Playing with Wang is Good

Immature nature aside, I’m here to tell you that playing with Wang is better than good its GREAT! My introduction to the former assassin Lo Wang, came by way of Shadow Warrior 2. My son and I spent months playing that game together in co-op, loving every minute of the fast and frenzied combat but also the humor that is so very much at the core of who Lo Wang is. Shadow Warrior 2 felt much more like an RPG due to the weapon drops, randomized levels, and perks and skills that could be unlocked a leveled up. It is a wonderfully fun game, and Shadow Warrior 3 has done an excellent job of building upon Wang’s long legacy.

Picking up shortly after the events of the last game; Shadow Warrior 3 see’s Wang down on his luck due to the world ending Dragon that he kind of helped free in the previous game. Having lost his mojo and falling into a deep depression due to his being unable to defeat the dragon SW3 finds Wang almost crazy. A visit from his old nemesis Zilla is enough to get him back into the fight as Wang and his friend Hoji (who is trapped in a mask, again previous game spoilers) go off to find a witch who may have the power to help them defeat the dragon.

MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $49.99

Developer Flying Wild Hog has touched on and updated almost every aspect from Wang’s previous entry. Starting with (and most important to me) assigning the use of Wang’s deadly Katina to its own button. So instead of having to choose between having a gun and a sword the team wisely said “why not both!” Being able to fire some rounds into a yōkai before coming into melee range and turning into the literally ‘Shredder’ is more fun that it probably should be. Smartly the team also streamlined the overall experience into more combat arenas, allowing the focus to be on the action much like the newer Doom games. While Wang retains the ability to dash, and double jump SW3 has added in a grappling hook; which the game with tongue firmly in cheek proceeds to make a joke about it being the “new hot accessory”.

Speaking of the humor in Shadow Warrior 3 I will say that it is not going to be for everyone. While Wang’s sense of humor seems to lean a tad more mature this go round, unless you are a fan of immature jokes about his name or any other number of things you might be more offended than anything else. Luckily, I am probably the target audience as I still find Wang jokes funny…sue me it’s a guilty pleasure. But if your palette is more refined, then you may not want to give Wang a shake. While I don’t think the humor here ever borders on malicious, I just want to be up front an forewarn anyone who might be sensitive to things like that for one reason or another.

Combat is where you are going to spend the most of your days, and I can tell you that it fares better than the new Bel-Air reboot. (too soon?) Very much akin to Doom and Doom Eternal, Shadow Warrior 3’s levels are all about guiding players to the next combat arena. While the developers may have removed the randomized levels and weapon drops, they made up for it by adding awesome environmental traps in which to punish foes like the tried and true wall of spikes which players can ‘chi or force push’ foes into. Or if you prefer your carnage with spinning razor blades then Shadow Warrior 3 can help with that as well and more. Not only is each area filled with various ways to kill foes, there is also a big degree of verticality to each level made all the more accessible due to the new aforementioned grappling hook. Players will use it to get to higher points, pull explosive pots towards enemies or even used for yanking Wang towards his foes. The animations are quite stiff when swinging with the hook, Lo Wang is not Spider-Man so please temper your expectations so you aren’t disappointed like I was.

Another way Flying Wild Hog helped to streamline Wang’s latest entry is by decreasing the number of weapons that are able to be equipped and making the upgrade system much more user friendly. As far as weapons go Shadow Warrior 3 is full of the standard fare like pistols, assault rifles and like. There are more exotic weapons that you can unlock the more the game is played, and all in fact the game is designed for all weapons to be unlocked by the time players reach the midpoint. When it comes to upgrading your weapons or skills players will find the usual fare of more ammo, to reduced recoil or in the case of the sword the ability to add elemental attacks to each swing. These come in the standard form of fire, lighting and ice damage or the ‘holy trinity of magic’ as I like to call it. Players are able to also make upgrade their Wang’s to their hearts content, which is nice because if you are going to play with Wang you should be able to personalize him.

Are there some bad things I can say about Shadow Warrior 3, yea but none of them are game breaking but instead just annoyances? First, for some reason there is no longer a co-op mode. I understand why it was removed since the team was really trying to ‘tighten everything up’ so to speak but I recall having so much fun with my son in the previous game that this kind of stings a bit. Secondly for some reason there is a weird audio sync issue, and maybe it was just happening to me but during cutscenes the video would be moving many frames ahead of the visuals. So much so in fact that I originally thought that it was a gag on old kung-fu movies and their notoriously bad audio syncing…

Narrator: Little did he know…it was not a gag

…but I realized that it was a bug. Lastly, and I already touched on this.. the animations for the grappling hook are so stiff. When Wang swings back and forth he is extremely rigid.
Shadow Warrior 3 for is just dumb fun. It doesn’t do anything to make you think that its going to be anything other than it is. Running around with a varied array of weapons AND a sword, killing monsters while dashing and swinging around is right up there with the fun to be had in Doom Eternal. But for me it’s the humor that sets Shadow Warrior 3 apart, while not for everyone those that find comfort and chuckles in ‘derp’ type comedy will have a ball playing with Wang.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.