Shadowrun

"No solid single player, but an interesting Multiplayer"

SHADOWRUN

Introduction-
There is a major corporation (supposedly the biggest and best on Earth) and it is based in Santos, Brazil (I think this is a knock-off idea from the film Starship Troopers where there is a major increase in modernization in southern South America, just to give you a good idea of the setting of the game). The company name is RNA Corp. and the competing faction is called the Lineage. Both are struggling to control a new found magic on the planet, which leads to the unique idea of mixing modern to slightly ultra-modern technology with magic.

Gameplay: 7/10
My biggest issue with this game is that there is no single player campaign mode. If you do not have Xbox Live, you will not get a lot out of this game. You will only be able to play against and with a bunch of bots and if you have a friend, some local play with bots. This game is strictly multiplayer.
The gameplay is pretty interesting when it comes to moving around the level. There are pretty interesting ways of accomplishing this. I like the idea of buying new stuff before the round starts. One downside to this feature is the fact that you have a very, very limited time to buy what you want. That is not all. You also have to assign what you just bought, besides your guns, in that same limited time span, unless you do not want to get right into the fight. It is definitely a rush, and not a good kind of rush. Shooting and reloading is pretty easy and self explanatory. The game modes are simple but good. The AI is pretty good too. You can also play against Windows Vista users. One of the greatest parts of the game is the customizability of the game. There are four pickable races and several pieces of equipment/magic that you can equip to your character.

Controls: 9/10
The controls are pretty simple to use and remember. Certain pieces of equipment/magic makes controlling movement very unique (I will not disclose the equipment/magic used for unique travel). Everything else from moving to shooting is very self explanatory.

Story: 7/10
The story is okay. They really don't have much to talk about and they didn't really try to hard on that part (since the game would not really change at all if there wasn't a background story.

Graphics: 6/10
I was very disappointed at the graphics for this game. You could mistake this game for a low-end Nintendo Wii game. My only guess for this reason is that you can play against Windows Vista players. They probably wanted to make it easier for PC users to run this game.

Sound/Music: 9/10
There is nothing to complain about the sound. The sound is nice and fluid. I really can not judge the music because it is really not prominent in this game. Just thinking back, I can't remember the music and I played earlier this day.

Replayability: 9/10
You can play this game over and over again. It is so fun. I can play it all of the time, even when I am playing it by my self on single player skirmishes. Like I said before, people without Xbox Live will not have too much fun after awhile. The game is very fun at first on single player, but may get boring after playing single player skirmishes for more than a week.

Final Recommendation: 7.8/10
If you do not have Xbox Live, do not get this game. I recommend renting this game or barrowing this game first before you actually buy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/07