Shadowrun Reviews

To say that I'm not a fan of this game would be a lie, but I will try to give an unbiased review.

Firstly, the game is unlike most of them on the Xbox. Not that its overly creative or innovative, its that there is no storyline. The only possible explanation for the constant fighting is in the opening trailer.When you pop the disc in you just see 'a tutorial f how to play' or 'get in a match' not a lot of options. You'll soon realize there isn't even a single player mode (unless you count bot matches).So the game lacks any real depth besides its online play, so with all of its eggs in the online basket how does it fair.

The gameplay is that you are a mystical band of Trolls, Human, Elves, and Dwarfs that work Cooperatively working to contain the magical powers for yourself. You battle another band of Mystics in various modes of attack/defend, and capture the flag, as well as Attrition ( a quasi deathmatch mode). They all are pretty fun but only with the right players. The game relies on the interplay of the teams and there character choices, along with what powers the choose. As far as weapons the standards are there Pistol, Rifle, Rocket Launcher ( with the addition of a katana). But the thing that makes this different than other shooters is the powers of magic you can attain. Teleportation, Ressurection, Summoning a Minion to fight for you.

With these powers and weapons and characters balanced against one another it becomes vital for the player to know what works against it. A dwarf can drain magic force from other players, a elf can run faster than the other characters, and a troll (while slow moving ) can easily carry big weapons like the Minigun.

So a lot of the fun comes down to the Online Community Experience. Which has some bugs sadly. Load times, match formations and regular lag outs and server bugs happen as regularly as 'Ole Faithful'. You often find yourself playing and about to win when you get booted with the message 'lost connection to server'. Not to say that the game isn't fun, which it is. But the fact you never know if you game will count to your totals. Also, Considering the age of a game like this you would expect the community to be fairly dead but in fact the opposite is true. The community is strong and knows how to play the game. These players make the game fun because the strong Co-op feature works only when players know all the in an outs.

In Summation, the game is worth a buy. It can be found fairly cheap online and at a local gamestop. The game has bugs and you might often be angered by it, but i have never played a game with so much strategy and sheer team based play than this. But be warned, the achievements do take time to get. the average gameplay time for a single match is about 20 minutes and can take as long as an hour. So plan accordingly and you can have a boost a lot of them. But i would strongly recommend the game for anyone who likes to chat and have a more social gaming experience.

Trolls, Elves, Dwarves, OH MY!

Shadowrun Review

Shadowrun is widely known as the flop that put FASA studios out of buisiness, and this is unfairly so. Shadowrun, although lacking a singleplayer story mode, is indeed a must buy. I have had this for just about two years or so, and I still play it constantly. It's addictive gameplay with a great online community mix to make a great game.

Singleplayer story is absent from Shadowrun. However, there is a training mode to be played and you can play against bots, which will leave you wanting more. Multiplayer is where it is at.

Shadowrun offers you four races to choose from- Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and Trolls. Each race has their own little special ability, attributes, and strengths/weaknesses. Magic and Tech can be bought along with weapons. This adds an all new level of strategy to the game. Each race works well with certain magics and techs, but not every single race is good with every single magic and tech. This also adds variety to online play, as everyone has their own little setup.

Controls work really well. You run, crouch, and shoot like the standard shooter so that feel is still there. However you still need to use you magic and techs, right? Well thankfully, assigning these is really simple and easy to use. Once you assign them(only three at a time), by the press of a button you can use them. Almost like when playing on the computer with a keyboard.

Graphically, this game is not the greatest. It could pass for a PS2 game. For a beginner it may be hard to tell teams, or find grenades/weapons on the ground, but it will eventually come if you keep playing. They are easy to adjust to.

The objective for each game is simple, a lot simpler then trying out new races and magics. Basically you need to run the artifact to a score point in the other team's base. There is also a deathmatch-like mode, and a attack and defend-like mode. Paired with a dozen or so maps, this will really bring you back to play more. It all works smooth, the games don't drag on at all, and if you do end up buying this game, you will not be ashamed.

