Me and my Shadowman–part deux.
More than a fashion accessory, the Mask of Shadows is grafted into Michael LeRoi’s chest. With the voodoo powers of the mask, LeRoi can become Shadowman, a being of immense power with the ability to cross over into Deadside, the realm of the dead. Mama Nettie, a voodoo priestess, has used her powers to receive a dark omen of an immense evil gaining power within Deadside. In order to stop the forthcoming Armageddon, she instructs LeRoi to journey into Deadside, find the Asylum (a haven for dead killers and Dark Souls), and destroy it. Why worry? It’s not like you can die or anything…
Shadowman for the N64 has all the markings of a hasty port from the PC. The original PC version was able to establish a dark and creepy mood for the adult subject matter of the game. Somehow, when moved to the N64, most of the subtleties that made the PC game good have been left out of the cartridge. While I never expected the N64 version to match the PC one exactly, this game feels like it could have used a little more Voodoo in the mix.
You control Shadowman from a third person view, focusing on exploration
and collection. All the while, you must shoot the lost souls and demons that
try to hinder your quest (how do you kill something that’s already dead?). The
main items that you must collect are the Dark Souls; the more you collect, the
more locked gateways on earlier levels you’ll be able to open and the stronger
you’ll become. Other voodoo items will let you touch fire or climb up waterways.
Shadowman uses a combat aiming function similar to Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can lock-on to an enemy, and then move relative to him. While the function works decently, Zelda‘s “lock-on” had a cleaner, more refined feeling. In Shadowman, the lock occasionally gets lost when you step too much to the side or if something comes between you and the enemy. Furthermore, the lock is not very flexible and often you find yourself locked on a far off enemy while a closer enemy claws at you. To make things worse, the N64 version’s target is barely even visible. Needless to say, it gets frustrating.
When you defeat an enemy, their soul is left behind. These souls serve as health. When you’re Michael and you die in the game, you just go to Deadside, where you’re Shadowman. If you’re Shadowman and you die, you just start again from a checkpoint since you’re already dead. Isn’t immortality great?
Overall, there is a lot of platform jumping in the game, but never quite reaches the point of being overly frustrating. The controls can be rather sensitive and never evoke the overall smoothness of the PC version.
When you move between different game locations, you’ll get a game disrupting loading screen. The illusion of a fully realized world would have seemed more convincing without the wait. Instead, even with the nonlinear nature of the game, the world of Deadside still has a “levels” feel to it. While I can partly accept load times from a CD, having to bear with it on a cartridge is damn annoying.
One neat feature is that the difficulty level keeps increasing as you get further into the game. Areas that were nearly empty the first time through are brimming with the undead the next time around. And yet another gripe in comparison to the PC is that there are fewer enemies on the N64 version. On top of that, the enemies that are still around seem, AI-wise, less dangerous.
Influenced by movies like Seven and the poetry of T.S. Eliot, the designers created a very stylish game. While the writing is infused with a feeling of deep meaning, the characters still seem to follow standard archetypes, with the familiar good vs. evil . . . or in this case, evil vs. evil-er.
While the deeper design is neat, the characters could have used more exposition.
If the back story of LeRoi were included within the game, gamers would feel
more driven to keep fighting during the times when they’re stuck looking for
some key item.
The graphics of Deadside embody the dark and chilling mood set by the plot. Because Deadside is an imaginary place, the different visual elements of caves, gothic architecture, and dead things don’t have to follow the full rules of reality. That said, there are certain areas of the “Liveside” that, in contrast, just don’t look as good as Deadside (stupid constraints of reality).
If you do play this game, you will probably want the expansion pack, because the low-resolution mode of the game is one blurry plate of confusion. The high-resolution mode is significantly better, but the framerate suffers. Either way, this game doesn’t feel like it was put together with the N64 in mind.
Sound-wise, Shadowman N64 falls far short of the PC version. The environmental noise, occasional music, and shrieks of the enemies kept the game scary on the PC, but on the N64, many of those little touches have been lost. On the PC, when you fight an enemy, they start crying or shrieking, making some retching sound. It reminded me of my former, crazy roommate who talked to himself. On the N64, there isn’t any crying, and the shrieks don’t sound as good. It’s like listening to that same roommate with a bag over his head (which isn’t bad, considering that I don’t have to look at him anymore). The music just doesn’t have the same richness and sounds scratchy.
Shadowman’s gothic, artsy flavor is refreshing, but underneath all the English Lit and references, is an exploration game that could have used some more port-specific tuning. Even, if I hadn’t played the PC version first, I’d still be disappointed with the N64 edition. If you want to go to Deadside, the N64 isn’t the voodoo portal to get you there.
