Shadow Man (N64, 1999)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-7 Control-7 Challenge-7.5* Story-6
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
*9 HP, 1 violator
+
Can teleport between worlds and visited sub areas at any point (using a teddy bear which is a memorabilia of Mike's dead brother Luke)
Lock-on aiming which allows for circle strafing if you're carrying the gun and aiming at a nearby enemy (Soul Reaver - released in the same month)
Parallel world theme (kingdom of the dead kind of place called Deadside where the player char (Mike) turns into Shadow Man and if he dies in the real world he ends up there - similar to Soul Reaver or Zelda 3)
Metroid-like gameplay in 3D (some ability gating - gain abilities which let you progress as well as explore further into previously visited areas (mainly weapons and key type ones though besides the wristlets/poigne), using the l'eclipser item in the real world locations changes the enemies and what you can reach there, mostly interconnected world)
Some sequence breaking possibilities (can reach some govis (contain dark souls which level up your ability to open coffin gates and other things) sooner than intended, in a couple of rooms you can ignore pressing a switch or skip the intended platforming segment with some smart platforming)
Roll and quick turn moves (press crouch while running/back while rolling respectively (some delay after using the latter though)/pretty fast swimming underwater/can cling to ledges and climb up or jump backwards/can shimmy (Tomb Raider)
Skippable cutscenes and staff roll
Story/lore exposition via dark and poetic monologues by Mike when entering new areas (similar to Soul Reaver) and tomes with text and images (similar to System Shock 2 or Ultima 7 - these can help a bit in figuring out what to do next at times)
Some decent humour (Jaunty the irish talking snake in Deadside)
Brightness and UI opacity options
FP view reverse aim toggle
Higher res option with a RAM expansion pack
Decent voice acting overall (Jaunty is hit and miss, some minor characters have so-so voices)
Pretty good art direction (similar to Quake/Soul Reaver/Warhammer 40K/Event Horizon/Hellraiser/Seven/Silent Hill)
Can see how many dark souls are left to collect in each sub area as well as in the whole game via the pause menu
Upgradeable charge attack+shadowgun lock-on range (?)+voodoo weapon ammo capacity (based on your level - collect dark souls) and upgradeable life bar (100 red pots/cadeaux per HP; takes a while before you can trade these in)
Pretty good boss intros (similar to Metal Gear)
Some shortcuts within sub areas (there could've been a few more though considering the lack of maps)
Some decent platforming+spatial awareness (playrooms area)+timing puzzles
Some interesting items/abilities (manual shield power up (blocks projectiles while draining voodoo ammo)
Calabash/explosive can be used to remove floor panels and against enemies - Aztec, Metroid
Can hold and use two weapons at once (Phantom 2040?; two automatic weapons is fun, getting 120 dark souls lets you unlock a second copy of the best weapon so you can use two of them)
The flambeau (basically a stronger version of the asson/skull staff) can also be used as a torch - useful in the undercity+mordant street+station areas (until you find the flashlight))
Some nice effects (burning enemies)
"I'm the lizard king!"
