Shadow Warrior Reboot

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dosgamer000
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Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by dosgamer000 »

http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/20/reinv ... odern-era/

It seems as if the old Eastern-inspired FPS Shadow Warrior is getting a reboot by developers Flying Wild Hog and publisher Devoler Digital. No one here seemed to catch wind of this so I decided to link to the story. What do you guys think of this?

Picture gallery: http://www.joystiq.com/screenshots/shad ... 888749/#/0

Teaser trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m7VZ7LFOtY

I think the trailer gives off too much seriousness but time will tell.
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Tchernobog »

I knew about it, but my response was that it it was just going to be another UDK shooter tied to Steam. Whoopie. :roll:

Also, the plot sounds like it was ripped straight out of Daikatana. :P
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by dosgamer000 »

Yeah, same here. My expectations are low for this even though I did wish for a new Shadow Warrior a few years back. But after seeing how DNF came out (to be fair, I never played it but from what I saw, I have no desire to) I figure what made the first good would be lost while adapting to the current FPS trends (only 1/2 weapons, sprint button). At least the screens are pretty! :)
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Slink »

Yeah, I saw it: "What the hell?" Looks like they used the DNF engine, but the Wikipedia article states it is the "Road Hog Engine".
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Tchernobog »

Isn't this the one that claims that it is not going to be racist and sexist? Was there anything else to Shadow Warrior? Except the violence? :roll:
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by dosgamer000 »

Tchernobog wrote:Isn't this the one that claims that it is not going to be racist and sexist? Was there anything else to Shadow Warrior? Except the violence? :roll:
The most memorable thing about SW for me was the Japanese/oriental theme (gardens, houses, etc.) and Lee Jackson's soundtrack (Shellac is a really good, ninja-like tune). It also seemed some of the monsters were inspired by Japanese demonic folklore or at least I think it was. A few levels looked hellish in theme like the later parts of Dark Woods of the Serpent God and Stone Rain, although the latter might just take place on/in an active volcano (Mt. Fuji?)

Regarding the humor, I suppose it is inappropriate as I believe SW was panned mostly for the insensitivity instead of Lo Wang's womanizing personality as that (and the jokes) were only added because of Duke3D's success. It was nothing new. I'd be lying if I didn't chuckle slightly here and there at some of Lo Wang's jokes in recent playthroughs but at the same time, I feel that some (or maybe all) are too much. If the possibly racist and sexist jokes were done away with I wouldn't miss them (tasteful oriental humor and ninja/anime jokes are fine by me though.) As long as it has first person swordplay, oriental environments, and demons from folklore I would see it as a SW game.
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Tchernobog »

What is tasteful Oriental humour per say though? It is a little hard to believe that any foreigner can really make a joke about another culture and not have some unfortunate connotations attached.

That being said, this is humour we are talking about, so I do not personally see the need to get too high-strung about it (hate is another matter). Which is why I feel it is kind of silly for the new game to dance around the issue the way it is - it is never going to succeed at being authentic. So might as well be crude, because at least that is honest, at least for the people actually making the game.
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by dosgamer000 »

Tchernobog wrote:What is tasteful Oriental humour per say though? It is a little hard to believe that any foreigner can really make a joke about another culture and not have some unfortunate connotations attached.

That being said, this is humour we are talking about, so I do not personally see the need to get too high-strung about it (hate is another matter). Which is why I feel it is kind of silly for the new game to dance around the issue the way it is - it is never going to succeed at being authentic. So might as well be crude, because at least that is honest, at least for the people actually making the game.
To be honest, I'm not too sure how tasteful cultural jokes are done. I guess what I meant by "tasteful" was "toned down" but that might be pointless cause it'll still be cultural humor and it'll still rub some people the wrong way. I don't know. The developers are doing this because they'll most likely receive backlash but if you go around trying to change something based on the views of other people, you'll never be sastified. No two people share the exact same views on everything and humor is something that is subjective to the listener: either it's funny or not. The best you can do it's take their opinions into consideration and decide for yourself if something is worth doing or not.

