Shadow Madness:
And the Darkness Comes

Story

The game begins with the hero Stinger, recovering after his hometown was attack and destroyed by a mysterious plague/mist. This mysterious plague/mist has also swept across the continent of Arkose, destroying other towns as well as leaving behind numerous monsters. Stinger is then sent out on his quest to stop this mysterious plague. Here, he'll meet other members of the party.
Now the story is pretty good. Even though the story doesn't give us a clear definition as to what the mysterious plague is or how it came about to destroy towns. It does move at a good pace to keep you interested. I also like the way story quest is broken up. Throughout the entire game you have to divide your party in two separate groups and go on separate quests to accomplish a single goal. This is done very nicely. You can switch back and forth on whatever quest you want to do. Keeps the game interesting. Very well done, Crave Entertainment.

Score:8/10

Characters

The game consists of 6 characters. Each character is develope very nicely with solid background. No one is neglected here. Even though you can only have 3 party members, everyone gets involved in the game due to the dividing up and going on separate quests. In other words, you don't have anyone in reserve like with most rpg games. I also like how the game takes it's time and slowly show us what each character's background are and how they came to be the way they are. Nicely done.

Score: 9/10

Graphics

The graphics are small polygons figures in a 3-D world environment. The graphics are not very impressive by any means. Even the FMV/CG are dull. What hurt the graphics the most are the dull and dark colors of the game. It may very well be a point that the gamemakers want to get across that Arkose is swept in darkness but you shouldn't do it to the point where it hurts the game. The world map is very plain and unimaginative. A poor effort here.

Score: 5/10

Music

Hmm. Is there any music in this game? I can't seem to remember. Get my point? I'll leave it at that.

Score: 1/10

Gameplay

Now for the gameplay. Shadow Madness is very easy. Strictly for beginners here. There are a couple of points I want to point out here.

1. The average HP for bosses is 500hp. Now this is too pathetic. A good magic attack or summon magic attack can do over 200hp damage. A regular attack can do up to 100hp damage but with added double attack, it can do up to 200hp damage. When you have 3 guys in a party and with a boss that has an average of 500hp, you can beat bosses in about 2 rounds of fight without breaking up a sweat. Absolutely no challenge at all.

2. The maximum level that all character can achieve is level 15. So by the time you're halfway into the game, all your fighters will be at level 15 which is an equivalent of level 99.

There's no point in wasting time fighting random enemies here. It just taks up time since all bosses are so easy. I do however like how the game is set up so that each character get put in in different parties so he/she can interact with everyone. I also like how a player can swich from different quests, back and forth without having any major delay in gameplay.

Battle System: The battle system consists of 3 members in a real time turn base fight. They've added a double damage to all regular attack if a player can press the attack button again at the right moement just before the fighter connects with the enemies. This can be learned very easily. There's also an added attack menu where fighters can throw stuff at enemies using daggers, spike balls, ect. This is a waste of time cause a double damage will usually kill an enemy out right.
With no challenge in gameplay whatsoever, you should be able to finish this game in under 30 hours.

Score: 5/10

Extra/Replay

There are a couple of mini games to play in the game. One, a submarine like game where you have to shoot things and make your way towards the end goal. This is part of the story quest. The other, is a Doom like game but no real part of the story quest. That's about it. Replay, well if you enjoyed it, you may want to play it again. Do you??

Score: 4/10

In the end, Shadow Madness is a little above average rpg game. And that's being generous here. If you've never played an rpg game before and just want to get your feet wet then you might want to pick it up. Other wise just leave it alone.

Final Score: 6/10

Favorite character: Harv-5

Best fighter: Stinger

Best Magic Caster: Xero

Weakest fighter: Windleaf

Coolest fighter: Clemett

Ugliest character: Jirina

~Chi