Interface

Smaller Chest, Same Controls

You control Shadow Man more or less the same way Lara Croft is controlled in Tomb Raider. The keyboard controls are the same and yield very similar movements, from the way Shadow Man moves backwards (walks slowly, or jumps butt-first) to the fact that he's ambidextrous and can wield something in each hand. Shadow Man crouches, rolls, and sidesteps just like any other 3D first-person game, with one exception. If he's targeting an enemy, sidestepping will cause him to rotate around the enemy, a-la Zelda 64's Z-targeting.

In fact, as we mentioned in our preview, the game plays like a cross between Tomb Raider and Zelda 64. There's action, like shooting down shotgun-wielding maniacs, and there's adventure, like exploring a room and flipping switches to move huge stone statues. The controls prove quite adequate for all this, with the exception of keyboard-press limitations: if you're frantically trying to attack, back up, sidestep, and jump all at once, you may find yourself going nowhere fast. Which is usually bad when you're being attacked with a chainsaw.

Blood and guts galore

Nice temple

Keep It Simple

If you're going to interact with your environment, you've got one of two options: press the "action" button, or wield an item and press the button corresponding to the hand that's holding it. In addition, it's often fairly difficult to tell what objects in the game can be interacted with. This is the game's approach to making puzzles hard to figure out - part of it is that you have to figure out how to interact with something after you've determined you want to. Instead of it being apparent or contained in the manual, you often have to find out about objects and structures by reading through and deciphering the information you acquire throughout the game.

This isn't really negative, although those with little patience for reading through wordy and/or cryptic messages will likely be frustrated when they can't jump right into the game. Those looking for long (estimated 70-80 hour) gameplay and a detailed plot, however, will probably enjoy this aspect of the game's interface. It's really up to you.

Climbing the falls

A dark soul