Like you said, we're talking about humor which is something that isn't worth flipping out about. I have no preference for SW's humor so if they kept it or not really wouldn't effect me either way. :|
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Tchernobog »

dosgamer000 wrote:I have no preference for SW's humor so if they kept it or not really wouldn't effect me either way. :|
Well, I did like the bunny breeding area in SW. Definitely should keep that. :lol:
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by dosgamer000 »

Yeah, the bunny jumping off the cliff to it's supposed doom made me go "What the hell?!" Good times. 8)
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by BEAST »

I'm embarrassed to say this, but my favorite aspects of naughty humor in Shadow Warrior involve the naked anime women with ample bosoms and armed with UZIs: The first with purple hair who is washing herself and singing (despite the fact that her father's home is overrun with Zilla's minions), and the constipated green haired women on the crapper. Lo Wang's remarks are so bad in those scenes. With the bathing woman, he dared to ask "Are those real tits?," and with the, um, "occupied" woman, he says "Pull my finger, ah ha ha!" It's a lot more sexually deviant than Duke Nukem 3D in those few instances, which still amazes me that 3D Realms dared to do something so naughty, or borderline-hentai.... Okay, maybe not so surprising, since the women in Duke 3D were in suggestive positions with the living plant/protozoid stuff in the combined vein of Evil Dead 1's evil tree and the alien cocoons from Aliens.

While Lo Wang may sound like a cultural stereotype, I like to think that he's just an immature adult like Duke Nukem who is playing the exaggerated Asian role intentionally because it gives him laughs. For some reason, he seems to me like he probably has ADHD (because I had a friend with it who sounded just as outrageous as Wang). I have yet to play the new Shadow Warrior, but I really like the gameplay footage I've seen. I saw the video footage of the easter eggs, and the use of anime women I just mentioned were awkwardly placed. The green haired woman clearly is supposed to be sitting on something, but they have her sitting in mid air as if she's supposed to be standing. It makes me wonder what would happen if a modder attempted to recreate the original Shadow Warrior as a mod of the new SW. Could you imagine fully realized 3D versions of Master Leep's daughter's in their uncompromising positions? Aye caramba.

From what I've heard about the game being too linear, I find that to be be a shame, since the Devolver Digital published Hotline Miami (well, it was really developed by Cactussquid, who is a really brilliant programmer in his own right). I think if they were to redo the process, they use a combined inspiration from the original Shadow Warrior, Hotline Miami, perhaps some Onimusha and Bushido Blade, and take more levelo design cues from Deus Ex.

Better yet, maybe some Shadow Warrior fans should try to show everybody how they would have handled Shadow Warrior 2013 as a mod a la the Duke Nukem Forever 2013 mod for Eduke. Keep the new enemy types, new weapons, RPG elements, voice acting, and gameplay additions, but employ level design more in the vein of those classic BUILD games which we love so much. It might make an interesting retro mod.
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Tchernobog »

So I might just be able to play it at some point...
http://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/s ... linux.4859

That particular release would still be tied to Steam of course, but seeing as they already sell DRM free versions on GOG.com and Humble Store it is not that far fetched to think they will add the Linux and Mac versions to those platforms as well assuming they are being made.
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Gila »

the original Shadow Warrior was nice game, though I see why some people didn't like certain aspects of it back then.

speaking of this reboot, it's a very very very good game! I bought it on Steam when it was released and I really enjoyed it, I was actually surprised with how much I liked it and how lenghty it was, and the new spin on the story was also very nice touch.

take stuff like horde combat of Painkiller, apply the original Shadow Warrior "aesthetics" to it but with modern graphics

mix in special moves a la fighting games (for example tap strafe left twice then tap forward, and you do some special attack, ranging from self-heals or shields to area of effect damage or frontal cone shockwaves to stun enemies)

sprinkle it on top with typical God of War style upgrade system (you find certain things and points that unlock new abilities, and level up these abilities)

oh, and also the main character has nice and humorous chats on the story (and other random crap that is happening) with the ghost of Loki, which was also a nice touch (I mean ok, it's not as "mega-awesome" as Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite, but still)

aaand you get the new Shadow Warrior reboot/reimagining. they did really good job on this one.

oh and speaking of the developer, someone (right after playing this game) asked them about doing something similar to Blood. the reply was "unfortunately, Blood IP is crazy expensive"
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Tchernobog »

Gila wrote:oh and speaking of the developer, someone (right after playing this game) asked them about doing something similar to Blood. the reply was "unfortunately, Blood IP is crazy expensive"
It was not the developer but the publisher Devolver Digital, but yeah, they wanted to do something like Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition and Shadow Warrior Classic Redux for Blood but could not settle on an acceptable price. I do not think a reboot was strictly on the cards though.
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Re: Shadow Warrior Reboot

Post by Gila »

It was not the developer but the publisher Devolver Digital, but yeah, they wanted to do something like Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition and Shadow Warrior Classic Redux for Blood but could not settle on an acceptable price. I do not think a reboot was strictly on the cards though.
ah yes, that's right.

as for blood reboot or blood 3 or whatever, i'd love to see blood with borderlands-style gameplay
(meaning roaming around, exploration, leveling up, talents, weapons, elements, etc)
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