Fading Shadows is without doubt an innovative concept, which does have its fair share of flaws, but is nonetheless a quality piece of entertainment. Instead of having numerous characters to give you company, you play a sole solitary adventurer. On your adventure you will not encounter someone like Master Gardal or any of his vile accomplices either. Instead, there is only you, the orb, and the environmental puzzles and hazards provided by each of the game’s levels. What is interesting though, is that you do not directly control the orb, while navigating the swath of hazards that confront you. Rather, you end up controlling a pillar of light that the orb happens to follow. The orb is significant in the sense that it contains the soul of the boy whose coming was foretold ages ago, and is supposed to save the currently ruined Kingdom.
You will be fascinated to know that the intensity of the light plays a crucial role in the game. Moreover, you will have to carefully pay attention to the light intensity to have any hope of progressing through the game’s levels. Although this might seem somewhat odd, this feature is actually the game’s most appealing aspect and you can easily get acquainted with it as the game progresses. To add to the surprise element in Fading Shadows (PSP), the orb can assume three different states which enable it to successfully navigate the continuous obstacles. You need to be precise in selecting the most appropriate state in a particular situation, otherwise it will not have the desired effect. A metallic state is more likely to rust in water, but it can withstand even the most focused beam. Likewise, a glass orb is immune from water but is easily shattered by a focused beam.
With all its good qualities, the game still has some noticeable drawbacks. One problematic point is its unorthodox control scheme makes it quite difficult to perform diabolical platform-jumping sequences which require a lot of speed and precision. To add to that, in the later stages the emphasis on timed elements, like gates that stay open only for a brief period, puts too much pressure on you and eventually sucks the pleasure out of the title. But if you can overcome these frustrating flaws then you will be pleased with a unique and cool action adventure title.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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