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Shadow Madness
Platform: PS1

At some time or another, everyone has wanted to be a pirate. Sailing the open seas in a cannon-toting vessel, probing for plunder, and being drunk 24/7 sounds like a grand career choice. There is only one problem… coming out to your parents.

Perhaps Stinger, the main character of Shadow Madness, knows this best. After coming out to his step-dad (about wanting to be a pirate of course), his step-dad became very angry. They fought - nearly killing each other - and then Stinger ran away from home.

After spending a night in the wilderness, Stinger decides to return home and show his old step-man that he will do whatever he darn well pleases!

But then it happens. Stinger was mere feet away from his hometown when a massive explosion erupts from underneath the village, sending a gloomy cloud over the land and other unseen evils (i.e. Hell on earth pretty much).

Stinger runs to his town to see if there are any survivors, only to find a huge crater where his house once stood and no sign of his mother. He really didn’t care about his step-dad. He decides to ask around to see if anyone has seen his mother, but there is something… wrong… with these people. Most of them have gone insane, screaming random nonsense and attacking like insane zombies. Clearly, Stinger was kept alive for a reason: he needs to save Earth.



What you just read is the general premise behind Shadow Madness, an RPG released for the PSone in 1998. Developed by Craveyard, a now-defunct subsidiary of Crave Entertainment, Shadow Madness was essentially an American company’s attempt at a Japanese-esque RPG. Did they achieve their goal?

I am almost compelled to scream “Yes!”, since Shadow Madness has one of the most outstandingly remarkable scripts in video game history. Many scenes contain a touch of dry humor which, while not overpowering the main storyline, will make you want to continue playing just to see what other hilarious lines the game contains. Topped onto that, Harv-5 - a harvesting robot and one of the more likeable main characters - repeatedly (and almost unintentionally) burns Stinger with verbal onslaughts. Since he’s a robot, he doesn’t quite understand Stinger’s pompous attitude. Harv-5 also sports a marvelous catchphrase: “There will be death.”
It may sound cheesy here, but it’s truly ingenious in-game and is delivered at all the right times.

Shadow Madness also features something quite unique (at least for the time): stories within the main story. Basically, there are books within the game that you can find and read (if you don’t mind reading chapters upon chapters of text on your TV screen), and they cover everything from the history of the land to wise proverbs teaching life values. They are actually quite enjoyable to read - sometimes humorous, sometimes inspiring - and help to break up the action.

So the script, story, and characters are good. What were its downfalls then? Why did Shadow Madness fail?
I’ll answer the former question first. Its downfalls are mainly gameplay issues. The game is just far too easy. You will likely hit the level cap (level 15, believe it or not) around 10 hours into the game, which will make the rest of the game seem like busy-work (at least until the final battles, which are as difficult as one would hope for). The battle system is simple attack/magic/item turn-based combat, which brought nothing new to the battle side of the RPG world. The graphics are a mixed bag: environments look appropriately gloomy and sinister given the subject matter of world-wide insanity, but the character models are very blocky when on the map (in-battle they are much more detailed).



The story makes up for that all, though. I didn’t care that the gameplay was flawed or that the graphics were sub-par even for its time. The story captivated me and perhaps, in that essence, Craveyard accomplished a story-driven masterpiece.

Then why did it fail? If the script was so awesome, why does hardly anyone own it or even heard of it?
I can answer that in two words (and one number): Final Fantasy VII.

Simple as that. Shadow Madness released to compete with Final Fantasy VII, so it was graded down by critics for almost that reason alone. God forbid any game compete with Final Fantasy VII!
Fanboys will further argue that Shadow Madness “copied” Final Fantasy VII, which is silly since Shadow Madness was in production (although mainly the story) months before Final Fantasy VII was announced.

So I mourn for Shadow Madness. The greatness it could have been was shattered only by the fact that competing with Final Fantasy VII is regarded as a gaming sin.

If you see Shadow Madness in GameStop or an online retailer, do yourself a favor and pick it up. You might hate the gameplay; the graphics may induce headaches; the difficulty may feel like child’s play; but the story will keep you going. And it is so worth it.