Shadowgun Review

In recent times we’ve been hearing how smartphones and tablets in particular are going to eclipse traditional gaming platforms, including handhelds like the PSP or Nintendo 3DS, or even consoles like the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, not just through their versatility but also through their power.

Still, we haven’t really seen mobile games actually showcase that they can go head to head with console titles. Now, however, Shadowgun has been released by Madfinger Games and it’s certainly looking like the title that will properly represent smartphones and tablets in their ongoing fights against other gaming platforms.

So, with great looking graphics, high production values and a story that wants to at least provide an interesting narrative backdrop for its action, is Shadowgun the game to establish mobile platforms as proper gaming devices or should they always be considered casual platforms fit just for Angry Birds or Cut the Rope? Let’s find out.

Shoot it out with other soldiers ...	... as well as mechanical enemies

First thing’s first, we tried out Shadowgun on an Asus Eee Pad Transformer, a device with a Nvidia Tegra 2 configuration, for which the game has a special optimized version, with enhanced textures, better lighting, great shadows and all sorts of extra effects.

All these optimizations makes Shadowgun look, in a word, stunning. It’s not just a pretty picture, as animations are quite fluid, environments pretty varied, and the effects are pretty much on par or even above some of the high quality games we’ve seen for the PlayStation Portable, for example.

Gorgeous visuals aside, we’re dealing with a third person, cover-based shooter. Yes, it does look and feel like a copy of Gears of War, with the protagonist even wearing a similar armor like the guys from Delta Squad or moving slowly while holding a hand to his ear and talking to SARA, his A.I. companion, but it’s trying to do its own thing, and even has a sort of story.

You play as John Slade, a Shadowgun, basically a mercenary that can be employed by corporations to do their dirty work. He’s sent to a mysterious planet called Eve to recover a scientist but quickly finds out that his research has turned the inhabitants into all sorts of mutants. As such, you, together with S.A.R.A., your friendly robot companion that transmits information to you from your ship, need to uncover the root of these problems and stop the mad doctor.

While it’s certainly miles above shooting birds into pigs, Shadowgun’s narrative isn’t all that great, although there are a few bits of dialog between John and SARA that are pretty funny. You even get a choice at the end, but it’s far from making it feel like a role playing game.

Gameplay-wise, Shadowgun is quite decent, although the touchscreen controls do take some time to get used to, especially if you haven’t played a lot of shooters on tablets or phones. A nifty little feature is the fact that your movement pad appears wherever you hold your thumb on the screen, so you don’t have to reach with your finger the predetermined position, like with the actual shoot button. I’ve often found myself just missing this button, especially when I had to aim at moving enemies. The game also has support for console controllers, but there's no easy way to connect them to your tablets, unless you use paid applications or third-party USB connectors.



Speaking of opponents, the game does a pretty good of job of keeping things varied, throwing at you regular soldiers, at first, then ones with increased armor and teleportation capabilities, or ones with shields and shotguns. You also go up against mechanical opponents, like turrets, small explosive spiders, or flying ones. As such, staying in cover is essential, but you still have to think ahead as there’s either destructible or non-destructible cover.

Shadowgun even has boss fights, when you go up against various mechanized monsters, from lobsters to actual robots. You won’t have to shoot everything you’ve got at them, as these battles require sharp wits and split-second reactions, in order to uncover weak spots, usually marked with pulsing bullseyes, and shoot them. There’s a special fight against a sort of bulldozer which requires a nice trick, but I won’t spoil it.

In terms of weapons, you won’t get that much variety, as you can use your trusty SMG, a shotgun, a grenade or a rocket launcher. You don’t need much else, however, as most battles become a bit repetitive after a while, especially since the game does require around 5 hours to complete, depending on your skill level.

Speaking of completing it, Shadowgun, at least for a touchscreen novice like myself, has some moments where it’s incredibly hard, even on the Easy difficulty setting. The final boss fight is even more outrageous, as I died many times because the game kept throwing at me enemies and the level was designed in a very obtrusive way.

It also has quite a few glitches, as it froze a couple of times and, during the final fight, it even had its colors reversed, and left me facing a bunch of circuits, instead of a huge robot. Aiming is also twitchy, as I’ve found myself wanting to adjust the reticule a bit and found it moving all the way to one side. This is where an auto-aim or at least an assist function would have worked wonders for beginners.

Stick to cover ...	... and make sure your enemies don't use it

Conclusion

Still, even with these downsides, Shadowgun is a great looking game that’s certain to amaze quite a lot of hardcore PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 gamers. While it’s far from perfect, it proves that smartphones and Tegra tablets in particular, have what it takes to provide some serious competition to traditional gaming platforms.

Shadowgun is available on Android only for Tegra tablets, at the moment, as well as on the iOS for platforms like the iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.