Very good draw distance overall (so-so underwater)
Some memorable locations (street and station areas, playrooms, cageways)
Some good bosses (Jack, Legion/final boss)
Special game over cutscene for if you die to the final boss
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (more than one coffin gate can be opened at various points in the game and there are some branching paths in some sub areas, can choose which bosses to face when besides the first one? - collect retractors and use on the gates to their areas, have to assemble the l'eclipser before you can explore the liveside locations properly - can only see a little bit of them before doing so)
Collectathon (have to collect several dark souls per area to increase your shadow level which in turn lets you unlock certain doors (coffin gates) leading to other areas and special items - the number of souls needed per level increases over the course of the game (95/120 are needed and some are pretty well hidden), three pieces for the l'eclipser which lets you kill the bosses, 500 (!) red pots/cadeaux to upgrade your life bar fully - optional)
There's an auto-aim/lock-on feature when near enemies and looking in their direction while using the gun and strafing but it doesn't work that well against flying ones
Save feature (anywhere, 7 slots - each one only shows a letter to note which area you're in (?) and not time taken nor current stats; using multiple slots seems glitchy in emulation as memory ("pages") is used up very quickly) - loading takes you to the beginning of the area you saved in though
Infinite lives (dying just puts you in Deadside if you were controlling Mike at the church or back at the beginning of the current area (or the one you just teleported to) if you already were in Deadside or in one of the boss areas as Mike, there are also some checkpoints within sub areas - when luke's ghost appears it means you've reached one)
Your Shadow Man form has a few differences (can climb walls behind "blood waterfalls" using the Poigne (wristlets with claws attached), is immune to falling or drowning and can be made immune to fire, can channel voodoo items into weapons to power them up)
Cheesy script overall (some swearing and sexual innuendo, Shadowman is a bit of an edgelord at times, sometimes self-serious tone and other times very comedic, "the end" written at the end of tomes)
Undodgeable ranged attacks by the first enemies you meet (repeated shooting stun locks these and some other enemies though meaning you don't need to dodge their attacks after landing the first hit)
Uninteractive dialogue - scenes trigger as you move up to NPCs
No journal feature (the dark souls display helps but could've been expanded to red pots and other items)
Splatter/horror theme
Can get advice on what to do next from a couple of NPCs but it's usually too vague to be of much use
Can't keep health items for later use
Respawning enemies (when re-entering a sub area)
Minor frame drops
Generally forgiving hit detection near platform edges (sometimes on pipe platforms it's easy to slid off when you didn't want to though)
The baton's teleport ability is redundant when you have the teddy bear - only used to teleport between certain altars which are rare,
Basic switch puzzles
The parallel worlds mechanic isn't as fleshed out as in Soul Reaver or Zelda 3 - the "dark world"/deadside is a separate world here besides when you get the l'eclipse and fully explore the liveside areas (which only make up maybe a fifth of the game or less)
Bosses are decent but don't make you use your abilities in interesting ways like in Zelda for example and the OP shield ability makes most of them too easy
Can't use liveside/real world weapons in deadside
The game is a bit oddly paced in that you can't face any bosses until finishing over half of the game
Hidden cheats here and there (nothing special though - mainly skins (the "play as a deadwing" one would've been awesome as an actual transformation since those can fly), there are also no clues to their locations)
Dropped health disappears after about 10 seconds while dropped ammo doesn't
Features gore
The govis make a heartbeat sound when close to them but it's not used to find ones that you can't see (placing them right behind a breakable or false wall for example; Ecco Jr, Powerslave, later ued in Metroid Prime and Hollow Knight)
-
Various control/interface issues (slow backwards movement, have to equip keys to use them, can't jump while strafing - makes it harder to avoid the giant enemies' stomps, the rotation camera controls don't make Shadow Man turn around - you just rotate the view so you're viewing him from the sides or back which isn't particularly useful, can't move while crouching, no full control config - just a few setups and they all map some action to the wrong button (can be fixed in emulation), turning while moving doesn't work that well - turn too much and you stop moving to turn in place (can be fixed in emulation by unchecking the "real N64 range" box for the analog stick), slow rope climbing and kinda slow climbing up bloodfalls, can't speed up or skip dialogue cutscenes on a per sentence basis - see Day of the Tentacle for example, have to manually put away your current weapon to be able to climb a rope, aiming is too sensitive in FP view/snipe mode and you can't lock on to enemies here - would've been useful against flying enemies, some delay when jumping from stand still but not while moving, some movement delay after performing a quick turn move, no invincibility time after being bitten by a fish, slow surface swimming, sometimes inconsistent ledge climbing physics - in one room you can skip a minor platforming puzzle by just going to the other side and jumping up while you can't jump up onto the middle platform in that room for seemingly no reason, can sometimes jump onto blood waterfalls but usually have to climb from the bottom, some spoken dialogue lacks subtitles, sometimes too easy to get semi-stuck on corners and other objects, can't cycle between inventory items while in-game, lock-on aiming sometimes lets go even if fairly close to the enemy (rare though) - might have to do with there being more than one enemy nearby)
