When I initially heard about Shadow Man: Remastered, I was ecstatic! Its original version was something that I never had a chance to play when I was younger so a remaster seemed like the best time to check it out and see what there was to this cult classic. While I can definitely see the appeal in the setting and lore, I felt that Shadow Man: Remastered suffers from issues within the core of its controls and gameplay that left me feeling extremely let-down. Even with its sweet platforming sections, there is a lot to be done to truly do this game justice in the modern gaming space.
Story
Shadow Man’s story is incredibly interesting with its spiritual elements that collide with the grotesque. You play as Michael LeRoi, the current Shadow Man whose job it is to protect the world from the evil that’s trying to take over the world. When Nettie (Michael’s love interest) has a nightmare about the impending doom of mankind, she sends Michael on a quest to stop the evil leader named Legion. Legion has amassed a team of 5 serial killers that Michael will have to take down first in order to harvest their Dark Souls to have enough power to exterminate him.
It’s a pretty great story and I liked just about everything about it. The dark and spiritual elements really resonated with me and I think that the story itself has aged pretty well. There aren’t many games out there today that are much like this and it still makes it a unique experience to this day.
Gameplay
Where the game takes its heavy hits are in its gameplay area. The game offers some really fantastic platforming sections that test the mind and don’t give you clear paths. In fact, the whole game is pretty much non-linear and allows you to approach things in your own style. Couple this with sparse checkpoints and you’re in for a fun if not exploit riddled experience. The real problem though lies in the fact that the controls feel extremely dated and inaccurate.
More often than not, I’d find myself dying all because of the way that Michael would move. The controls are remappable but that doesn’t change the awkwardness that there is when actually trying to look around. For some reason, you aren’t able to freely look around using the mouse while moving. I get the fact that this was originally a 90s title but when it comes down to rereleases, remakes, or remasters, it’s incredibly important to look at your controls and figure out if they’re still relevant in comparison to the majority of games releasing.
Using a controller instead of a keyboard and mouse is even worse. I’m really worried to see how this one is received when it finally releases on consoles because it might as well be unplayable. Again, it’s stiff and completely inaccurate. I can’t in recent memory find any game that had this bad of a control setup, even thinking back to any PS1 titles that I can remember playing as a kid.
Combat was another mixed bag for me. The game gives you many cool weapons to collect and even allows you to choose which ones will go in either of Michael’s hands. I absolutely loved this idea and really wish more modern games would allow you to do this as a player. I think the only other one that comes to mind for recent releases is Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, so it’s nice to see where the foundation came from.
Because of the control system, you auto-lock on enemies as you approach them, and then you can shoot them. My problem with this is the randomness for which it decides to aim at the enemies. The problem comes in two parts; the first being that if you’re aiming off to the side, it won’t always match. The second is that if you’re too far it won’t match either. I wish that this remaster would’ve added the feature of free-aiming so that combat was more fun and modernized. I feel like the devs only cared about making the game look better. This is supposed to be a new mechanic but is definitely a step in the wrong direction completely.
The controls and combat made it extremely hard to feel motivated to even play the game. This may have been passable back in the day but controls like this in a remaster are extremely disappointing. It took my hype and dropped it to the floor, breaking it into pieces. I’d be very hesitant to pick this one up on consoles at all. Buyer beware.
Visuals
Character designs are some of my favorite aspects of Shadow Man. They’re dark and pretty twisted. It’s just what you’d expect out of a mid-90s horror-themed title. I can’t say that I was totally in love with any of the locations but I will admit that they look better in this remaster than they did in the original. I would’ve liked to see the graphics be even sharper but I can’t complain too much.
Audio
I’m not gonna lie, Shadow Man’s theme song is pretty awesome and I loved hearing it come into play when something was going down. Unfortunately, the game is pretty empty when it comes to audio most of the time otherwise. It just gives it a cheap feel. There aren't even ambient sounds to make it seem at all immersive. Voice acting is great and does a ton of cheesy 90s dialogue that made me roll my eyes and smile, just what I wanted.
What It Could Have Done Better
There is a lot that Shadow Man: Remastered could have done better to properly execute a remaster when compared to any others that I’ve played. It seems more as if this game was remastered solely for cemented fans of the OG game and not to bring in new players at all. Those who liked the old version may find something fun here if they haven’t become accustomed to gaming controls of the last 20+ years. I can live with the dull audio but when the game’s controls impact me so negatively, that’s what sets the tone for the rest of the playthrough.
Verdict
Shadow Man: Remastered while being an interesting title story-wise, gets hampered down by its dated controls and mechanics. Any fun that I found within the game always felt like a war against myself just to power-through the game. If you’re a die-hard fan, then this is for you. If you’re a newbie to the series like me, then just pass by and wave.
