In most areas wall running and grapple points are everywhere so the levels can be quickly moved around to stay ahead of enemies. Thanks to snappy controls, plenty of weapons collected along the journey, and a newly introduced grappling hook, combat stays enjoyable. Then rinse and repeat as the world is explored. Generally a level gets traversed with some enemies along the way to dispatch and then a main area with a horde of bad guys to kill in various ways. The gameplay is a little less innovative, with a mix of platforming, light puzzle solving and tons of arena style combat sequences. It is a nice departure from the supremely capable protagonists we generally see. He is incredibly capable, but often careless, clueless and foul-mouthed. I personally don’t have a lot of Shadow Warrior experience so this mix of gameplay and cutscene narratives really drew me into the world and the charm of Lo Wang.

The ludicrous premise is presented with some genuinely funny cutscenes showing Lo Wang succumbing to his despair after losing to the Dragon over and over again. The game starts off with the world in disarray as Lo Wang and his former employer turned nemesis turned sidekick Orochi Zilla embark on an improbable mission to recapture an ancient Dragon they unwittingly unleashed from its “eternal” prison. It is crude, funny, fast-paced, repetitive at times, yet has a charm that manages to make the journey to defeat a dragon relatively fun. Shadow Warrior 3 from developer Flying Wild Hog continues the tale of Lo Wang, the most bumbling yet effective Ninja in existence.

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