Shadow Warrior (1997 video game)
Shadow Warrior is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The shareware version was released for the PC on May 13, 1997, while the full version was released on September 12, 1997. "Shadow Warrior" was developed using Ken Silverman's Build engine and improved on 3D Realms' previous Build engine game, "Duke Nukem 3D". Mark Adams ported "Shadow Warrior" to Mac OS in August 1997. The game's improvements included introduction of true room-over-room situations, the use of 3D voxels instead of 2D sprites  for weapons and usable inventory items, transparent water, climbable ladders, and assorted vehicles to drive (some armed with weapons). Although violent, the game had its own sense of humor and contained some sexual themes. A combination of "Shadow Warrior" and "Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition" was published by GT Interactive Software in March 1998, titled "East Meets West". In 2005, 3D Realms released the source code for "Shadow Warrior" (including compiled Build engine object code) under the GPL-2.0-or-later license, which resulted in the first source port a day later on April 2, 2005. In 2013, Devolver Digital announced  the game would be free to obtain for a limited time on Steam. Later, Devolver Digital announced that they would permanently offer the game for free. A reboot, also titled "Shadow Warrior", was developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital, launched on September 26, 2013. Plot. Lo Wang is a bodyguard and enforcer for Zilla Enterprises, a powerful conglomerate that controls every major industry in a futuristic Japan. Although he is aware of the unchecked corruption and crime that has resulted from Zilla Enterprises' dominance, Lo Wang is too content with his well-paid position to challenge  his employers. This changes when Master Zilla, the company president who desires even more power and wealth, embarks on a plan to conquer Japan using creatures from the "dark side", having formed an alliance with the ancient deities that rule over them. When he discovers this, Lo Wang finds he can no longer stomach Zilla's evil and quits his job. Master Zilla soon realizes the threat that Lo Wang poses and orders the creatures to kill him. Forced to fight for his life, Lo Wang manages to slaughter dozens of Zilla's minions until he discovers that Zilla also  had his old mentor, Master Liep, murdered. Following his mentor's dying words, Lo swears to put an end to Zilla's schemes. The game ends with Lo Wang defeating Master Zilla, who tries and fails to kill him while piloting a massive war mech styled after a samurai. However, Zilla is able to escape, and informs his old bodyguard that they will meet again someday. Gameplay. "Shadow Warrior" is a first-person shooter similar to "Duke Nukem 3D" and using the same Build engine. Players navigate the protagonist, Lo Wang, through three-dimensional environments or "levels". Throughout levels are  enemies that attack Lo Wang, which can be killed by the player using weapons such as a katana. "Shadow Warrior" also features puzzles that must be solved to progress in various levels. Lo Wang's arsenal of weaponry includes Japanese-themed weapons such as shurikens—which were "likely [to] be dropped in favor of [a] high tech fun weapon" in development—and a katana, and marked the first appearance of a sticky bomb in an FPS, an idea popularized later by "". It also includes guns such as Uzis, a riot gun that fires shotgun shells, and the "Eraser"-inspired railgun (Lo  Wang frequently says "Time to get erased! Ha ha!" when picking up this weapon). In addition, the head and heart of certain enemies can be used as weapons. "Shadow Warrior" was an ambitious game, containing many features not seen until later first-person shooter games. For example, the game features turrets and various vehicles (such as tanks) that the player can drive around freely in, climbable ladders, and multiple firing modes for various weapons. Development. Development of "Shadow Warrior" began in early 1994 as "Shadow Warrior 3D", and preliminary screenshots were released with "Hocus Pocus" in May 1994. Jim Norwood  came up with the game idea, George Broussard designed the character Lo Wang and Michael Wallin did some concept sketches. Broussard in 1996 stated: "We want Shadow Warrior to surpass Duke Nukem 3D in features and gameplay and that's a TALL order." To this end, more tongue-in-cheek humor was added to the existing game in order to better match the style of the popular "Duke Nukem 3D". The shareware version of "Shadow Warrior" was published in North America by GT Interactive Software on May 13, 1997, and the full version was published on September 12, 1997. At  E3 1997, an area in the GT Interactive Software booth was dedicated to "Shadow Warrior". Soundtrack. Lee Jackson, who had already composed the soundtrack for "Duke Nukem 3D" also composed the soundtrack for "Shadow Warrior". A Kurzweil K2500R5 keyboard was used to produce the music. "Shadow Warrior" uses the audio tracks of the game's CD for music playback rather than the system's MIDI device, which allows for a higher general quality and the use of samples and effects not possible with MIDI music. This allowed Lee Jackson to include a wide variety of instruments which support the game 's East Asian theme as well as to include ambient tracks which depend on advanced sound design. MIDI support including MIDI versions of five songs from the game's soundtrack was added exclusively to the shareware version which had to be kept small in size. A special song called "Lo Wang's Rap" was included in one of the game disc's audio tracks. It was created out of sound bites and outtakes from recording sessions with John William Galt, the voice actor cast in the role of Lo Wang. This song was played during the credits sequence after completing  the game. Jackson wrote and recorded a backing music track and then used a DAW to arrange the vocals over it in a way that made it sound like Lo Wang was actually rapping. The song was released as an MP3 on 3D Realms' website in 1999. Release. Expansion packs. Two expansion packs, "Wanton Destruction" and "Twin Dragon", were released. The third one, "Deadly Kiss" from SillySoft, remains unreleased, but screenshots were released in January 1998. Reception. NPD Techworld, a firm that tracked sales the United States, reported 118,500 units sold of "Shadow Warrior" by December 2002. Reviews from critics  are mostly positive and ratings vary from average to positive. Thierry Nguyen of "Computer Gaming World" commented: "Shadow Warrior is an average action game. While there are some good enhancements to the BUILD engine and some good level design and enemy AI, the rest of the game is mediocre." By contrast, "GamePro" said that ""Shadow Warrior" scores high in both style and level design. ... It's enhanced by a high difficulty level, a great audio soundtrack, and ambient music and environments you can can really believe exist ..." Tim Soete of "GameSpot" called it "a late entry into the realm of  sprite-based action games that's pretty fun despite its dated qualities." GamingOnLinux reviewer Hamish Paul Wilson decided in a later retrospective that Shadow Warrior was the weakest of the three major Build engine games, stating that its gunplay was the "least balanced and its levels the most likely to descend into tedium or frustration". Legacy. 3D Realms released the source code of the "Shadow Warrior" engine on April 1, 2005 under the GPL-2.0-or-later license. Due to the timing of the source code release, some users initially believed that it was an April Fools joke. The first source  port, "JFShadowWarrior", was created by Jonathon Fowler and released a day later on April 2, 2005, including Linux support and improvements from his "JFDuke3D" source port. As of January 2015, there have been no new versions of "JFShadowWarrior" since October 9, 2005. "Shadow Warrior" for iOS was released on December 19, 2012 by 3D Realms and indie developer General Arcade. The official website was created by Jeffrey D. Erb and Mark Farish of Intersphere Communications Ltd. Two original novels featuring Lo Wang were published. "For Dead Eyes Only" was written by Dean Wesley Smith and "You Only Die Twice" by  Ryan Hughes. The titles of the novels parody titles in the "James Bond" book series by Ian Fleming.