No in-game maps (you can find one online that supposedly came with the game and which tells you roughly where the important items are but it's vague in terms of the topography and paths within sub areas; annoying because various areas have samey looking rooms and some important items are easy to forget/miss the path to plus you don't get proper advice on where they are from the supposed advisor NPCs)
Some tedious aspects (not enough checkpoints - too many death traps in the blood temple, the engine block is a bit too long and so are some of the liveside areas, enemies take too many hits to kill early on, ~10-12 seconds of loading when moving between sub areas - this despite the game also having several corridors between rooms, some dead space and waiting for moving platforms, some dead ends with nothing special in them (or just enemies), red pots/cadeaux tend to be placed far from the main path of an area, no item magnet feature (pull items towards you) - breaks flow a bit as the hit detection is pretty tight on items, some backtracking to the room with items in locked containers in the Playrooms area - unlocked with accumulators, can set the mini-boss of the playrooms area free before you have the item needed to reach its room and fight it, one-way shortcut between cageways and lavaducts, you get the calabash/floor panel remover too late - need to be level 9 to open the gate to it (means some of the blood temple is blocked off before that, you can even find a shortcut in the blood temple area that is blocked off at the end because you don't have it), many platforms are placed so that they're just out of reach without grabbing and climbing the ledge - breaks flow a bit, the prison helicopter can respawn and there's no reward for destroying it, doorways opened by the drumstick are non-persistent/don't stay open - thankfully these are few)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (spikes: ambush in the first deadside area by enemies that take 10+ hits to kill, dips: oddly the game gets a bit easier for a while once you've upgraded your main weapon a few levels+gotten the asson/skull staff, undercity and some other later areas)
Some trial & error (the game doesn't always show what opened when pressing a switch/using a keycard - prison and engine block, engine block pistons puzzles - have to find jack's journal to get the codes for these and it's easy to miss (the game could've made Mike pick it up as you enter the street station area), some maze segments with points where you can fall down and have to find your way back and repeat a segment, some artifact and ability descriptions are vague, have to press the "equip weapon" button to interact with the coffin gates, some moves aren't explained in-game, sometimes when teleporting to a sub area you're attacked right away by an enemy, a bit hard to see certain ledges you can grab onto and shimmy on),
Gets repetitive towards the end game (repeated enemies and background tiles)
Sometimes shorter draw distance and worse overall lighting+textures compared to DC and PC
Cliché "chosen one to save the world" story at its core
This version is missing a few visual details seen on PC (some of them pretty gross so it was probably censored a bit here)
Some items/abilities are kinda lame (the gads (toucher/marcher/nager) items just let you perform normal actions where there's fire/lava - you could already push regular boxes or shimmy for example, the drumstick/marteau would've been more interesting to use if there was a rhythm element to it - used to remove one of three boards covering certain doorways that can't be broken down normally but can also be used as a decent melee weapon with some splash damage)
The game could've had more movement abilities or ways to shape your environment (double jump, wall jump - you can jump away from walls but only while clinging onto ledges, hover jump, air dash, same room teleport/blink, telekinesis (or the telekinetic force projectile from soul reaver), grow plant/reshape platform, etc.)
Some unintentionally funny moments (intro with the vampire visitor having blood on his face and chest with no reaction and how the other guy rushedly commits suicide)
The temple of prophecy is too similar to the temple of fire
No music in parts of some areas and some voice acting sounds odd (music seems to turn off when moving in tunnels, Jaunty sounds like he's recorded in a different environment than Mike)
Sometimes jerky animation in cutscenes
Mono music (stereo and higher quality on PC, would get a 7.5 there if there are no glitches where it cuts out)
Some plot oddities (if "the five" knew about Legion (bad guy)'s plan to lure Mike then why did they go along with dying one at a time to Mike?)
