The action, and that's exactly what you're getting here, pure balls to the wall action, follows our Hispanic hero, Mexican demon hunter Garcia Hotspur, in his battle to save his girlfriend Paula from the clutches of the evil demon Fleming. The game starts out with a nice introductory sequence which allows us to get acquainted with the incredibly intuitive controls, while also setting up the story with Fleming's kidnapping of Paula. A sinister looking bugger, Fleming escapes to the underworld with our hero's missus with the promise of condemning her to repeated deaths for the rest of time. So, as you can guess, he's not a particularly nice guy.
From there, Garcia follows him into the underworld and the game begins in right style.
Accompanying you on your mission is Johnson; a former demon who now serves as a particularly versatile ally, being that he can transform into a wide range of guns as well as a torch and can offer a wealth of advice about the underworld, having spent quite a bit of time there in his demon days.
Unlike most representations of the land of the damned, Shadows gives a whole new spin on the underworld. It's full of house, lakes, pubs, nightclubs and even a big old library - who would ever have expected that demons liked to read, eh? The best thing is that this isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the off kilter humour found throughout the game.
If puerile, childish vulgarity offends you then this is not the title for you. Countless sexual innuendos, a gun called the "Big Boner" and a somewhat unexpected delivery of the "C" word about three quarters of the way through the game are mixed with some genuinely funny moments, as well as an awful lot of "what the hell is going on here" type head scratching.
While everything is explained pretty well, it doesn't make things any less bizarre as you shoot golden goat heads to illuminate the area and drive back the darkness that strips the flesh from Garcia's bones, cram eyeballs, hearts and strawberries (a demon delicacy apparently) into the faces of damned babies acting as guardians of doors, and even a dirty phone line that you can call to get Johnson, erm, "up for it" when you need him are some of the things you'll encounter here.
While there can be no doubt that they add to the enjoyment of the game, they do massively affect the atmosphere. Any possibly inkling of scariness is drained away from proceedings thanks to Johnson's continuous one liners and cheesy observations, making the game feel more like a cheesy horror flick than a serious survival game. Not that that's a bad thing, since the game-play probably wouldn't have held up to a more straight edged storyline.
The actual game-play itself is much akin to what we've come to expect from the more recent Resident Evil titles, in that it's fairly run of the mill third person over the shoulder shooter action. You'll keep your character going by collecting a variety of pickups including ammo, bottles of sake (for additional health, of course) and even human hearts, used to prolong the amount of time Garcia can spend in the darkness without succumbing to its effects.
While the game-play is nothing you haven't seen or done a hundred times before, there is a real fun factor here that you simply don't get elsewhere. The bosses have to be seen to be believed too. They range from the ridiculous to the absolutely insane, growing increasingly larger as you progress through the game, and offering the only inkling that this may actually have been intended to be an actual horror game at one point in its development.
What could very well have been a shining example of how not to make a game has actually served as a timely reminder that games can be clever (in an immature kind of way), engrossing and, most importantly fun. There are no swanky extras, no multi-player, no bells and very few whistles, but despite it all, this is precisely what 2K should have been aiming for with Duke Nukem Forever.
From there, Garcia follows him into the underworld and the game begins in right style.
Accompanying you on your mission is Johnson; a former demon who now serves as a particularly versatile ally, being that he can transform into a wide range of guns as well as a torch and can offer a wealth of advice about the underworld, having spent quite a bit of time there in his demon days.
Unlike most representations of the land of the damned, Shadows gives a whole new spin on the underworld. It's full of house, lakes, pubs, nightclubs and even a big old library - who would ever have expected that demons liked to read, eh? The best thing is that this isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the off kilter humour found throughout the game.
If puerile, childish vulgarity offends you then this is not the title for you. Countless sexual innuendos, a gun called the "Big Boner" and a somewhat unexpected delivery of the "C" word about three quarters of the way through the game are mixed with some genuinely funny moments, as well as an awful lot of "what the hell is going on here" type head scratching.
While everything is explained pretty well, it doesn't make things any less bizarre as you shoot golden goat heads to illuminate the area and drive back the darkness that strips the flesh from Garcia's bones, cram eyeballs, hearts and strawberries (a demon delicacy apparently) into the faces of damned babies acting as guardians of doors, and even a dirty phone line that you can call to get Johnson, erm, "up for it" when you need him are some of the things you'll encounter here.
While there can be no doubt that they add to the enjoyment of the game, they do massively affect the atmosphere. Any possibly inkling of scariness is drained away from proceedings thanks to Johnson's continuous one liners and cheesy observations, making the game feel more like a cheesy horror flick than a serious survival game. Not that that's a bad thing, since the game-play probably wouldn't have held up to a more straight edged storyline.
The actual game-play itself is much akin to what we've come to expect from the more recent Resident Evil titles, in that it's fairly run of the mill third person over the shoulder shooter action. You'll keep your character going by collecting a variety of pickups including ammo, bottles of sake (for additional health, of course) and even human hearts, used to prolong the amount of time Garcia can spend in the darkness without succumbing to its effects.
While the game-play is nothing you haven't seen or done a hundred times before, there is a real fun factor here that you simply don't get elsewhere. The bosses have to be seen to be believed too. They range from the ridiculous to the absolutely insane, growing increasingly larger as you progress through the game, and offering the only inkling that this may actually have been intended to be an actual horror game at one point in its development.
What could very well have been a shining example of how not to make a game has actually served as a timely reminder that games can be clever (in an immature kind of way), engrossing and, most importantly fun. There are no swanky extras, no multi-player, no bells and very few whistles, but despite it all, this is precisely what 2K should have been aiming for with Duke Nukem Forever.