Admit it, you've always wanted to star in a horror movie…one of those psychological thrillers where you cross the line between reality and a nether realm and begin to unravel a complex mystery with few clues and fewer leads. Think of a "what if" where X-Files meets Millenium's Frank Black. It feels like Iguana UK had this in mind when it decided to build the upcoming action-adventure title known as Shadow Man.

　　Shadow Man's developers are apparently horror film buffs and admit to having drawn from films like Hellraiser, Seven, Nightbreed, Manhunter, Jacob's Ladder, and Eraserhead. Beyond that, the team also channels other influence from T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland and The Hollow Men, along with the works of Joseph Campbell.

　　Watching the game in action - from its cutscenes to its gameplay - one can recall images from other films like Angel Heart. Beyond all the literary psychobabble, the game definitely works - and that goes for gamers outside the Umberto Eco reading/discussion group.

　　The complexity is there, and the title is definitely a challenge to solve, and this may be what will pull FPS gamers from their twitch favorites to this action-adventure composite. The game still needs a bit of refinement, but it has some of the markings (and tattoos) of a whole new genre. Read on while we describe what we saw when the game's publisher, Acclaim, brought a recent build of the game to our attention.

　　Comic book fans will note that, much like Turok, Shadow Man is based on a comic of the same name. Gamers enter the story as Mike LeRoi, an English literature graduate who has closed the book on his intellectual life in order to become a hired assassin inhabiting the underbelly of New Orleans. LeRoi has more than just the skills to interpret Shakespeare, he has the ability to transport himself to the realm of the dead - Deadside. There is much more to the story: As LeRoi becomes Shadowman, he gains voodoo powers as well.

　　At the beginning of the game, a voodoo priestess named Mama Nettie has a vision that the day of the Apocalypse is coming and that the dead will soon rise to take over the world of the living. In order to change the dire course of events, she forcibly places a powerful object called the shadow mask into LeRoi's chest. This will figure in LeRoi becoming the only champion who can hold the coming Apocalypse and the Legions of the Damned back.

　　The Legions are lead by five serial killers that have figured out how to open holes, called soul gates, into the world of the living from the world of the dead. And unless the serial killers are killed in both worlds and trapped into a part of Deadside known as the Asylum, all humanity will know the wrath of the dead.

　　And that's just the storyline. The game uses the now-popular third person Tomb Raider view as you watch LeRoi/Shadowman wander through environments. For the past two years, Iguana has been working on the 3D VISTA (Virtually Integrated Scenic TerrAin) engine so characters in the game can have a high-definition soft-skin look.

　　Environmentally, the VISTA engine allows players to see objects at great distances for a more realistic viewing experience - gone are the old Turok days of fogging up the distance as a workaround. Miles away, you can see castles and other structures looming over the landscape. And with the gloom and doom of the dark world, the colors give the realm a hell-like feel.

　　Acclaim says the engine will be used in several of its upcoming (and unannounced) titles. The engine itself was built specifically for Direct3D, and while there has been some talk of building a software renderer, the development team has yet to decide whether to include one.

　　When the game is finished, more than 20 levels will take Shadow Man to the answers he seeks. Shadow Man's managing director at Iguana UK says that testers are taking 60-70 hours to complete the game - good news for adventure fans.

　　Since the title is fine-tuned for an older, more mature audience, those gamers will love the darker feel, the familiar perspective, and the fact that this game is more serious than other death realm titles like Grim Fandango. Bringing in more and more adventure aspects, Shadow Man uses gamers' investigative skills by giving clues and other information through the use of cards that help define the complexity of symbol usage, weapon abilities, or killer profiles. In one of the nightmarish levels, the player must actually take out a blind serial killer in an extremely dark level (the blind have no reason for light - in case you couldn't figure that out). This is truly the stuff of film.

　　The nine weapons included with the title are simpler than other FPS titles since the game hopes to stand more on its adventure legs than its action ones. In Liveside, Mike LeRoi has the use of one weapon called the Desert Eagle, which is a handgun, while Shadow Man has more weaponry to bring along. Four weapons include the baton, the flameau, the marteau, and the ShadowGun.

　　The most interesting, the ShadowGun, projects a ghostly looking shot at an enemy. When the enemy dies, Shadow Man consumes the soul as his own - using it to beef up his own voodoo powers. And equipping your character is easy with a simplistic Diablo-esque drag system to make it easy to choose your favorite weapon. Lock-on targeting makes it easy to take out an enemy so players won't have to toy with their accuracy as much and will be able to focus more attention on the game itself. Shadow Man also has use of voodoo powers in Deadside, and as he powers up with more kills, his body gains more tattoos to show his status and powers he possesses.

　　While information on the game is still on the slim side, we expect that more information will be released as Shadow Man gets closer to its summer release.

　　Shadow Man for the PC requires a Pentium 200 or higher, 32MB RAM, with a 3D-accelerator card, and is due to hit shelves this summer and will release later for the PlayStation.

　　Will it bring hell to gamers' machines? We'll just have to wait. And in the meantime, you'll just have to continue chanting.