Mania Grade: B-
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Info:
- Platform: Xbox 360
- ESRB: M
- Genre: Shooter
- Players: 1
- Online: 1-16
- Developer: FASA Studio
- Publisher: Microsoft
- Suggested Retail: $59.99
- Graphics: B-
- Sound: C
- Gameplay: C+
- Replay: B
- Fun Factor: C+
- Reviewer's Wild Card: B-
SHADOWRUN
By Captain Gordon Edward
June 04, 2007
Shadowrun
© Microsoft
Ever wonder what would happen if you took a game of Counterstrike and modded it to the extreme? Well essentially you would get the game of Shadowrun. In the world of Shadowrun there are two main factions battling it out for the fate of humanity after the re-emergence of magic. The military-esc team that hopes to defend the standard of living are the RNA, while the freelance ragtag group of gorilla battlers are the Lineage. Magical powers help their owners, which exactly the same on each side, do many out of the ordinary things like teleporting.
But getting back to the re-emergence of magic, the rebirth has also brought forth other classes of life into the world. No longer is the world populated with only humans, rather now there are dwarves, elves, and trolls each siding with one team or another. The dwarves are an interesting race, which happen to be the third slowest and third weakest of all of the characters, but they do have several things on their side. For one they have a giant magical bar, and they can absorb essence from those around them. Secondly they are shorter, which means they are more difficult to hit with a weapon. Beyond dwarves there are elves, which are technically the weakest of all of the characters, but they have a decent magical bar plus the ability to regenerate their health automatically. The trolls are the damage sponges of the game, and if they take continual damage in a short period of time they will grow scales to help defend against future attacks. They are the slowest of all creatures though, but are unaffected by additional weapon weight. Finally there are humans, which has decent magical powers, second best speed and stamina. They also have the most amount of money when starting the game.
Each race have their strong and weak points so it is about creating a team that can manage different levels of circumstances. Indeed it can be very important to have trolls or other creatures because they spice up the gameplay, so a good team keeps that in mind. Unfortunately once you choose a race you are stuck with it until all rounds have been completed. There are few other issues with the gameplay that I will get to in a bit as well. The rounds of gameplay last until one team has collected six points, which means the overall games are a decent length. There are three different types of rounds as well, where one team (the RNA) will defend a magical totem from being stolen by the linage. There is another type of combat where both teams are fighting to secure the magical totem. Finally there is a round of just trying to kill the other team, and if any character holds onto the totem they can find out where their opponents are.
I would have loved to see a death-match option, where characters re-spawned to keep the gameplay heavy, but that was not included. Hopefully on one of its updates it is included, but that would kill the need of one of the magical ability that we will review later. Games can feature up to 8 on 8 battles, but they also include additional henchmen if characters summon them. If teams are unbalance, mainly by lacking a character, a computer-controlled character will be added to even the teams. The problem with them is that they are not the best people to bring into battle. But getting back to battle...
Rounds start off with people being able to select which items they would like to buy, or also give money away to one of their teammates. There are three types of items, with one being weapons, the second being magic, and thirdly technology. Weapons take up one button on the controller, being the right trigger, and you can swap between you two acquired weapons by pressing the Y button. They range from pistols to rocket launchers, but they also have a melee weapon called the katana that can also deflect low calibre bullets.
Magical spells are where the game gets interesting, and with the technology items, they can occupy up to three other space. Magical spells will range from the ever popular resurrect spell, which brings back teammates from death so long as their bodies are still around, to teleportation. There is a spell called strangle that creates crystals on the ground that sap life from nearby characters as well. None of the magical spells particularly does a lot of quick damage though, but the spell Summon (which summons a creature to battle for you) can defeat a few enemies if not stopped.
Of course there is also technology, which ranges quite nicely. You can purchase a magical eye that can locate people within 60 metres of you. There is a magical sight that adds an additional scope range to all of your weapons, a glider that allows you to float down from high spaces, and a magic sapping grenade that you can throw at the landscape. Overall though these technological items must also share up to three other quick casting spots on your controller, which means in most cases, they will be overlooked.
The game also uses the d-pad to tell people on your team if the room is clear, if they need assistance, or if they should move out of the way. Chances are if you are on Xbox live you have a headset though, so this feature should be changed around so that you can quick-cast some of the other abilities like the magic spells. I would further recommend that technological pieces should also become second nature with your character so that they do not need to equip it to one of their main slots for their use. I think this was a major oversight, so hopefully this is corrected in a patch.
Likewise I think the game is slightly broken when it comes to buying items. Certain purchases like magic spells or pieces of technology stay with characters after death, but weapons are removed. This is understandable, but it becomes very annoying having to buy guns every round once you are on a losing streak. Another problem is that you need to buy these magical and technological pieces every game, rather than buying them once and having them for the current game but also any future ones. I personally feel that it marginalizes the gameplay, which is unfortunate because it could be a lot more fun if you had immediate access to the main items. I would have recommended needing to save up money outside of game and making the purchases there to secure them for good rather than getting them every game.
Graphically the game is pretty good for a shooter, but it is far from being a Gears of War. It has an interesting style, but there are a few things missing from it. One involves standard movements where characters look fairly fake depending on how they move and shoot. When climbing ladders they hover up them rather than putting the feet in the rungs. Most of the environment looks good, but it lacks a destructive element to keep it too interesting. All the character races look the same as well depending on what team they are on. It also appears that there are no female characters, which is a letdown. For sound I have no complaints, but at the same time nothing to call home about. The sound of bullets firing changes from gun to gun, and characters have slightly different voices, but there is nothing astounding.
In the end, the game is good if you want a multiplayer online game. There is no storyline mode as well, which makes it a little difficult to justify the full purchase price. Indeed there are plenty of maps to play on, but it really just feels like a game of Counterstike when you get down to its bones. It is not a bad game overall but it feels a little incomplete. The achievements are a little difficult to get as well, where some require you to defeat a certain amount of PC gamers, which are very hard to find. If you are looking for good rental you could look to this game because it will probably only hold your interest for a short while. In the end, Captain Gordon gives Shadowrun a B-.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com
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