Shadowgun is a game we've been following since its announcement for Android
earlier this year. A couple weeks back, we received a
preview build
to test the game out (that link contains a gameplay video as well).
Now, I've played the full version of the game and can report my findings
more completely.
My conclusion? Shadowgun takes Android gaming to the
next level, and while it's not without its flaws, it sets the bar very
high for the somewhat low $5 game price point. With these kinds of
visuals and well-thought-out gameplay, I can't say I'm disappointed
after over 4 months waiting for the game's release.
Graphics and Sound
Shadowgun's visuals are most of the reason for its
anticipation among Android users, and they're worth the wait. Just look
at these screenshots:
For Tegra 2 devices, the game's graphics are enhanced to
allow complex shadows, lighting, and textures thanks to some NVIDIA
driver magic. When the first Tegra 3 'Kal-El' quad-core devices are
released, Shadowgun will take advantage of the beefier hardware to
provide even better visuals. We're certainly excited about that.
Sound effects and music in the game are generally quite
good, though they can sound a bit tinny, even with headphones on.
However, I imagine you'd be hard-pressed to find a shooter that's any
better in this regard. If you want more visuals, take a look at this
video:
Game Controls and AI
Shadowgun's controls are as good as, if not better than,
any other shooter on Android. The control positions are laid out well,
they're responsive, and I think placement is damn near perfect. But
Android and tablets in general still make for a less than ideal shooter
experience in this regard. So, with that, I'm going to rant a bit.
Moving your character is kind of a pain in the ass
sometimes. Let me explain. The d-pad appears wherever your thumb lands
on the left side of the screen and stays there until your thumb is
lifted from the screen. The problem is that the d-pad it creates is just
too large, the distance from the top to the bottom of the joystick is
probably close to 2 inches, and that just feels unnatural - even with my
relatively long thumbs. On a phone, I imagine it would be smaller, and
thus easier to use. It's easy to forget, but people's thumbs don't
change size depending on the device they're using, so scaling the
controls up creates issues.
Aiming is problematic. It's definitely not as bad as
Android shooters I've played from the likes of GameLoft and others, but I
think there's going to be lots of room for improvement here on
touchscreens. When you try to get precise with your aim, it gets jerky.
This could be a limitation of touchscreen technology, but I feel like a
little software "smoothing" (or a graceful aim-assist) could
help this a lot. I too often found myself trying to edge the crosshairs a
few pixels to the left, only to have my purpose hopelessly frustrated.
NVIDIA claims the A.I. is the most advanced for a mobile
game to date. I'd say it's on par with something you'd play on a PC six
or eight years ago - but that may be the cutting edge for mobile
gaming. Enemies sometimes made illogical movement decisions, running to
cover I was already behind. Additionally, unengaged guards are
apparently blind and deaf until shot at. On the whole, though, enemies
seemed to become more reactive and resilient the further I got in the
game, though their actual intelligence didn't seem to improve much.
Content
Shadowgun is a typical 3rd person shooter with a very
linear layout. This makes navigating the levels quite easy, but this
means it also can feel repetitive at times. Still, the amount of freedom
of movement and the size of some rooms in the game makes it feel much
more like a real console or PC game, instead of a gimped mobile
experience. Linear as it may be, Shadowgun plays through smoothly and
provided me no major frustrations - and that's saying a lot for such a
complex title on a relatively young platform. So what can you expect to
encounter?
Shadowgun has five basic enemy types:
Basic foot soldiers are the cornerstone of most
combat encounters, while the spiders and flying robots force players to
break cover, keeping gameplay engaging. The bigger, tougher enemies keep
combat lively, but by the end of the game I found myself craving a bit
more variety. Weapons are fairly limited as well (there's all of four
that I found).
The game also includes memory puzzles, requiring you to
recall the order in which keys on a number pad were pressed to access
weapons chests, open doors, and discover secrets.
The first boss encounter is, and I don't say this
lightly, a bit of a disaster. After dying 3 times to the giant lobster
robot (yep, really), I thought perhaps the fight itself was not working
as intended. 3 heat-seeking missiles, about 10 seconds into the
engagement, rained down and killed me. They could not be outrun or shot
down. The only cover available was a few 3-foot high riot barriers - all
facing parallel to the boss - which communicated to me
"these are useless." So I tried one of the barriers. Lo and behold, the
missiles glided over my head and exploded safely behind me. I then
waited for the boss's "weak spot" to appear every 15 seconds or so, and
made it through the encounter suffering no damage whatsoever. It is the
game's first such fight, but the simplicity of it is almost
embarrassing.
One other annoyance about the boss fight was the "checkpoint" which it spawned me at after death. Namely, about 5-7 enemies before
the beginning of the boss encounter, meaning I had to re-kill a whole 2
minutes worth of bad guys to get back to the mega-lobster fight.
Spoiler alert.
Other bosses in the game provided little challenge - the
only difficult boss is the last one, which I found myself unable to
defeat on normal difficulty. But honestly, I wasn't exactly chomping at
the bit to see how the story ended. Speaking of which...
The Story
Madfinger claims to have enlisted the help of a
professional video game story writer and voice actor for Shadowgun. The
latter investment is apparent - the former, not so much. I found the
story to be completely ineffective at motivating me to move onward in
the game, and the few painfully corny jokes dropped in for comic relief
from time to time didn't exactly help.
That said, Shadowgun really isn't about the story. So in
all honesty, even though the story is subpar at best, it doesn't make
me think much less of the game as a whole.
Conclusion
If you've got $5 to spend and you're looking for a fun new shooter
for your Tegra 2 Android tablet or phone, there aren't many better ways
to spend it. Madfinger has upped the ante for visuals on mobile gaming,
so here's to hoping they bring some much-needed competition to the
growing market for high-end Android games.
You can get Shadowgun on the Android Market now. Also, check out our awesome
Shadowgun Giveaway, here.
The ability to filter accounts is not new, but the dedicated Fave
People feed is. This is essentially a more straightforward version of
lists. You just mark people as favorites, and they show up in the Fave
People timeline. Though, it's odd they're calling it Fave People. What if you have some favorite companies or organizations?
Having the new feed right next to the main timeline gives Fave People
a prominent position – Twitter really wants you to use it. Judging by
how fast this moved from the alpha to beta channel, it could be in the
stable release before you know it. You might want to start thinking
about who your favorite people are now. 