Overall, Shadowrun is a nice experience. It is unlike many other games, simple to get used to, yet fun and addictive. Although not that great for those with XBL, it is a must buy for any XBL subscriber.

This was originally posted by me at http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox360/review/R134812.html .

Are you tired of playing Halo online? Tired of your plain old death matches? Well look no further because Shadowrun is your game. This game has all the ingredients to make a good FPS. However, there are a few 'bugs' in the game that may make people think twice before purchase.
Shadowrun is about struggle for control. The rouge, rag-tag faction, known as Lineage, has stolen magic and plans to distribute to the overall population of the world. RNA however, a security division, wants to keep it from the wrong hands. That is pretty much the story of Shadowrun, the little bit it has. The game has no depth in the storyline at all and doesn't offer much as far as the Single Player Campaign goes. There are only 6 missions which are more so tutorials then missions. The rest of the game is mostly online. So for those Xbox 360 people out there, you better have a gold membership, because this game is online.
The gameplay is unique and is fast paced. There are 4 different species you can play as; Humans, Elves, Trolls, & Dwarves. All with their own unique abilities.
At the start of every match, you get to chose if you want a weapon better then a pistol, or some magic, or technology. The wide variety of weapons range from the shotgun, to the katana. The magic in the game can get very fun and can tilt the scale in your favor. You can resurrect your teammates, summon minions, and much more. The technology in the game is new to the world of gaming. You can purchase a glider to help you soar to new heights, vision enhancer, or wired reflexes that juices your system so you can reload faster, move faster, and can even block bullets with a katana. After each round, based on your performance, you can earn money to purchase more items for the battle. However, should you purchase a weapon and die, you will have to purchase that weapon again. The magic and technology is a permanent, one-time payment.
The gamestyles are a bit limited however, as you can only play 3 different games. Extraction, both teams attempt to secure the artifact to their extraction point. Raid, Lineage attempts to secure and extract the artifact while RNA attempts to stop them. And finally, Attrition, kill everyone on the other team. Those are the only 3 types of game plays. There are many levels to play them on, but if you played on one level, you've played them all. Also, you can not download more maps and so are limited to your options. The only thing I can't complain about is that almost every game is different.
However, due to the fact of the lack of new maps, poor choice of gametypes, and no Single Player Campaign, I rate this game a 4 out of 5 stars.

This review was posted on March 8th 2011 and posted to gamespot I am currently moving all of my review over to TA with some light editing added to them. I hope its a good read of shadowrun as it can be a damn fun game.

After first sampling this online only experience a few years ago I was very skeptical, I had only seen it through a friend who introduced me to it. I myself had never heard of shadowrun as a franchise in anyway but I didn't let that put me off making a purchase in the end and after sampling the game with a friend.

The only real drawback for this game is it lacks total content in general the game is online only, apart from supporting bot matches but I doubt that would appeal to many people. And there is a brief tutorial mode to get you into the setting and familiarize yourself with the gameplay since it can be a little overwhelming at first. Luckily the game has a tutorial mode in the form of small bot matches that will help you learn with the basics.

The games combat is a mix of technology and magic for example you could be blasting away at somebody with an SMG then suddenly reinforcements arrive so you make a quick escape using a teleport or a smoke ability (which turns you invisible and partially invincible at the cost of essence and you won't be able to keep fighting) so there is quite alot of variaty to be found in the combat. To explain essence is your magic metre which recharges over time so you can keep using spells etc, you also have 3 slots to hotkey your abilities they can be either magic or tech based depending on how you want to play.

In the game there are four races human, elf, dwarf and the troll (no pun inteneded) they all play in there own ways with there own strengths and weaknesses.

The human is your basic soldier with a reasonable amount of essence and he doesnt take any penalties for acquiring technology, he also has the most starting money. The human is probably the most balanced since they are neither hard nor easy to take down in a direct conflict they are like the middle ground class for the game. For any new players I would recommend human simply for the advantage with technology that they have.

