SHADOW WARRIORS (CPC)
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a.k.a. Ninja Gaiden
Publisher: Tecmo. Developer: Ocean. Released: 1990. Genre: Beat 'em up. Other versions: NES; SNES; TG16; SMS; AMI; LYNX. Posted 16th July 2013. By Chris Weatherley © 2013 |
Being yet another long-running franchise that made its home system debut under a succession of alternate arrangements and title changes, Shadow Warriors is more commonly known as Ninja Gaiden, a series which took a hiatus during the 90s, only to return on modern systems with a fair amount of gusto and 3D pomp. Renamed in Europe because of the P.C. bureaucrats fear of the word ‘ninja’, the mutely-acclaimed original however was a scrolling beat ‘em up with a few new fruits of development to delight in. This period in the brawler’s progression favoured scenery interaction and complex plotlines, and Ninja Gaiden was rife with this kind of thing a full year before the smash-hit Final Fight. Conversions onto each home system varied greatly, not just in quality but with the entire interpretation of the original format. The brilliant NES version was unrecognisable from the coin-op and the Atari Lynx port surprisingly impressed. The CPC and its home computer rivals took the approach of the original’s vision and attempted to re-create Ryu Hayabusa in the violence-ridden hell-slums of America. With a vague plot, it focused on the thug ass-kicking, Fist of the North Star-inspired enemies and the joyful vandalism of the city streets mirroring the arcade format. It came away with high points in many respects, but was ultimately found to be a mere shadow of its cabinet forebear.
Broadly speaking, the CPC tended to struggle with coin-op conversions; producing some fine-looking but ultimately lethargic and dreary yarns. Shadow Warriors more or less follows this outline, but doesn’t get dragged down to the snails-pace ruination of Double Dragon. It runs at a nice rate, with a few minor inconsistencies in relation to enemy speed, but certainly keeps you on your mettle. Most notable are the visuals as the CPC makes an admirable attempt at mirroring the arcades level design, interactive environments and enemy variance with very little left out. A colourful title screen leads the way and while the playing area is small and the stages abridged, it’s well-structured and looks impressive. The amount of work gone into detailing Ryu and his quarries is surprisingly faithful and precise, and this extends to movements and behaviours too. It’s such a shame that the supporting presentation is so thin on the ground, and the flick-screen scrolling does aggravate somewhat. However, the use of a bright palette is cleverly done and crams in a lot of the signature hallmarks without becoming to congested. Colour clash does occur sporadically and some pixel corruption on the upper edge, but it’s still far superior to the C64 version’s presentation and stands out more than its Spectrum counterpart. It could be a little less blocky, but as far as 8-bit brawlers go it’s rather nifty and thematically solid.
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The queue for the toilet was enough to drive some guys mad
In a reverse of fortunes, the audio qualities Shadows Warriors serves up are dismal to say the least. All we have are a few item bleeps, white-noise hits and the odd distorted explosion. This minimal range of SFX could have been forgiven if the arcades excellent soundtrack had been incorporated. But no, all we have is a short grating riff at the start of each level and nothing else. This is frankly unacceptable because the Spectrum, which utilised the same audio chip recreates a version of the theme with impressive results, and the C64’s awesome SID chip made this theme better than the original. This is lazy and lacklustre as so often the musical backdrop of beat’ em ups plays an important part into the grand scale of the game. Disappointing.
Sadly, it doesn’t improve that much either with the gameplay, at least not enough to elevate the game into the ‘good’ category. Despite the fine graphics, quality animation and inclusion of the originals attributes, it’s that same kinship to the arcade that heightens the overall problems. Chief among these issues is what I refer too as ‘Ninja-Freeze’. It’s well known that the A.I. of the baddies in Shadows Warriors was ruthless and stupefying, and just a tad unfair. As it takes several successive hits to floor an enemy, so others will be on you in a heartbeat and this creates the ‘freeze’ aspect of Ryu. One hit and he becomes immobile, which results in yet more hits until knocked over. You have no chance to escape, defend or retaliate and that’s just not cricket. This also happens while landing from a jump, or even in mid-air. This is not a new fault as the coin-op had this, but the CPC’s slower pace and control system just make this all the more frustrating and irritating. Although this presents a certain toughness, it’s too awkward and random to negate with skill and patience, and unfortunately the excellent visuals do little to alleviate this large playing hindrance.
Sadly, it doesn’t improve that much either with the gameplay, at least not enough to elevate the game into the ‘good’ category. Despite the fine graphics, quality animation and inclusion of the originals attributes, it’s that same kinship to the arcade that heightens the overall problems. Chief among these issues is what I refer too as ‘Ninja-Freeze’. It’s well known that the A.I. of the baddies in Shadows Warriors was ruthless and stupefying, and just a tad unfair. As it takes several successive hits to floor an enemy, so others will be on you in a heartbeat and this creates the ‘freeze’ aspect of Ryu. One hit and he becomes immobile, which results in yet more hits until knocked over. You have no chance to escape, defend or retaliate and that’s just not cricket. This also happens while landing from a jump, or even in mid-air. This is not a new fault as the coin-op had this, but the CPC’s slower pace and control system just make this all the more frustrating and irritating. Although this presents a certain toughness, it’s too awkward and random to negate with skill and patience, and unfortunately the excellent visuals do little to alleviate this large playing hindrance.
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A smooth transition between the Cossack and Morris dancing distracts foes
Finally, and more bafflingly, is the habit of this game to give so much of an advantage to the bad guys. If the ‘ninja-freeze’ wasn’t enough, handing a large dollop of invulnerability to the stage bosses is just downright unfair. As with many scrolling beaters, the protagonist can become intangible for a few seconds upon re-spawn so that the player can get their bearings. The stage bosses in Shadow Warriors share this trait and make the fights a lot harder, unjust and more long-winded than necessary. Knocking them over will give them a couple of seconds of immunity to any attack, but they can still dish out the punishment on you. This becomes ridiculous in the multiple boss fights, as you have nowhere to go but into the iron-fist of one of the brutes. Also, the incessant flashing of the sprites during this sequence is really horrible to look at, causing you to lose your whereabouts and course. When so many sprites are flickering wildly, it actually feels hurtful on the eyes. In stark reflection of this is yet another defect; only a fixed number of characters can move at any given time and this results in some comical bad-guy statues. They just stand there; invulnerable and static, gazing at the carnage in front of them. Funny, but this adds to the distractions in a crowded, busy and action packed screen.
With a mere six levels to conquer, Shadow Warriors doesn’t feel like a particularly lengthy game, but getting the arse-kicking Mr Hayabusa to the finishing line is a hard slog in every respect. There is a lot to admire about this 8-bit rendition of a franchise foundation; it’s tough, looks great, gets exciting at times and has a lot of the essential elements that made the original good fun, but this is offset not only by hereditary, parent-gene faults, but by a host of other little annoyances that come together to make the game a bit of an arse-ache to play through and stick with.
With a mere six levels to conquer, Shadow Warriors doesn’t feel like a particularly lengthy game, but getting the arse-kicking Mr Hayabusa to the finishing line is a hard slog in every respect. There is a lot to admire about this 8-bit rendition of a franchise foundation; it’s tough, looks great, gets exciting at times and has a lot of the essential elements that made the original good fun, but this is offset not only by hereditary, parent-gene faults, but by a host of other little annoyances that come together to make the game a bit of an arse-ache to play through and stick with.
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VERDICT
Visual: 8/10
Audio: 3/10 Gameplay: 6/10 Longevity: 4/10 OVERALL: 5/10 |