Shadowrun

"No swords or dragons here, but it's still a cool RPG"

The year is 2059 A.D. The place is the ruins of Seattle. Someone gunned down your brother, and you've got to find the killer. Of course, you can't do it alone. You've got to seek help from other mysterious people, people who run among the shadows...

The character design is good, but the color palette is rather bland, for a Genesis game. Some of the characters look awkward when you get to a close-up of their faces (take a look at the Pause menu or go into a building and you'll see what I'm talking about). The sound effects are okay, but need to be improved upon. The music isn't really something that you want to listen to while you're Shadowrunnning, but for Genesis, it's not too bad. In this game, raising money isn't all about killing monsters. You've got to complete jobs for underground employers who don't want to get their hands dirty. And, unlike in a lot of RPGs, you get to use conventional weapons, like handguns, shotguns, and frag grenades. They're much easier to use, and they fit right in your pocket! You even get a choice between being a good Samaritan and helping your fellow man, and being a self-servient psychopath, gunning down innocent bystanders where they stand. Choosing the latter will cause some frequent run-ins with the law. There's a lot to find in post-apocalyptic Seattle. Look around. Dive into the Matrix a couple of times. Get some weapons and gun down that police guard. Anything's possible in the world of Shadowrun. And you can do it all over again, and again. But, there are still some slight discrepancies with the language used in this game. What's a "chummer"? And why am I suppposed to "wax" the bad guys?

Shadowrun is a decent, if unconventional role-playing game. It trades swords and axes for bombs and bullets, and bodies don't disappear when killed, they stay on the ground, and you can pick up their items that they drop.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 01/18/01