shooter and RPG mechanics.

I'd kinda recommend it, not at full price however. 40-50 isn't good for the length of this game. I'd get it when it's 20 bucks or so.