Shadow of the Orient Review

Shadow of the Orient tells the story of Xiaolang, a warrior that harnesses the power of fire, who is the only one strong enough to take on the shadow clan, rescue the children of the orient and restore peace to the people of the east.

Shadow of the Orient is a 2D action platformer where players have to clear levels in order to reach a powerful boss; simplistic formula. The difference being each level are mini labyrinth like areas where players are encourage to explore every nook and cranny to find as many gems, treasures as possible.

Treasures also require key; which you’ll need to scour every nook and cranny of each level to find. Each chest requires a matching colored key to open. Also each level has captured children that needs rescuing. You’ll need to find a switch to open the door and let them escape. Our heroic protagonist, Xiaolang, can defend himself quite well.

You have your trusty fists and jump kicks to defend yourself at first, but as you explore the various levels, you’ll find additional weaponry such as swords, throwable knives, fireballs; just to name a few. And in order to get across the treacherous traps, our little hero can do various jump; light jump (pressing the jump button), longer jump (holding the jump button) and double jump (pressing the button twice).

With all the gold coins and gems you pick up, you can also upgrade our hero’s skills. In the main menu of the game (questionable design, despite being a mobile game), there’s a shop you can access which will allow you to pick up additional health, more invulnerability time when damaged and new attacks, skills (such as unlimited breathing underwater) or new weapons to make this little adventure a bit easier.

The game looks great as a whole; the visuals remain intact in this transition from mobile devices to console platforms. There’s a lot of efforts made in the details such as intricate enemy movement and the protagonist’s hair moving as he runs around. Each world has its own theme so for some variety. The soundtrack is pretty straightforward; it’s enjoyable while you play, but don’t expect these tunes to linger in your head.

There are a few issues with this simplistic 2D platformer. The first being that flying enemies are a pain in the ass to deal with. If you don’t have a ranged sub-weapon, trying to jump kick them will more often than result in Xiaolang getting damaged. Additionally, if you try to face enemies, they’ll move way too quickly for you to move or kill them, once again, resulting in unnecessary damage. It’s a bit annoying when your main form of attack is short range melee moves but most enemies could be better dealt with from a distance.

Shadow of the Orient is a by the book 2D action platformer; kill enemies, find treasures, save prisoners; albeit in slightly bigger levels. But that’s not a bad thing; easy to pick up and play, and plenty to find scattered throughout each area. But combat feels unbalanced and annoying due to flying enemies or insanely rapid enemy reaction. But if you move around the various enemies or conserve your sub-weapons, it makes it more enjoyable.