Shadowrun

"A Pure Online Gaming Experience"

Intro:

ShadowRun is an F/TPS, which means it's a first and third person shooter. It's sort of like a spinoff of the the SNES game with the same name. Shadowrun was at first an RPG, that uses magic and guns. Now, it has evolved into an amazing pure online game.

Gameplay: 10/10

Ok, the gameplay is the best part. There is virtually no single player! Aside from 6 training sessions and bot matches, there's nothing to do except go online! Now, don't let that steer you away from this game. The online community is still standing strong, even though Microsoft doesn't support the game anymore.

Basically, each match you play consists of an infinite number of rounds, until either team, Lineage or RNA, gets to 6 points. Before the start of each round, you get 30 seconds to buy Tech, Magic, weapons, and give money to the other players on your team. But, before that, you must pick a race to play as for the match. You can choose one of four races. Elves, Trolls, Humans, and Dwarves. Each race has its own benefits, so that one race will never be as overpowered as the other.

The guns may sound like they would be the best thing to use, but that's completely wrong. While the guns range from the little pistol to the powerful rockets, you'll find yourself losing if you don't use your magic and tech's. The tech's range from Anti-magic generators, to a glider, to radar, and these will help you out in so many ways. The magic is the best part of the gameplay, in my opinion. Magic can help you heal your enemies, teleport to far to reach places, and even bring your allies back from the dead. But beware! If you can do all these things, your enemies can to! Magic and tech helps promote team work, which is a very good thing to use in this kind of game.

The one thing about this gameplay, is that it has a high learning curve. You might start off doing horribly, but stick with it, and you'll get better.

Sound: 4/10

This is where the game recieves its lowest score. It's not because it has corny battle music, it's the fact you have no background music. Don't get me wrong, I'm ok with that, but sometimes, the games feel eerily quiet.

Aside from the no music part of the game, the sound effects are good. A magic spell casting sounds like a magic spell should. Guns firing actually sound like real guns. so not much to complain against there.

Replayability: 10/10

There's always an excuse to replay this, because you'll meet new people everytime you go into a match. There will always be someone at your skill level, due to the amazing searching features.

Story: 5/10

Hard to tell there is a story, unless you watch the opening scene or look it up on wikipedia. Basically, Magic circulates the world. It leaves us every 5000 years, and then comes back. 5000 years ago, when Magic was at its highest, a pyramid-type building was built, and a magical artifact was put inside. In 2011, Magic came back, and a powerful corporation, called RNA Global, found the artifact.

Now that it's 2031, many drastic changes have happened. There have been many meta-human (Trolls, Dwarves, Elves) being born. Now it's up to the Lineage to fight RNA Global and reclaim the magical artifact.

Just a pretty generic story, right?

Conclusion

I recommend this game to anyone with Xbox Live. If you don't, don't even bother looking at this game. It'll provide you with hours of fun, and a great chance to meet people. Don't let the learning curve scare you, once you start playing this game, you'll find yourself getting better.

Final Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/08

Game Release: Shadowrun (US, 05/29/07)