Fun tower defense. Requires replaying some scenarios until the mobs' abilities are learned. The cons are required Quicktime installation and poor English translation of a somewhat mediocre over-arching story. The basic concept of fighting inside one's nightmares is otherwise well executed and lends itself to interesting environments.

The game installation put freakin' QUICKTIME on my computer :|

I am a fan of Tower Defense, and while Shad'O doesn't necessarily bring much new to the genre, it's a solid and extremely polished offering with a wonderful surreal setting, and great sound design.

Fans of the genre should definitely check it out.

Shad’O:
+/+ Unique setting and storytelling style.
+/+ Unique use of FOW (fog of war) with towers allowing vision.
+/+ Solid graphics, music, and sound effects for a TD.
+/+ ‘Special battles’ that unlock rewards.
+/+ Fun boss fights.

+/- Very generic & limited tower options.
+/- Upgrade choices are permanent.
+/- Magic system requires you to actively collect mana.
+/- Towers have health and can be killed (they can also be healed).

-/- Lack of stats for levels limits replay value or the desire to perform well.
-/- Only two difficulty options. Shad’O is not hard enough.
-/- Game can be beat using only 3-4 out of the 10 towers (with the last boss requiring only two towers to beat).
-/- Voice Acting.
-/- Requires you to download QuickTime or QT Lite in order to play.

Verdict: 6.5/10. The style is what stands out most in Shad’O as well as the few boss fights. But it’s a very generic TD game and probably only worth a play through for hardcore TD fans desperate for anything new.

Impossible game is impossible.

Even on 'Easy'

Levels are painfully long (some twenty minutes or more) and if you do manage to complete them often times a celebratory FX display of congratulations will flood RAM dumping your game and your hard-earned 20+ minute level completion.

Now submitted to my Grand Hall of Top $teaming Crap