Shadow Man (PS1)
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 To this dreaded port: Welcome to the Deadside!
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Shadow Man is a 1999 action-adventure game published by Acclaim and developed by Acclaim Studios Teesside. It is based on the Shadowman comic book series of the same name created by Valiant Comics. While the N64, Dreamcast, and PC versions have been very well received and have gained a large cult following over the years, the PlayStation version did not fare so well due to numerous technical and graphical problems which kill it.
As the title suggests, this page will cover the inferior PS1 version.
Why It Went To the Deadside
- The game seems to have been pushed way too hard to its limits, which might explain the problems listed below.
- The graphics are worse than the N64 and the superior PC and Dreamcast versions. Mike in his normal form is not even wearing his glasses which could have been fixed if the glasses were part of his face texture.
- Speaking of graphics, textures can sometimes glitch up, such as Milton's face getting messed up during the cutscene in where you first face him.
- It suffers from a massive slowdown at several key points in the game, which can make it unplayable at times.
- Some enemies can suffer from random animation warps when a slowdown occurs. This is becomes more evident when the enemies and Mike have to load their animations for some actions.
- The levels are smaller-sized than in the other versions (this is mostly due to the technical hardware limitations), and it also results in Cadeaux and Govi’s placements being re-arranged. This even includes the final boss battle, where the floor isn't lowered unlike in the other versions of the game.
- The music will continuously loop unless you move to another area. This is mostly due to the poor programming of the music resulting in great delays between tracks. There are even moments where the music doesn't play at all and you have to pause and unpause the game.
- Some of the footstep sound effects when walking on certain surfaces are incorrect. For example, when you walk on bricks in the asylum, it sounds like you are walking through gravel.
- Many other sound effects are missing which make this version feel more lifeless than it already is.
- Certain cutscenes have poor camera placements, such as the one where you face Marco for the first time.
- Characters and background objects can sometimes pop in and out of a dime during certain cutscenes.
- Unlike the other versions, this version has no secret cheats to unlock via finding certain spots within the levels.
Redeeming Qualities
- Although the PlayStation version is plagued with numerous technical and graphical problems, the game still has a very well-written story and superb voice acting.
- It still retains the great and atmospheric soundtrack, if only some of the music tracks weren't missing.
- It also has a good draw distance despite the bad framerate.
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