Shadow Madness

Now that I got the last post out of my system, it’s time to start doing actual reviews.  I won’t be reviewing big name games, nor will I be covering super obscure games that never left Japan.  I am going to be talking about games that slipped through the cracks of history for one reason or another.  I am digging for hidden gems, but I’m sure to find some buried turds somewhere along the way.   

Before I get started, here’s the rating scale.

0-1:   Buggy, broken, unplayable mess. Certified buried turds

2-3: You could feasibly play these, but you would never want to. Certified buried turds

4-5: Not particularly great, but playable.  Has a few redeeming qualities that might make them worth a look.

6-7: Good, solid games.  Maybe pick one of these up if you are a fan of their specific genre, or if you have played through all of your backlog

8-9: Great games.  Dig them up and play them.  Certified hidden gems

10 All-time classic.  I don’t think there will be to many of these as I rarely give out 10s, but you never know.  Certified hidden gems.

So without further adieu, here’s the review.

Shadow Madness, 1999, Crave Entertainment

I guess I should start with the game that inspired the whole idea to return to blogging.  I was looking for an old school RPG to play, but wanted to try something different.  Looking through my collection, I came across this game and I had absolutely no idea I owned it.   I had never heard of it so I looked it up and lo and behold, it’s an RPG, so I popped it in.  

The first thing anyone will notice about this game is the graphics.  They are AWFUL.  I mean straight up bowling shoe ugly.  I have never been a “graphics first” gamer and games from this era have notoriously aged poorly, but this is unacceptable.  Just as a point of reference, this game came out two months AFTER Final Fantasy VIII.  Compare the two and its night and day.  I have heard ugly NES games referred to as “8-bit barf,” well this is 32-bit barf.  Just look at it.  Look at these character models.  Look at the character portraits.  Its bad, although there is the occasional per-rendered background that looks okay.

                                   

Of course, the first and most important things in an RPG are story and characters.  In Shadow Madness, you play as Stinger, a young man seeking to understand the unexplained force the destroyed his village.  He meets a bevy of other characters, from an elven warrior to a sentient robot to a disembodied head who all end up opposing an evil entity deadest on bringing an uncontrollable madness to the world.  It’s pretty standard RPG stuff, but the story is presented well for the first part.  However, it does jump around without really tying things up some times and there are one too many convenient plot devices that drive the story for a quick second before they are forgotten about.  The characters are all likeable though and they’re pretty well written.

Gameplay wise, it falls a tad flat.  The combat system is unique, but it is extremely cumbersome.  You can attack, use magic, move on the battlefield or use items.  Each is mapped to a shoulder button and while it seems relatively self explanatory, it rarely works smoothly.  It’s all irrelevant though, because this game is incredibly easy.  Just using attack, with the occasional spell thrown in during boss fights, will get you through with little effort, especially since even mages hit relatively hard.  I was never challenged at any point and in the 30 plus hour quest and I maxed out my characters well before the game ended.  Inventory management is also a bear, as you will be inundated with items without the space to hold them.  Believe me, you are going to throw away a lot.

That’s a lot of negative and it may seem like its headed for stinker status, but it did have its share of positives.  Chief among them is the dialogue.  As anyone that played a lot of RPGs in this era can tell you, translation wasn’t always great.  There was plenty of “Engrish” to go around.  Shadow Madness was created by an American company and it shows, as the dialogue is very organic.  It really makes the characters stand out and makes you want to keep playing.  The arguments between Stinger and the other party members, especially Windleaf, are particularly hilarious.  Things do get stale relatively quickly and the low difficulty is actually a boon, as you rarely get dragged down in tons of random battles or challenging dungeons.  There are also no sidequests to speak of, which I didn’t like but could be a positive to some.

Final thoughts:

It’s easy to see why Shadow Madness has fallen by the wayside in gaming history.  It’s an unremarkable RPG released in a time of remarkable ones.  Its graphics are terrible, even for the time and that probably turned off a lot of people.  I can’t say I recommend it, but it’s not a game to avoid at all cost either.  If you are looking to play an RPG you have never played before, it’s worth a look but there are plenty that should be on your list before it.

5/10