There's nothing like a reasoned argument and a kick in the mush is nothing like a reasoned argument. A beat 'em up isn't "principled". If it's good it's because it has been programmed well enough for you to leave the enemy gobsmacked and corpses in your wake. It won't have intellectual pretension and so much the better for it.
Shadow Warriors by Ocean scores well on the body count. It's admirable, too, in terms of its technical accomplishment. Shadow Warriors scrolls nicely, has crisp, well-drawn and colourful graphics, and manoeuvring while fighting is simplicity itself.
Amiga Shadow Warriors is as much fun as the original Tecmo coin-op. The sprite resolution has been improved and the sound has been sampled giving the crispest of tones as fist meets flesh.
An unnamed American metropolis has been blitzed by rabid assassins. You, one of the Shadow Warriors, are a top-notch ninja who's out to stop the rot.
The aim is to battle your way through six levels - or neighbourhoods - and destroy the assassins before thwarting an evil demon. Your ninja can jump on to platforms with relative ease, and you get to perform a whole host of throws and kicks with obligatory, long and exotic names - Triple Blow Combination, The Phoenix Backflip and so on...
Although the programmers have done a good job of making it easy to execute these moves, the game at times is very tough going. The sprites are beautifully drawn but some of the blue-clothed nasties merge into the blue backgrounds, and when you're in the heat of a scrap they can be annoyingly difficult to pick out.
Shadow Warriors will never win the award for the best beat 'em up ever. It is attractive enough to look at but the gameplay, although faithfully recreated, does not have anything to lift it out of the ordinary. However, those who like beat 'em ups should have nothing to fear from purchasing this.