Review Shadow Tower is From Software's fourth attempt in the first-person action-RPG genre, following the King's Field trilogy (only two of which were released in North America). For those who don't know the King's Field series, it was a relatively popular first-generation, first-person action-RPG in Japan. You roamed dungeons, fought monsters using different weapons and magic, gain experience, and leveled up. The controls took a little getting used to, plus the game ran at 15 frames per second, causing frustration among some gamers. The game also didn't give you much direction; you had to piece everything together yourself. Shadow Tower is pretty similar, save for a few exceptions.The story takes place on the continent of Eclipse, where the holy land of Zepter lies. In this land is a sealed tower guarded by the kings of surrounding nations, keeping to traditions passed down from their ancestors. A long time ago a tragedy descended upon the kingdom of Eclipse. There was a crown with a single eye, and its terrible gaze snuffed out the kingdom in one night, leaving nothing but a gargantuan hole. That single-eyed crown that once glowed so ominously is now closed and quietly sealed within a tower. Ages have passed, and darkness has once again consumed the peaceful land. You will take the role of Ruus Hardy and go into the darkness to fight against evil creatures and monsters in search of the crown with the single eye.Shadow Tower introduces new features and changes from King's Field. Pressing different combinations of buttons on your PlayStation controller lets you switch weapons, shields, and magic from your primary to secondary and vice versa. This is very helpful, because one thing that's a real nuisance about this game is that accessing the menu screen requires loading (a Now Loading screen even pops up!). The game also eliminates the element of gaining experience and leveling up. Instead, it is replaced with soul points (SP), which can be used to enhance physical and magical attributes, such as hit points (HP) and magic points (MP). SPs are gained by defeating monsters or through special items.The game has also brought along a few elements from the game Diablo, mostly in its use of inventory. Weapons and armor deteriorate as you use them and will eventually break without repair. You can spend your HP to repair worn-out or broken items. This brings a lack of balance to the gameplay because you have a limited number of potions to regain HP. You can only find HP potions in dungeons, by killing monsters, or by trading in items. Surviving the different layers of dungeons is one thing, but trying to keep your HP and weapons at their best is something that can't be done easily. Also, you rarely earn money from killing monsters, so you are limited as to what you can buy in stores. The polygonal models of creatures and monsters show that the graphics have certainly improved over King's Field, but the frame rate still remains an issue. Although 15 frames per second in King's Field seemed bad at that time, looking at Shadow Tower in 20 frames per second still just doesn't cut it in these days of 30-60fps games. Even the pilot demo of King's Field II (which was only available a few years ago at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan) ran at 30 frames per second. So the technology is there, just not implemented. It's too bad.The dark, gloomy overture that plays across the main title might get you excited about the game's soundtrack, but the game only contains heavy footsteps and growling, and no music whatsoever. One can respect the developers' attempt to keep the dark mood and atmosphere by not putting any music in the game, but it just isn't effective. Sure, there are certain parts where you are startled at the sudden appearances of evil creatures from dead corpses, but the absence of music is still disappointing. In place of a soundtrack are character voice-overs. But while many of the game's characters speak, the voice acting is totally lifeless. You come across a shop and pause. There is silence, and then the store clerk speaks, "I don't care if you're human, as long as you're a customer." And then silence again. Very boring stuff.There are other features in the game where you can try to fill an encyclopedia with a complete list of all the creatures in the game. You can also collect rare weapons and armor and place them as bets in a two-player arena mode, but this will likely only attract hard-core players of the game. Shadow Tower is a blend of King's Field and more actioney RPGs like Diablo - a mix that only ends up bringing frustration rather than a sense of adventure. The game was released over a year ago in Japan, and it shows; it looks extremely outdated when compared with current PlayStation games. If you are a hard-core fan of the King's Field series, you may want to give this one a try. But others will just be wasting their time. --Ike Sato --Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
T**Y
The true precursor of the Souls series of games starts here.
