Shadow Man

Shadowman arrived on the Dreamcast on December 31st, 1999 by developers Iguana UK and publishers Acclaim Entertainment. The game is a third person action affair and revolves around an African American guy by the name of Michael LeRoi, a former English literature student now turned Shadow Man, a voodoo warrior.
It all starts with a mysterious figure called 'Legion' visiting Jack the Ripper underground in the sewers of London, and convincing the killer to join him and other serial killers (known simply as the 'Five') in another world, Deadside, by comitting suicide. The ultimate goal being to bring about the Apocalypse by sending a hoarde of demons to Earth (Liveside) through a quite frankly grim sounding construction called 'Asylum'.
Assisting Mike/Shadowman, or the Bald One, on his quest are Agnetta (or Mama Nettie) a powerful voodoo priestess and Jaunty, a snake with a skull head with an Irish accent who dishes out advice whenever needed.
To be quite honest for all its cool sounding voodoo touches (and it DOES have some very cool ideas) like switching worlds and dispensing powerful magic at will, Shadowman never quite grabbed my attention by the lapels, despite our shared belief that skulls and morbid designs are awesome. The game never had me spending long hours at it, not back in 1999 or now that I have purchased it again for my collection in 2010.
I find the controls about as fluid as wood which combined with a camera that has a mind of its own makes for VERY frustrating play. Lighting could be better too, as often I found myself schlepping around in semi-darkness without any obvious clue as to where to go next. It all felt dis-jointed like things had been tacked on at the last minute.
I desperately wanted to enjoy this title because as ive said, it does have neat ideas what with the whole voodoo vibe going on but each time I visit Deadside I come away disappointed. And this does deserve to be better; for example early on in the adventure Mike is sent to an abandoned church complete with fiery swirling skies, graveyard studded with rickety crosses and around 12 fierce looking rottweilers guarding everything. The atmosphere was super eerie and impressed me no end. Sadly however bits like these aren't the norm and before long you are fumbling about in uninspired scenery.
I got hold of my copy for around £4, which felt right. Anything below the £5 mark is fair but Ive also seen this priced at £19.99 which is utterly ridiculous. To want to pay twenty quid for this you would have to been struck by voodoo yourself. Or desperate to want advice from a snake-bodied Irish man.
The Bald Ones score; 5/10