Shadowrun - Review

Added June 28th, 2007 by James Bolan

Cross platform multiplayer has been a PC gamer fantasy for years now. “Those stupid xbots and their Halo, if only I could play them online on a TRUE control setup. Mouse and keyboard for the win!” FASA studios has finally given them their chance with Shadowrun.

Shadowrun’s story is based around the release of an ancient power and, of course, two rival factions fighting for it. This is where the red and blue teams, I mean Lineage and RNA Corporation, come in. Four races in the game make up each faction: Human, Elf, Troll, and Dwarf. Each race has unique characteristics. The Trolls are super tough and the crystal looking sections of their skin protrude more and more while under fire showing their defense is increasing. Elves are very quick and have lower than usual health, but their essence allows them to regenerate. You get the idea.

Shadowrun looks like a normal FPS at first, but that idea teleports out of your brain very quickly. As you see an enemy player resurrect his friend and then sprout a glowing tree from the ground, you’ll know something is very different here. It’s the magic/RPG element in Shadowrun that sets it apart from other shooters on the 360. Mana in Shadowrun is known as Essence. With essence you can unleash attacks and even resurrect players. Some magical abilities expend essence immediately such as Teleport and then regenerate over time. Strangle creates electrified crystals to grow from the ground making a choke point to defend a certain area or just to trap an enemy for a quick kill. Strangle costs initial essence but while the crystals remain, some of your essence will still be tied into them and cannot be used. Resurrecting a player keeps some essence unavailable much like Strangle does. If the person who resurrected you dies, you will slowly begin to bleed out. Someone else will need to resurrect you in order for you to survive. Enemy and friendly bodies stick around forever making the only way to keep a foe down is to destroy their body after you send them to a better place. It’s a cool feature, but can often be frustrating when multiple people continually keep springing back to life in a firefight.

The balance of essence and which magic powers to use for each situation adds an amount of strategy not usually seen in FPS games. Tech items are yet another set of abilities you need to balance with magic. You can choose a glider that allows you to float around the map or a stack of other options such as enhanced vision or an anti-magic generator. Oh, you only have 3 slots to assign magic or tech to, so choose wisely. If all of this seems complicated, it is. Shadowrun has the roughest learning curve I’ve seen in an FPS this generation. Luckily there are plenty of tutorial levels to get you up to speed. Each tutorial level concludes with a bot match for you to apply the knowledge you gained. The tutorials work well, but nothing compares to playing against real people on XBL.

Race combined with magic and tech choice makes communication and teamwork essential in Shadowrun. To get the most out of a team, all bases and abilities should be covered. Try having a team where no members have resurrect and all expect to win. I’ve actually come across such a team. They were a terrible failure. You’re much better off pairing up with some buddies than leaving your virtual fate to fools. With that said, the party system in Shadowrun doesn’t always want you and your friends to stay together. Even though you’re in the same party you can be put on opposite teams. Yeah, you read that correctly. For such a team and strategy oriented game, where in the development process was that idea approved? It absolutely baffles me. Multiple game modes ship with Shadowrun including the classic CTF variant where you have to capture an artifact. Standard Team Deathmatch is included and relieves the frustration of being paired with terrible team mates.

Graphically Shadowrun is average at best. While playing your first set of matches, you won’t be sure what happened in the development process, but it appears as if Shadowrun was heading in different directions. The art style of the player models is cartoonish, while the environments look more realistic. It’s an odd combination that takes a while to get used to. Animation in the game is poor, especially when you attack with a katana. They make Tenchu Z stealth kill animation look like an Ubisoft Montreal game. The audio is just as underwhelming as the graphics. Death sounds and gun fire is passable, but nothing makes you feel like you’re in a chaotic warzone. Most of the voice-acting consists of tutorial mode instructions or standard multiplayer announcements.

Summary:

Shadowrun is a tragic example of great potential and poor follow-through. A multiplayer only next gen title with a $60 price point and nine maps is unacceptable. Forcing PC users to purchase a Gold subscription to Xbox Live to play Shadowrun is a joke. I wouldn’t mind the price if the gameplay and visuals were great but they’re just as mediocre as my desire to play this game. Shadowrun does bring some fresh ideas to the table and cross platform multiplayer is a great idea. It’s a shame those ideas didn’t make the jump from the whiteboard as successfully as hoped.