Shadowgrounds: Classic Gameplay, Modern Graphics Company: Meridian4 Shadowgrounds takes the simplistic gameplay style found in older games, slaps on some modern graphics and produces what looks like a fun and addictive gameplay experience. Shadowgrounds' story is nothing new. Aliens attack a space colony, and your character must arm himself to the teeth and take out everything that moves. The top-down perspective is a nice throwback to more retro games. The fact that the developers didn't go with the (almost cliche) FPS view will help to make this game stand out. But, like I said above, though the story and feel of this game harks to the days of old, the graphics very much belong in this day and time. The game's lighting, textures and environments are, put simply, pretty to look at. Between the dark hallways and the technology-riddled labs with bright lights, this game looks like it will have just enough diversity in it's environments to keep you entertained all the way through. Well, at least that was the case with the two-level demo. One of the stars of Shadowgrounds is the game's weaponry (like most action titles). Though technically, there are only 10 distinct weapons, each weapon has various different upgrades that will drastically change the way a weapon works. For instance, the flamethrower can be upgraded to spill some fuel onto the ground, and with a quick light parts of the environment can be set aflame. Another unusual upgrade is the ability to have "bouncing bullets" on your rail gun. With this customization, you will be able to fire around corners, take out hard to reach enemies or be a bit more careless with your shots and still make them count. Shadowgrounds also features destructible environments. Everything from glass to trees and furniture will fly apart as you use your many weapons. Shadowgrounds has already been released in other parts of the world (Germany, France and New Zealand just to name a couple of locations), and the initial reaction seems to be good. Though Shadowgrounds doesn't appear to be the most epic and groundbreaking title to come out, it does appear to have a lot of fun gameplay experiences and has a lot of promise. Look for Shadowgrounds to come to the US later this month and check back here for a full review. -J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer Related Links: Official Shadowgrounds Home Page