NVIDIA had a fairly quiet Gamescom this year on the Shield front, but there was still something pretty tasty to show off. Coming to the Shield TV in Q1 2017 is Shadowgun Legends and it's a substantial step forward for Madfinger from its mobile games of past years.
Shadowgun Legends has been tailored to the Shield TV and the Tegra X1 chipset to exploit its power and create a full fledged first-person shooter. It's a way off from being finished, but what I've seen at the show already has me salivating for more.
Players will have the opportunity to dive deep into a 24th-century war-torn world where you will become the up and coming Shadowguns, an elite unit of badasses from all around the galaxy. It will be up to you to decide whether you are going to face the alien threat alone or with your Shadowgun friends.
Freeing from the limitations of touch interfaces and going into a more console-like state, Shadowgun Legends adopts a control system much like you'd find on many console FPS titles. Twin sticks for moving, sprinting and looking around, left trigger to aim, right trigger to fire. It's basic, yet familiar, and so pretty easy to pick up and play.
What's startling at first, considering this is basically an Android game, is how incredible it looks. Madfinger is usually pretty handy with graphics, but Shadowgun Legends takes things to another level. The developers are passionate gamers and this newest project with the Shield TV in mind takes them beyond mobile and into the console class.
Textures look detailed and lighting is more realistic than any Madfinger title to date, right down to the shimmer on wet areas of the floor. It's a way off being finished but from what I've seen so far it's not going to disappoint your eyes.
More will become available as we approach early 2017, but the legions of Shadowgun fans are going to be very impressed with Legends. Especially this version on the NVIDIA Shield. It looks and plays great and takes the franchise into console-baiting territory. We eagerly await a chance to play some more.
