Letters Regarding Randy's Shadow Man Review

Letter 1

Subj: Shadowman
Date: 8/31/99 11:15:22 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Kevin S [hotmail address deleted]
To: randy@justadventure.com

Dear Randy,

While reading your review of Shadowman I get two distinct feelings the first is that you are very angry at Acclaim for not sending you a preview copy and you have carried that anger over into your review. The second feeling I get is that you did not actually play the game much because it may have been to hard for you. I don't get the feeling that you really got far enough into the game to see how great it is. But that's okay I understand that some games are too hard you just need to keep practicing and maybe someday you will be as good as the average gamer.

Good Luck
CM25

Randy's witty response:

Kevin S (does the "S" stand for Acclaim shill?),

Sorry to burst your bubble pal, but I have been gaming since Pong. I have been playing computer games since Zork was mainframe in '81. The only time I have ever found a game to be too hard to beat is when it is either mindlessly repetitive (i.e. Shadowman) or the controls are awkward, as is the case in most Acclaim games.

By the way, the hotmail account, the heated emotion of your response and your claim that I did not receive a review copy (I never said if I did or not in the article) make me think you are an Acclaim employee afraid to use his/her real name. Especially since I received 3 other negative responses to my article, all from hotmail accounts. The emails I recieved that agreed with my impressions of Acclaim's attitude, ALL used real names and signatures! What a coincidence, huh.

Letter 2

Subj: Acclaim and Adventure Games
Date: 8/31/99 1:29:14 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Joe Gurganus [email address deleted]
To: randy@justadventure.com

It is unfortunate that you had such a run around regarding a new game from Acclaim, however, I am not surprised. In my opinion, much of the gaming industry responds only to young males from 15 to 25 who want to kill and maim in their computer (or Nintindo) game playing. I have no problem with that genre (for those who enjoy it; no problem with the Nintindo either), however, there are other game players who would like to think about their game experience rather than just react and shoot.

I am a female adventure game player, 59 years old, college graduate, who is retired from a position as Director of Nursing for Critical and Emergency Care. I purchased my first home PC about 8 years ago. I have been a devoted game player ever since. I have subscribed to 3 MAJOR gaming magazines for 8 years. As time has passed, I have found less and less about adventure in any of them. In my last edition of one (initials of PC G) the person who writes the adventure/rpg column lamented the death of the adventure game. He asked for reader e-mail about why the adventure genre was dying. What a laugh!

I did e-mail. I explained that if the adventure was dying it was probably due to murder on the part of the game magazine publishers. I sent him a very long list of adventure games that are in production. If I can find them he certainly should be able to. I suggested that he review JUST ADVENTURE, MR. BILL, QUANDARY, ETC to see just how many adventure gamers he and the other magazine people are ignoring. People cannot buy a game if they do not know it exists. Without magazine coverage these games die on the vine. After their death, the game publishers and developers say, "gee, there must not be any interest in adventure games. Let's not make any more". RUBBISH!

I suspect that many of the adventure game enthusiasts are a bit older than the average game player; many are probably women; and they (the adventure gamers) probably have LOTS more money to spend on games (of any type) than the average 15 year old. What is the industry's problem? It seems to me that they are missing a large consumer audience.

I have only been on-line for 6 weeks. In that short time I have discovered a great world of adventure articles, links, previews, reviews, etc., etc. The adventure game is a wonderful world to wander around in. The stories are generally interesting; the graphics are usually attractive to fantastic; and they are overall entertaining.

I wish that someone would find something to do about this situation. I am willing to participate in letter writing campaigns to the magazines and to the game companies involved. I am willing to e-mail other adventure game players (hopefully found on the adventure web sites) to ask for their participation. Do you have suggestions? Do other letter writers have suggestions? Some action might make a difference. It would be nice to hear from other gamers of similar opinion.

Thank you for reading this.

Harriet Gurganus
Washington, North Carolina

Letter 3

Subj: Shadow Man
Date: 9/1/99 3:29:52 PM Pacific Daylight Time
From: Michael Phillipps [hotmail address deleted]
To: randy@justadventure.com

Dear Mr. Suglaski:

We all know that Acclaim is one of those companies we have to be wary of, like the old Merit Software, like Psygnosis, and I have no doubt that people at Acclaim were obnoxious to you on the phone and inconsistent in their "adventure" claims re Shadow Man, but ...

this game does have one thing going for it that you left out and that others also have left out of their reviews (even the positive ones).

To wit, there's some pretty neat cut scenes and witty dialogue, especially that damn Irish snake. I mean, come on, that was unusual enough to mention, wasn't it?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Shadow Man is a good game (I haven't played enough of it yet) and I'm certainly not saying it's an adventure game. I'm not even saying that Acclaim's reputation isn't deservedly bad, but I am saying that if a game has a positive and unique feature, be it a gameplay feature or some other feature, I'd like reviews like you to tell me about it.

Sincerely,
Mike P.