Shadowgun

Czech studio Madfinger Games released Shadowgun on Android on October 26, 2011, first through Nvidia’s TegraZone for phones and tablets running the Tegra 2 chip, then for other Android devices in November once driver problems were solved. Built on the Unity engine, it was regularly compared to Gears of War and was held up as one of the best-looking Android games of its year. It sold for $4.99.

What Is Shadowgun

It is a single-player third-person cover shooter set in 2350, when corporations act as governments and Toltech Enterprises controls three quarters of the known galaxy’s resources. Bounty hunter John Slade is hired to bring back Dr. Edgar Simon, a former Toltech bio-engineer hiding on the planet Eve. His android co-pilot S.A.R.A. talks him through each mission, and Simon’s mutant experiments and rebellion against Toltech slowly come into view. At the end you choose whether to hand Simon’s brain to Toltech or destroy it.

How Cover Shooting Works In Shadowgun

An analog stick moves Slade and context buttons handle firing and interaction, but the cover system is what everything is built around. Slade snaps behind barriers and pops out to fire, and fights are designed as waves of mutants and robots attacking from set positions. Easy puzzles open new areas and weapons, and big boss fights such as the Cyberlobster break up the shooting. Staying in cover and moving only between waves is the safest way through, especially on Hard. Hidden Shadowgun logos in each level unlock entries in the Shadowpedia, which covers characters, weapons and locations.

Shadowgun: The Leftover And Awards

A free expansion, Shadowgun: The Leftover, arrived on Android on January 28, 2012, and it added:

• Four new levels
• A roll move for getting between cover
• Retuned difficulty
• Graphical improvements

Its awards included Mobile Application of the Year for 2012, Czech Game of the Year in the mobile category for 2011 and a TegraZone Player’s Choice award for best graphics. Critics were less unanimous: Metacritic shows 72, with 8 out of 10 from Pocket Gamer, 7 from IGN and a harsh 4 from Edge, mostly over repetitive level design.

What Players Said Then And Now

Reviewers at launch praised full voice acting, graphics that scaled well from phones to tablets, and replay value from three difficulty levels and collectibles. Common complaints were subtitles that did not match the spoken lines, thumbs stretching too far on tablets during boss fights and similar-looking rooms with some backtracking. Retrospective reviews say the graphics have aged and enemy variety is thin, though the cover combat still holds up.

Why Shadowgun Is No Longer On Google Play

Shadowgun is no longer listed on Google Play. Madfinger has moved on to newer games in the same universe, and the original single-player game has not been updated for modern Android versions. Its history on the store was bumpy even early on: on April 18, 2012, all of Madfinger’s games, including every version of Shadowgun and Samurai II, briefly disappeared from Google Play without explanation. The series continues with Shadowgun Legends, a free-to-play online shooter from 2018 that is still available.

Shadowgun Next To The Rest Of The Series

Shadowgun: DeadZone in 2012 turned the setting into a multiplayer arena shooter, Shadowgun Legends added an online campaign and social hub, and Shadowgun War Games ran briefly before closing in 2021. The original remains the only entry that is a straight single-player story about John Slade.