Shadow Man

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Publisher: Acclaim
Developer: Acclaim Studios Teesside
U.S. Release Date: 7/32/1999

Come follow the adventures of Michael LeRoi, college dropout-turned-immortal lord of the underworld! Shadow Man was an action-adventure title released in 1999, that contained gameplay seemingly inspired by the landmark Nintendo 64 title Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. Published by the now defunct Acclaim, Shadow Man was a multi-platform release, seeing versions first on the N64 and PC, and then later on the Playstation and Dreamcast. Reception to the different releases were mixed: the N64 version received positive reviews, but the Playstation port suffered from poor performance. The DC & PC versions featured slightly updated graphics and sound, but the N64 original is the most remembered. Over ten years later, the PC version has shown itself to be the version to play, as it benefits from modern computers being able to run the game at high resolutions and smooth framerates. This LP is of the PC version, and while the videos were captured at 640 X 480, the game can be displayed in any resolution your PC supports.

While I mentioned that the gameplay was loosely modeled after Ocarina of Time, the setting and story of Shadow Man are quite different. The game sees Michael LeRoi exploring the realm of the dead, where he has to discover the location of five serial killers who are trying to bring about apocalypse. The places that Mike will travel to throughout his journey are desolate, hopeless landscapes, full of wretched lost souls and the creatures that torment them. Mike himself is different from these, as he possesses(and is possessed by) the ancient Mask of Shadows, which transforms him into the immortal Shadow Man. Mike's powers are voodoo in origin, and there are frequent references to voodoo in the imagery of the game. Released in a time when Resident Evil was the model for "mature" games on consoles and Silent Hill was still gaining noteriety, Shadow Man struck people with its unapologetically dark theme.

Shadow Man reportedly sold well on release; enought to warrant a sequel. Unfortunately, Shadow Man: 2nd Coming was considered to be a inadequate follow-up to the original, and the series died with it. Acclaim closed its doors not long afterwards. The rights to the Shadow Man IP seems to be in limbo, as whoever may have bought it during Acclaim's closure has not done anything with the property.

This LP is in subtitled format, as I greatly enjoy the soundtrack for this game and did not want to talk over it. This is a 100% run, though I try to do it as speedily as I can.

External Links

Shadow Man (Wikipedia)