Shadowgrounds

Shadowgrounds is a pretty solid game if you treat it as what it is, a game where you collect and upgrade weapons, and use them to blow away aliens.

There really isn’t a lot to this game. You run around in the darkness, you shoot things, rinse and repeat.

The story is derivative, the aliens are clichéd and stupid and the gameplay is pretty bog standard for the most part.

This game is fun, but flawed and it makes no effort to stand out on it's own or to do anything innovative.

I have no desire to punish myself repeatedly trying to beat a game. On the other hand, if you do crave that kind of challenge, I cannot think of a game better suited to deliver than Shadowgrounds.

Despite a name that sounds like a new blend at Starbucks, there's a lot to like about Shadowgrounds. [Oct. 2006, p.70]

To view this package as a whole, it's not the most amazing thing in the world. A weak plot, been-there done-that cutscenes, semi-generic weapons, and a view perspective that has been rarely seen since 1990 make it sound worse than it really is.

The game is best enjoyed in the same manner as it delivers its action – in short doses. As a budget title it’s not bad as a mindless alien-blasting diversion or a walk down memory lane for older gamers who grew up in the top-down view era. If you’re looking for deep immersive gameplay you won’t find it here, but it fits the bill when you’re in the mood for some quick and easy action.

While Shadowgrounds doesn't do much that's new, within its restrictive confines it's engaging and competent. Gaming lite, but still a nice snack. [June 2006, p.85]

A decidedly old-school design keeps it from entering the ranks of today’s great shooters, but it does well what it sets out to do: give us visceral action in dark environments.

It's like Doom 3 done top-down in Shadowgrounds, a shooter with an old school sensibility but not much in the way of captivating gameplay.

Given the game's low price point and the extras that Meridan4 has released in support of the game like the level editor, there's no reason not to pick this game up.

Shadowgrounds is a fun game in the old-school, third-person shooter tradition. It's not innovative by any means but if you're looking for a shooter that's not totally mindless then you might want to give this one a shot. Pun intended.

Shadowgrounds is a pure top-down shooter that just doesn’t seem to come together to achieve the effects it was going for. Spooky games are spookier in first-person than they are top-down, so Shadowgrounds isn’t spooky.

A refreshing return to the past, and for that reason it's slightly too generic to recommend strongly. It's only ever just pretty enough, and there's seldom anything really breathtaking.