The in-game cutscenes where Legion transforms and is killed look pretty bad
Bugs:
-In Project64 there's a hit detection bug in the blood temple which makes it seemingly impossible to pass a part where you have to shimmy across small gaps with swinging blade traps - can work around this by climbing at the gap and then moving to the left to grab onto the next ledge
-In Project64 you have to switch graphics plugins for the "get gad ability" cutscenes
-In Project64, Jack can glitch out and freeze in place right before he dies, forcing you to teleport back to the beginning of that area and face him again
Notes:
-Somewhat better map (more notes, still doesn't show where doors with a fire symbol or dark souls/govis are): https://www.lordofdeadside.com/hdmap.jpg
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
*9 HP, 1 violator
+
Can teleport between worlds and visited sub areas at any point (using a teddy bear which is a memorabilia of Mike's dead brother Luke)
Lock-on aiming which allows for circle strafing if you're carrying the gun and aiming at a nearby enemy (Soul Reaver - released in the same month)
Parallel world theme (kingdom of the dead kind of place called Deadside where the player char (Mike) turns into Shadow Man and if he dies in the real world he ends up there - similar to Soul Reaver or Zelda 3)
Metroid-like gameplay in 3D (some ability gating - gain abilities which let you progress as well as explore further into previously visited areas (mainly weapons and key type ones though besides the wristlets/poigne), using the l'eclipser item in the real world locations changes the enemies and what you can reach there, mostly interconnected world)
Some sequence breaking possibilities (can reach some govis (contain dark souls which level up your ability to open coffin gates and other things) sooner than intended, in a couple of rooms you can ignore pressing a switch or skip the intended platforming segment with some smart platforming)
Roll and quick turn moves (press crouch while running/back while rolling respectively (some delay after using the latter though)/pretty fast swimming underwater/can cling to ledges and climb up or jump backwards/can shimmy (Tomb Raider)
Skippable cutscenes and staff roll
Story/lore exposition via dark and poetic monologues by Mike when entering new areas (similar to Soul Reaver) and tomes with text and images (similar to System Shock 2 or Ultima 7 - these can help a bit in figuring out what to do next at times)
Some decent humour (Jaunty the irish talking snake in Deadside)
Brightness and UI opacity options
FP view reverse aim toggle
Higher res option with a RAM expansion pack
Decent voice acting overall (Jaunty is hit and miss, some minor characters have so-so voices)
Pretty good art direction (similar to Quake/Soul Reaver/Warhammer 40K/Event Horizon/Hellraiser/Seven/Silent Hill)
Can see how many dark souls are left to collect in each sub area as well as in the whole game via the pause menu
Upgradeable charge attack+shadowgun lock-on range (?)+voodoo weapon ammo capacity (based on your level - collect dark souls) and upgradeable life bar (100 red pots/cadeaux per HP; takes a while before you can trade these in)
Pretty good boss intros (similar to Metal Gear)
Some shortcuts within sub areas (there could've been a few more though considering the lack of maps)
Some decent platforming+spatial awareness (playrooms area)+timing puzzles
Some interesting items/abilities (manual shield power up (blocks projectiles while draining voodoo ammo)
Calabash/explosive can be used to remove floor panels and against enemies - Aztec, Metroid
Can hold and use two weapons at once (Phantom 2040?; two automatic weapons is fun, getting 120 dark souls lets you unlock a second copy of the best weapon so you can use two of them)
The flambeau (basically a stronger version of the asson/skull staff) can also be used as a torch - useful in the undercity+mordant street+station areas (until you find the flashlight))
Some nice effects (burning enemies)
"I'm the lizard king!"