Some of us, not having had enough of the special brand of pain developer From Software inflicts on us with the excellent action RPGs Demon's Souls & more recently, Dark Souls, may have gone searching for what came before. Those that go searching generally find out about King's Field, but it is of the opinion of the author of this review that is in fact Shadow Tower, not King's Field directly, that is the direct precursor to the souls games, and in fact appears to be the missing link between the two (as opposed to the more recent Kings Field: The Ancient City)Shadow Tower shares many traits with the souls games - namely - souls which you use to power up different stats. There is also weapon breakage, a lack of background music (which adds to rather than subtracts from the oppressive atmosphere), Switchable primary and secondary left & right hand equipment, An enormously deep stat & equipment based system, a near total lack of exposition or hand holding, and a brutal difficulty.Many of these traits are shared by the Kings Field games, along with the first person perspective & the slow, deliberate pacing of the game. But it is the genesis of the Souls games seen in the mood and mechanics of this game that give a preview of things to come.Having said that, don't come into this game expecting the Souls games, this game is different. As stated, it's first and foremost a slow, first person, PS1 game, and not a AAA title by any stretch of the imagination. This game was made using technology that was several years old at the time and showing it. Despite being a 3D 1st person RPG and the dualshock controller existing at the time this game was released, the analog sticks are completely unsupported and the control scheme is completely archaic, with strafing and look up/down controlled by the shoulder buttons of all things. The game becomes dramatically easier for the modern gamer by remapping the controls so that strafing is done on the d-pad, look up/down/left/right is done using the face buttons, and the attack/action/menu buttons are mapped to the shoulder buttons. this provides something of a modern button layout, but take care not to die before you save after you do the remapping, or you'll have to do it all over again! Such is life in the Souls games, or their predecessors.Combat in this game is decidedly tactical for a game that is nominally an FPS-RPG. Managing HP, Stamina, and MP is first and formost, followed secondly by position relative the enemies on the screen. After such considerations the next most important thing is the durability of your equipment, which breaks at the most inopportune times. The level of detail and pacing in this game is more remenicient of a old-school PC RPG than a console action game.In the end I'd say that this game is not for everyone. it's definitely got an audience, and if you like deep, thoughtful tactical RPGs with a slow pacing and minimal story line but lots of exploration and atmosphere, you will like Shadow Tower. If you like the Souls games, and can adjust to the Kings Field play style, you will also probably like Shadow Tower. If you like Skyrim you will not like Shadow Tower, and if you like Modern Warfare you are probably lost and should just click the back button on your browser.This game gets points for giving a hint of the greatness to come, but it's hard to give this game a general recommendation outside of the specific audience described above.
A**R
Not for everyone...but it's for King's Field fans!
As for myself I'm not really into RPG's all that much but I love first person shooters and I liked the old PC game from the mid 90's called Stonekeep.I became very interested in games that like and Descent that liked to mix things up in the first person perspective.Moving on I became fond of King's Field II because the game had a degree to darkness to it through both soundtrack(some parts sound like string synthesizers used in older horror films).Not to mention the sound effects had a very dimensional feel and lent more moodiness to the gaming experience. Good use of color and the monsters were creative with a good variety.However there is the reality of Shadow Tower...*I love how this game aims right for a vast dungeon atmosphere throughout the entire game.Lots of high points walking those windy stone paths that just dangle over a bottomless pit.,,you're not just going around grey hallways.Lots of creativity put into this game.*excellent monster variety all around in weapons,spells,armor,and monsters...just like King's Field.Plenty to traps you'll encounter too,after all this is a dungeon-like setting.*A little bit faster framerate versus the older KF games,not much but it wasn't designed to be running down the halls blasting a shotgun at hordes of enemies game like Doom. This style of game is more about up close and personal combat.*There's plenty of atmosphere captivated in Shadow Tower but no music score was a disappoint...I was hoping for something cinematic or flavored in the vein of king's field II.Beyond that it was fourteen bucks,long gameplay time,and a lot of fun.Shadow Tower I can't call 'a polished King's Field' but it's a good successor if that's your kind of game or want something different of the first person genre with an open mind.4-stars!
M**K
Great game but...
But so many random glitches. I would get stuck in between walls, behind a pillar etc..would have to restart my game. Save points are tough to find. Ruined the entire thing for me including my experience playing it. Very frustrating. Really awful, since I was enjoying it. I have this rule: If a game is glitched I will not play it. So I put it aside for good. Thinking of selling my copy too.However, the battle system was excellent, no soundtrack minus the sound effects but I personally liked that aspect because you feel alone in the Tower. The concept and objective of Shadow Tower was interesting.But those programmers did a horrible job.
R**K
Worth the $20 I paid for it.
Pretty good game. Somewhat predictable. The random item drops may have you reloading often so you can get the good stuff early so save often. After a few runs through, I found I was competing with myself to see how fast I could complete the game, then I put it away. Still recommended if you can get it for a decent price.
V**T
christmas bday gift
dont know what to post it was bought for someone else birthday and gift. far as I know he love it. and still have it.
T**T
Beware, it's old looking!
This game looks VERY dated. Thought about playing it since I was a fan of later games by the developers, could not continue onward, much too dated graphically.
D**S
Four Stars
A great dungeon crawler from the minds of Demon Souls and Dark Souls franchise.
K**C
Kind of like Elder Scrolls with Dark Souls mixed in.
Great game if you like the King's Field series. It also feels like an Elder Scrolls game (albeit a lot older) and expect difficulty. These games are not easy.Came brand new in the original cellophane. I felt like I was buying a new PlayStation game. Very impressed.
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