Shadow Man: finally coming out of the dark

IT'S a little known fact that one of the best action adventure games of recent times - Shadow Man on the N64 - was created on Teesside.

Despite being a triple A title for the Nintendo system and spawning PSOne and Dreamcast iterations, Shadow Man didn't get all the credit it deserved.

The Nintendo version may have suffered some inexplicable censorship in its cut scenes (perhaps the Japanese were still feeling a bit squeamish on behalf of their young audience when they saw the early build) but it remains one of the 64's very best adult-oriented action adventures. Some levels almost gave me nightmares - particularly the one set in the asylum.

Now the same team of crack coders responsible for the first game are back for more, only this time they are seriously tooled up.

With the power of the PS2 and the X-Box at their disposal, Shadow Man: Second Coming promises to be even more visceral than its predecessor.

Once again you are living-dead avenger Mike LeRoi, who walks between the living world and a nightmare-ish vision of hell called Deadside.

The game opens in similar fashion with a gruesome piece of full motion video to set the scene and begin the story. This time, however, you are up against a whole race of baddies, demons intent on unleashing their leader into the world to the general detriment of mankind.

A big change is the switch in control set up. Whereas in the original game, just just the one analogue stick controlled LeRoi's movement, in the sequel you use both sticks on the PS2 pad. One moves forward and back while the other controls direction.

It takes a bit of getting used to and, at first, I often found myself running headlong into enemies or bouncing off the (impressive-looking) scenery.

Persevere and it becomes second nature, plus for those gamers who just can't get on with it there's the option to switch back to a more orthodox control system.

Shadow Man: Second Coming takes a leaf out of Majora's Mask's book by including a real "clock" which changes day into night. The targeting system is also similar to Nintendo's masterpiece.

This is a tough time to launch an action adventure on the PS2. After all, virtually everything that's gone before would struggle to match the great Metal Gear Solid 2. At least the Shadow Man sequel offers something different in that it's not about espionage but voodoo and horror.

With the Resident Evil franchise moving over to Game Cube, the character of Mike LeRoi could be posed to take over from the STARS teammates as the king of survival horror on Sony's console. If this showing is anything to go by, the future in Deadside is bright indeed.

Herdy Gerdy. Format: PS2. Publisher: Eidos. Price: £39.99.

AFTER more years reviewing video games than I care to remember, I thought I had seen it all.

Golf simulators, racing simulators, boxing simulators, even, for goodness sake, fishing simulators. It seemed there was nothing else video games programmers could seek to imitate.

I was wrong. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Herdy Gerdy, the world's first shepherd simulator.

And if that's all Herdy Gerdy was, it would be a real stinker of a game. After all, the excitement to be had from herding animals into enclosures kinda pales into insignificance compared to bombing around a racing circuit at 200mph in a Formula One racing car. Thankfully, it's more challenging and enjoyable than that.

We should have known. After all, Core Design, the company behind Herdy Gerdy, is the same bunch that produced a 3-D adventure about a woman when common wisdom dictated gamers only wanted to play as men. The title? Tomb Raider.

The story sounds trite (you live on an island created by an acorn which is now the top prize in a herding tournament held every five years, the bad guy won last time out and all hopes now rest with you to get it back and restore peace) - but it makes sense in a Nintendo-esque way when you're playing.

There's something of a 3-D adventure in Herdy Gerdy - your quest takes you over 30 different levels - and something of a platformer in that each level has its fair share of running and jumping.

As with games like Mario 64 the game has its own system of rewards. In this case you collect bells. Pick up enough and you can trade up for a bigger bell that opens up new areas.

Herdy Gerdy is also a strategy game. As in real life, the herder who charges around will get nowhere fast. It's all about guile - working out a method of collecting your flock then coaxing them into a pen.

Later levels reward your character with tools to improve the performance of your herding or allowing you to reach previously inaccessible areas by jumping higher or swimming.

Impressively, the camera - so often the bane of these games - is co-operative enough to give you a decent chance of racking up some big scores. There are pre-set distances to improve your view and even a head cam for real close-up action.

Then there's the action element. While you are doing your stuff it's wise to keep an eye out for big furry predators called Gromps who like nothing more than to chase you and devour your flock for tea.

The visuals are wonderfully cartoon-like but don't go thinking it's a title fit only for the kids. Mentally, Herdy Gerdy will make you think far more than a dozen first person shooters.

If all of this sounds a bit impenetrable, it's only because Herdy Gerdy is really a game that defies description. It's impossible to pigeonhole and all the better for it.

The lack of an easy way to peg Herdy Gerdy may mean this title is destined to become something of a hidden gem in the PS 2 back catalogue, a bit like Ape Escape was on the PSOne. I'd like to urge you to do something about that because, without innovative products like this one, the world of gaming would be a poorer place