I can get behind this
The time taken from starting my Shadow Warrior 2 demo at E3 to finding a giant metal and wood carved phallus as a mission objective titled the Demonic Rod was under three minutes. That should give you an idea of the sense of humour this particular gun and sword based ninja combat game revels in.
Over the following half hour I sliced huge demons in half with a chainsaw, melted them with acid guns, bashed them around with near super human strength and generally felt like an unkillable badass.
If that seems like your cup of tea, Shadow Warrior 2 is likely to be the right fit for you.
It is worth noting about my time with the game, I played a single mission of Shadow Warrior 2 at E3, with no narrative context provided due to a dev sat with me telling me to just skip through cutscenes as they were each a few minutes long.
While four player co-op is generally not my thing, the demo level I played through was played in co-op and I must say I enjoyed that more than I expected. Every player sees themself as protagonist Lo Wang, while appearing to other co-op players to be a standard henchman.
We were dropped into the demo with an almost excessively powerful arsenal of upgrades and customised weapons, from flaming swords to ice handguns, chainsaws to machine guns. Pair this with fast ninja style movement options, the ability to summon magical spikes from the ground to impale and immobilise enemies and different moves depending on direction being moved, I consistently felt like I was mowing down an inhumanly strong army with ease. It was rewarding for a demo level, but it could end up feeling unchallenging in the full game if not balanced properly.
Powers and special moves are considerably simplified since the original game, now featuring simple button presses rather than complex combos which was a relief for me.
And honestly, that’s about all there is to say about Shadow Warrior 2. You’re an overpowered ninja slaying down over the top demons while dick jokes happen. I know that’s enough for me to be on board.
