by Lee Hamrick

It's midnight on the Japanese islands. Moonlight spills into the peaceful meditation gardens, reflecting on the koi-filled pools. Children's prayers mingle with the scent of cherry blossoms wafting into the cool night air...yet, just beyond the reach of their innocent pleas, lurk the insidious shadows: the shadow warriors of a deranged madman who promises to blanket the entire earth with a tatami of malice.

In a nutshell, that's the gist of 3D Realms' enigmatic shoot-'em-up, Shadow Warrior, the second in a trio of games based on 3D Realms' Build engine, made famous by Duke Nukem 3D. Ironically, Shadow Warrior was in development even before Duke Nukem 3D was a twinkle in the eye of 3D Realms' president, George Broussard. The project was put on hiatus while Duke Nukem offended and became a celebrity and presidential candidate. In the meantime, Shadow Warrior has evolved and re-evolved and is scheduled to release, as always, "when it's done!" Read on to see where it stands today. Gamecenter separates the fact from the faction.

saving face
While a lot has been written about Shadow Warrior, to date little of it seems to be based in fact, because the facts are always changing. George Broussard lays down the law about this title's development: "Shadow Warrior is very much a work in progress, and lots of things will be decided in the last two or three months as we tweak the game."

For starters, all the talk about your character being biomedically enhanced was just that--talk. Forget sharpened senses, forget being twice as tall as Duke Nukem. Says Broussard, "All that 'bio' stuff was just for story's sake, and never really got off the ground...As it stands now, the character is Japanese, and that's about as detailed as it gets for now." Broussard does go on to mention that the character will speak English, but curse in Japanese. Consult the subtitles for a full and colorful translation.

sick head games
As reported earlier in Gamecenter's preview of Blood, 3D Realms seems to have a fascination with the human head. In Blood, you can knock someone's block off and kick it around a little. In Shadow Warrior, the disembodied head becomes a little more proactive.

When your body is blown to bits, don't despair. Press the spacebar to make your severed head vomit on your enemy opponent in a last-ditch effort to retain some dignity. Are you surprised? Remember, 3D Realms also brought us the only game with a defecation option. What's next? A booger slingshot?

There's also the bizarre guardian head, which, believe it or not, discharges a damaging volley from its mouth. It's easy to operate, too. Simply pick it up like a bowling ball, jamming your fingers into the top of its bullet-riddled skull, aim the mouth, and tweak the brain for the desired results. The head has three firing options, all of which the head itself resents. While we'd love to tell you about them, the folks at 3D Realms are keeping their mouths shut.

give me more!

Much of Shadow Warrior's extended family (including the ultimate enemy, Kirin) is still in the fetal stage, being nurtured and coaxed along by 3D Realms' developing daddies. However, Shadow Warrior's ninja grunts are pretty well set in stone. These black-garbed bad boys have been designed to do everything you can do--fight, swim, climb ladders, and duck. No more suicidal dimwits pitifully shambling straight at you. And don't forget honor among ninjas--if these guys feel the end is nigh, they'll opt for an Uzi lollipop to the back of the skull.

When the party gets into full swing, expect four to six other hosts. These latecomers are still in development. Some haven't even graduated out of their conceptual stage. One thing is certain: these creatures will all owe their existence to the genetic engineering of the mad, mad Kirin.

gettin' around town
Getting around the world of Shadow Warrior is going to be interesting. Tired? Hop up in the bulldozer and take a ride. If there's a wall blocking a path, knock it down! There will also be an operable boat and tank to provide some walking relief. The tank won't just be a mode of transportation, either. The reason we have tanks on this planet is to go to war, by god, and these are no exception. If your ride gets hit, don't give up and start hitchin', though. Repair kits will be scattered throughout the game to help you get back in the saddle.

Look for some movable, full-service turret guns, too. These supercannons can take out any opponent, and a big chunk of the surrounding game environment, at the flick of a switch. While not every inch of the game can be destroyed, hidden areas should be unearthed by trigger-happy fools.

Broussard promises the levels themselves will be dazzlers. Look for a mixture of "modern-type levels and more ancient/ruin-type levels" says Broussard. There are volcanoes, an airport seized by terrorists, and much more, all designed with a second-generation version of 3D Realms' Build engine. Just like the other new games in 3D Realms' stockpile, Shadow Warrior promises immersive, intricate levels with dynamic lighting and multileveled environments.

out of the Shadow and into the Net
Now that Quake has upped the ante in terms of multiplayer action, what will 3D Realms' answer be in return? One has to remember that before Quake grabbed all the limelight, Duke Nukem was every frag addict's obsession. There's no real question about IPX support, but will Shadow Warrior follow Quake's lead and feature TCP/IP support for instant deathmatches over the Net? "Same as Duke Nukem 3D, and we'll likely add a few new items to it," says Broussard. "We aren't quite there yet, so I don't know."

What we do know is that 3D Realms is bumping up its system requirements. This Shadow Warrior won't kick on less than a Pentium with 16MB of RAM. For anyone still duking it out on a 486, it is definitely time to upgrade.

Look for Shadow Warrior to make its debut in the first quarter of '97. There has been rumor of a shareware release in time for the holidays, but it looks unlikely. To shed a little more light on Shadow Warrior, be sure and check out Gamecenter's exclusive interview with Broussard, the man himself.

Q&A; with George Broussard

Copyright © 1995-97, CNET Inc. All rights reserved.