Shadoan
Score: 40% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Digital Leisure Developer: NuTech Digital, Inc. Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure
Graphics & Sound: For those of you who like cel shading, games like Shadoan started it. Yes, back in the 80's, animated games were popular, but not for very long. Since the entire game is already drawn up, there isn't a lot of room for variety or control. With only a few of these games standing out, animated games quickly faded into obscurity. And now, in the 21'st century, they're being brought back, even though they have no firepower to compete with the new games. Even on DVD, Shadoan looks poor, with dated animation techniques. Also causing this ship to sink are the sound and music. Bad voice acting, old sound effects, and annoying music that is played over and over again damage this game beyond repair. The main character's voice is so weak you'll wonder how he can even pick up a sword.
Gameplay: You're thrown into the game as a wizard in training, forced into a fight to save the land from another evil wizard. Without many plot twists or interesting characters, Shadoan's story will quickly fail to impress. Throughout the game, you will go from place to place with your bag of goodies, trying to solve puzzles, help the locals, and further the incredibly slow story. When you get to a place where an action can be performed, you'll get to choose between a few of your items and decide which one might be the right one. Choosing the wrong item will either get you killed, or you'll have to leave and come back. Getting killed really isn't what it sounds like. You just get sent to a different area on the map, and you have to walk back to where you were before. This is good though, as you can't save your game, due to it being a DVD. Without much action, character interaction, or anything else that might lead to a fun experience, the gameplay is very thin. Let this be a lesson to all game developers: DVD games do not allow for great gameplay.
Difficulty: The only difficult part of this game is trying to stay with it all the way to the end. With hardly any punishment for making mistakes, it's only a matter of trial and error to beat it. There is a harder mode with more puzzles, which are either incredibly easy or terribly confusing, but it only achieves in putting more hours on the clock in the long effort to beat the game.
Game Mechanics: Shadoan does not have a difficult control system to master. The remote control is what you'll be using. The most important thing you have is your inventory, which you will go to when an action can be performed. Here you will pick an item you want to use, and the game takes care of the rest. If it's right, a good scene will play out, and if it's not, a bad scene will play out. Moving is done by way of a map, or if there is a door on screen, you can click on that and enter another room. Shallow control schemes don't always mean a shallow game, but there are exceptions. Shadoan doesn't fail because it's controls are simple, it fails because it's not a fun game. Lovers of Thayer's Quest might want to check it out, but you'd have to really love the older game in order to appreciate this one. All others stay far away.
-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications AKA Andrew Horwitz
Rainbow Six 3 SX Superstar