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This Ain’t Yo Daddy’s RPG
By bukkhead | July 17, 2007
VIDEO GAME REVIEW: ‘SHADOWRUN’
Developed by FASA Studio
Distributed by Microsoft Game Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360, PC (Vista only)
Genre: First Person Shooter
I wanted to play Shadowrun when it first came out, but so did everyone else. And they were more enthusiastic than me, beat me to the punch, and then started saying bad things. I tried renting it, and of course, I got beat to that punch also. The irony is that the sooner it became easy to get at Blockbuster, the more bad I knew it would be. Well, I played it the other day. I guess the verdict is in: not too good.
That’s the general consensus, anyway. Myself, I thought it was okay. I think I know what they were going for, and in that respect, their execution worked. This is not so much a game for the hard-core Halo master, the UT2K5 God, the Gears of War or Half-Life expert. In those games there’s team-based combat, but one’s own pwnage skills really make the difference. Shadowrun is all about the team work. If you don’t work with your team, everyone dies, not just you.
So, for eight to twenty-four guys who know each other and want a night of good gaming, Shadowrun delivers. It’s smooth enough, the gadgets add enough flavor that strategy and tactics actually have more to keep you engaged than just weapon variety. There doesn’t appear to be any default wow weapon or combo set—balanced is the word. And I think that’s why folks don’t like it.
They want a game you can drop into, use your twitch to survive, get the big weapon, and blow folks away. There’s no “big weapon” here. Twitch defiantly comes into play, but it’s not enough to solo over three or more coordinate opponents. Also, there’s a bit of a learning curve. Myself, I liked the multi-chapter tutorials (complete with bot matches and achievements to earn). In fact, they were all to brief—I was taught just enough to get myself really bogged down in actual game play.
Another detraction in everyone’s eyes is how this seems to have only a veneer of similarity to the Shadowrun RPG and the old SNES game. It’s supposed to be a mix of tech and magic, sci-fi and fantasy, but it all just comes down to nomenclature. There’s nothing in the game play that couldn’t be re-labeled one way or another. Toss in a few skins, and it’s not even humans dwarves elves trolls.
The Wii taught us that games don’t have to be graphically superior to be fun, and the PS3 taught us that in fact, graphics always take a back door to playability. I’d say the same for dress-up: doesn’t matter what kind of license you have, if a game is bad, it’s just bad. I don’t think Shadowrun is bad. I just think it’s not what folks were hoping for, and their expectation set the tone of their reception. Which is too bad, because once I “got it,” even as a total newb I was able to contribute to the battle. That’s got to be worth something.
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