Very good draw distance overall (so-so underwater)
Some memorable locations (street and station areas, playrooms, cageways)
Some good bosses (Jack, Legion/final boss)
Special game over cutscene for if you die to the final boss
+/-
Partially non-linear structure (more than one coffin gate can be opened at various points in the game and there are some branching paths in some sub areas, can choose which bosses to face when besides the first one? - collect retractors and use on the gates to their areas, have to assemble the l'eclipser before you can explore the liveside locations properly - can only see a little bit of them before doing so)
Collectathon (have to collect several dark souls per area to increase your shadow level which in turn lets you unlock certain doors (coffin gates) leading to other areas and special items - the number of souls needed per level increases over the course of the game (95/120 are needed and some are pretty well hidden), three pieces for the l'eclipser which lets you kill the bosses, 500 (!) red pots/cadeaux to upgrade your life bar fully - optional)
There's an auto-aim/lock-on feature when near enemies and looking in their direction while using the gun and strafing but it doesn't work that well against flying ones
Save feature (anywhere, 7 slots - each one only shows a letter to note which area you're in (?) and not time taken nor current stats; using multiple slots seems glitchy in emulation as memory ("pages") is used up very quickly) - loading takes you to the beginning of the area you saved in though
Infinite lives (dying just puts you in Deadside if you were controlling Mike at the church or back at the beginning of the current area (or the one you just teleported to) if you already were in Deadside or in one of the boss areas as Mike, there are also some checkpoints within sub areas - when luke's ghost appears it means you've reached one)
Your Shadow Man form has a few differences (can climb walls behind "blood waterfalls" using the Poigne (wristlets with claws attached), is immune to falling or drowning and can be made immune to fire, can channel voodoo items into weapons to power them up)
Cheesy script overall (some swearing and sexual innuendo, Shadowman is a bit of an edgelord at times, sometimes self-serious tone and other times very comedic, "the end" written at the end of tomes)
Undodgeable ranged attacks by the first enemies you meet (repeated shooting stun locks these and some other enemies though meaning you don't need to dodge their attacks after landing the first hit)
Uninteractive dialogue - scenes trigger as you move up to NPCs
No journal feature (the dark souls display helps but could've been expanded to red pots and other items)
Splatter/horror theme
Can get advice on what to do next from a couple of NPCs but it's usually too vague to be of much use
Can't keep health items for later use
Respawning enemies (when re-entering a sub area)
Minor frame drops
Generally forgiving hit detection near platform edges (sometimes on pipe platforms it's easy to slid off when you didn't want to though)
The baton's teleport ability is redundant when you have the teddy bear - only used to teleport between certain altars which are rare,
Basic switch puzzles
The parallel worlds mechanic isn't as fleshed out as in Soul Reaver or Zelda 3 - the "dark world"/deadside is a separate world here besides when you get the l'eclipse and fully explore the liveside areas (which only make up maybe a fifth of the game or less)
Bosses are decent but don't make you use your abilities in interesting ways like in Zelda for example and the OP shield ability makes most of them too easy
Can't use liveside/real world weapons in deadside
The game is a bit oddly paced in that you can't face any bosses until finishing over half of the game
Hidden cheats here and there (nothing special though - mainly skins (the "play as a deadwing" one would've been awesome as an actual transformation since those can fly), there are also no clues to their locations)
Dropped health disappears after about 10 seconds while dropped ammo doesn't
Features gore
The govis make a heartbeat sound when close to them but it's not used to find ones that you can't see (placing them right behind a breakable or false wall for example; Ecco Jr, Powerslave, later ued in Metroid Prime and Hollow Knight)
-
Various control/interface issues (slow backwards movement, have to equip keys to use them, can't jump while strafing - makes it harder to avoid the giant enemies' stomps, the rotation camera controls don't make Shadow Man turn around - you just rotate the view so you're viewing him from the sides or back which isn't particularly useful, can't move while crouching, no full control config - just a few setups and they all map some action to the wrong button (can be fixed in emulation), turning while moving doesn't work that well - turn too much and you stop moving to turn in place (can be fixed in emulation by unchecking the "real N64 range" box for the analog stick), slow rope climbing and kinda slow climbing up bloodfalls, can't speed up or skip dialogue cutscenes on a per sentence basis - see Day of the Tentacle for example, have to manually put away your current weapon to be able to climb a rope, aiming is too sensitive in FP view/snipe mode and you can't lock on to enemies here - would've been useful against flying enemies, some delay when jumping from stand still but not while moving, some movement delay after performing a quick turn move, no invincibility time after being bitten by a fish, slow surface swimming, sometimes inconsistent ledge climbing physics - in one room you can skip a minor platforming puzzle by just going to the other side and jumping up while you can't jump up onto the middle platform in that room for seemingly no reason, can sometimes jump onto blood waterfalls but usually have to climb from the bottom, some spoken dialogue lacks subtitles, sometimes too easy to get semi-stuck on corners and other objects, can't cycle between inventory items while in-game, lock-on aiming sometimes lets go even if fairly close to the enemy (rare though) - might have to do with there being more than one enemy nearby)
