Shadowrun

"A very cool futuristic Action RPG. A must-have for any hardcore SNES gamer."

Shadowrun is an excellent game. When I first saw this in a very old Nintendo Power I had, I really wanted to try it out. So I rented it, and man, I gotta say this game is awesome!

GamePlay (9 out of 10)
This game is basically an Action RPG. It is like an RPG because you can talk to people, equip weapons and armor, and get items. It's on the action side also because You have guns or grenades, and you shoot at the enemy by moving your cross-hair onto an enemy. To talk to people or check/open things, you must bring out your pointer cursor and click on them. When talking to people, you are given different keywords which you must select from a list that expands as you talk to different people. When you kill enemies they can sometimes drop nuyen (the money in this game) or you can gain Karma points. Karma points are attribute points, and when you go to a bed and sleep, you can save your game or use your Karma points. You can use your karma points to boost your skills like Firearm, Body, Health, etc. When you use 1 Karma point on let's say, Health, you'll gain 10 max HP. Then, you'll need to get 2 karma points to boost it up again. Early in the game, when you have a weak gun, it'll be hard to hit a guy because you don't have good attributes. In the game, you can hire shadowrunners, who can be Orcs, Humans, Mages, to protect you and help you in battle for a price. And later in the game, you can also learn spells by giving necessary items to this strange spirit.

Story (10 out of 10)
It's the year 2050 (or somewhere around that) in Seattle, Washington. Walking around without a firearm is no way to survive out in the streets. You play the role of a man named Jake Armitage. He has a valuable computer in his brain that people are after. As he is walking by, a gang kills him. He is then taken to a morgue, but as the morgue people leave the room, Jake pops out. His brain feels burnt, and he can't remember who he is. He sets out on a quest to kill the hitman who wants him dead (Drake), and then destroy a computer the Aneki Building has, which they will use to take over the world. The theme of the story is dark, and there's never a speck of daylight in the city.

Audio/Video (10 out of 10)
Graphics may look very bad and outdated, and objects and characters may be small, but that doesn't stop the game from being a great game. The music is alright, and doesn't really annoy me too much. Sounds like gunshots are ok, and when you kill an enemy, they scream.

Replayability (5 out of 10)
After you beat the game, you can do it over if you missed out on doing some events or buying the best gun or armor, and seeking a secret Shadowrunner, or maybe even checking out the other Shadowrunners you didn't decide to hire. But besides that, there's nothing else to do.

Overall (9 out of 10)
Great gameplay, shabby replay value, but lots of awesome things in this game. If you like Action RPGs and aren't too picky with graphics, you should enjoy the game.

That's it for my review. Thanks for taking the time to read my review!

-Moggy
(Created on 07/10/01)
(Updated on 09/25/03)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/01, Updated 09/26/03