The elf (my favourite choice) is more of a rush opponent they have alot of essence and the ability to heal themselves by staying out of combat and hiding. But they have the lowest amount of health in the game so they rarely last long in a fire fight. But they make up for their lack of strength with speed and agility, a decent player using teleport and an SMG could take down a troll if times got desperate. They are definitely the most recommended class for a magic build as they can regenerate their health when they are not using their powers.

The dwarf has the most essence but recharges at a much slower but he can tap into allies and enemies essence and use them as a cheap way to refill their power. They also take two head shots to take down so they aren't easy to pick off for snipers who want an easy kill. In my personal experience dwarfs are like mini trolls they are hard to take down but not as tough when it comes to a direct blast from an SMG or decent rifle shots. They are also a good race for a strong magic build but their lack of decent essence recharge makes you heavily dependant on your allies and sadly sometimes your team mates may not be around to save you.

And finally is the troll they are the tank of the game being able to take alot of damage and have an ability to increase their damage intake by using essence to harden them. So in theory the more you fire the stronger it gets but it isn't invincible its size makes it a good target and snipers can take them down easily if they have a good aim. They also have the smallest essence pool so their magical abilities are rather limited compared to the rest, they are better for supporting players who want to give out heavy fire power. A truly spray and pray class but this doesn't mean they shouldn't be feared when you run into a competent troll they are truly the hardest to kill if your opponent knows what they are doing.

The appealing part of the game is there is alot of choice in the style you may want to play in. The weapons are varied and balanced enough, along with the abilities since none of them are really game winners they just give you more of an advantage but its far from game breaking. Combining technology and magic is a good way to go sometimes for example using a glider and teleport can make you the fastest player on the battlefield. Making you capable of responding to situations alot faster than your team. But it also means you sacrificed fire power for speed so make sure to balance your decisions with your team.

While playing very few matches will play out the same, it all comes down to the people you are playing against they will all have styles of fighting they like to use and you will have your own, its not too often that matches are one sided and the game does try to balance itself even if it means splitting up in game parties to do so. There is also a booting system to make sure team killers dont last too long on their little spree's thinking they are actually accomplishing something in the game.

In conclusion shadowrun only has one weakness it needs MORE to be added to it, their are not too many maps and the lack of any real single player is a bit of a back fall for the game. But the game itself plays perfectly with very few balance issues and the maps we do have are all different enough with only one or two that give some teams an advantage over others (I am looking at you DIG SITE!). I would advise to anyone who likes a new experience to at least try the demo out before choosing if its for you. For me 4/5 feels justified since I am very satisfied with the time and fun I have had in this overlooked title.

At this point I have gathered all the achievements from this game with very little boosting needed to get this far so this game receives a personal recommendation from me. I hope this review helps people gain a good first impression of the game.

Never Trust a Dragon and always Trust 90's Box art
I got hooked on Shadowrun when The Snes/Genesis titles launched. I just thought the CyberPunk Near Future and Tolkien Fantasy races went together Like Peanut Butter and Jelly or A asian woman on one arm and White Woman on the other.
No Single Player?? No Problem!! I have to say that the people who Smash This game for being loosely based on the source material are well Retarded for hating on it for the sake and prob never Gave this game a chance from the start.
(Over the course of this Generation of consoles I have noticed how Corporate media have Jesus Christed some Games absolutely crucifying the likes of Too Human, Shadowrun for not being a 2060 Seattle rpg, Duke Nukem for things like making them wait too long to review it. This disturbs Me. I know I am missing one)
Back to SR (Hoi Chummer!)
There is enough source material to be a licensed Shadowrun game. The Tech and Street Samurai are here along with Tolkien elements.
The magic Is the wild card in this game and adds endless possiblities to the matches themselves. Rez, tree, summon, strangle are all so good and all shooters should of took notice.
So to keep it short Excellent UNSUNG game
My Only Bitch is Teamkilling is all over the game online and out of the very cool small maps the AI seems to make you play on the same one over and over.