No in-game maps (you can find one online that supposedly came with the game and which tells you roughly where the important items are but it's vague in terms of the topography and paths within sub areas; annoying because various areas have samey looking rooms and some important items are easy to forget/miss the path to plus you don't get proper advice on where they are from the supposed advisor NPCs)
Some tedious aspects (not enough checkpoints - too many death traps in the blood temple, the engine block is a bit too long and so are some of the liveside areas, enemies take too many hits to kill early on, ~10-12 seconds of loading when moving between sub areas - this despite the game also having several corridors between rooms, some dead space and waiting for moving platforms, some dead ends with nothing special in them (or just enemies), red pots/cadeaux tend to be placed far from the main path of an area, no item magnet feature (pull items towards you) - breaks flow a bit as the hit detection is pretty tight on items, some backtracking to the room with items in locked containers in the Playrooms area - unlocked with accumulators, can set the mini-boss of the playrooms area free before you have the item needed to reach its room and fight it, one-way shortcut between cageways and lavaducts, you get the calabash/floor panel remover too late - need to be level 9 to open the gate to it (means some of the blood temple is blocked off before that, you can even find a shortcut in the blood temple area that is blocked off at the end because you don't have it), many platforms are placed so that they're just out of reach without grabbing and climbing the ledge - breaks flow a bit, the prison helicopter can respawn and there's no reward for destroying it, doorways opened by the drumstick are non-persistent/don't stay open - thankfully these are few)
Sometimes uneven difficulty (spikes: ambush in the first deadside area by enemies that take 10+ hits to kill, dips: oddly the game gets a bit easier for a while once you've upgraded your main weapon a few levels+gotten the asson/skull staff, undercity and some other later areas)
Some trial & error (the game doesn't always show what opened when pressing a switch/using a keycard - prison and engine block, engine block pistons puzzles - have to find jack's journal to get the codes for these and it's easy to miss (the game could've made Mike pick it up as you enter the street station area), some maze segments with points where you can fall down and have to find your way back and repeat a segment, some artifact and ability descriptions are vague, have to press the "equip weapon" button to interact with the coffin gates, some moves aren't explained in-game, sometimes when teleporting to a sub area you're attacked right away by an enemy, a bit hard to see certain ledges you can grab onto and shimmy on),
Gets repetitive towards the end game (repeated enemies and background tiles)
Sometimes shorter draw distance and worse overall lighting+textures compared to DC and PC
Cliché "chosen one to save the world" story at its core
This version is missing a few visual details seen on PC (some of them pretty gross so it was probably censored a bit here)
Some items/abilities are kinda lame (the gads (toucher/marcher/nager) items just let you perform normal actions where there's fire/lava - you could already push regular boxes or shimmy for example, the drumstick/marteau would've been more interesting to use if there was a rhythm element to it - used to remove one of three boards covering certain doorways that can't be broken down normally but can also be used as a decent melee weapon with some splash damage)
The game could've had more movement abilities or ways to shape your environment (double jump, wall jump - you can jump away from walls but only while clinging onto ledges, hover jump, air dash, same room teleport/blink, telekinesis (or the telekinetic force projectile from soul reaver), grow plant/reshape platform, etc.)
Some unintentionally funny moments (intro with the vampire visitor having blood on his face and chest with no reaction and how the other guy rushedly commits suicide)
The temple of prophecy is too similar to the temple of fire
No music in parts of some areas and some voice acting sounds odd (music seems to turn off when moving in tunnels, Jaunty sounds like he's recorded in a different environment than Mike)
Sometimes jerky animation in cutscenes
Mono music (stereo and higher quality on PC, would get a 7.5 there if there are no glitches where it cuts out)
Some plot oddities (if "the five" knew about Legion (bad guy)'s plan to lure Mike then why did they go along with dying one at a time to Mike?)
The in-game cutscenes where Legion transforms and is killed look pretty bad
Bugs:
-In Project64 there's a hit detection bug in the blood temple which makes it seemingly impossible to pass a part where you have to shimmy across small gaps with swinging blade traps - can work around this by climbing at the gap and then moving to the left to grab onto the next ledge
-In Project64 you have to switch graphics plugins for the "get gad ability" cutscenes
-In Project64, Jack can glitch out and freeze in place right before he dies, forcing you to teleport back to the beginning of that area and face him again
Notes:
-Somewhat better map (more notes, still doesn't show where doors with a fire symbol or dark souls/govis are): https://www.lordofdeadside.com/hdmap.jpg