The Shadow Man games are Fut 15 Coins designed around the travails of Mike LeRoi, a young man whose destiny took a very odd turn. Through some strange course of events, he became the bearer of the Mask of Shadows--an ancient artifact that grants its wearer the ability to travel in between the worlds of the living and the dead. The bearer of the Mask, though, is also charged with the responsibility of protecting the denizens of the living world from otherworldly assaults, and his destiny, more often than not, is tied to the whims of a voodoo priestess who fixed the Mask upon him.

In Mike's case, the voodoo priestess in question is Mama Nettie, and, lucky for him, she's both canny and, for the most part, benevolent. As logic would dictate, the Shadow Man games are built around the sort of dual-world dynamics that you see in the Soul Reaver series, but 2econd Coming takes this even further by more greatly varying the precise netherworld locales you'll visit. The game also makes nice use of African spirituality--you'll get the impression that the story's writers did their homework, and the effect is strongly felt. The names of deities are cited during cutscenes, and some of your more mystical weapons have Creole names. All of this adds up to a world that's rich and inviting.

Luckily, Shadow Man 2econd Coming has got enough in the way of gameplay for you to keep you caring about its world and events. It's a third-person adventure game of the sprawling, expansive variety, and it sets you loose on a series of huge, detailed worlds whose nooks and crannies you must explore in your quest to prevent a group of demons from reawakening their long-banished master. Just like in the first game, Shadow Man's current mission has apocalyptic ramifications--this cadre of demons intends to bring nothing less than Armageddon, and, if Shadow Man fails, that is precisely what happens. Preventing them from doing this, as you'd imagined, will involve a whole lot of combat, puzzle solving, and exploration--none of which are things that worked especially well in the previous Shadow Man game. 2econd Coming has improved upon most of these elements to some degree, though in some cases more satisfactorily than in others.