It’s hard to put your heart into a preview when it’s surrounded by so much post-E3 negativity. We tried to inject some interesting conversation into the Shadowrun debate with our Mouse vs. Controller interview, but it only served to fuel the fire. The negativity hinges on Shadowrun being focused on online melee and ranged combat, that there’s no single-player campaign, and that it’s got a license slapped onto it that probably shouldn’t be there. But after playing Shadowrun at E3 for ourselves, it’s clear that the developers are putting some heart (or at least their own) into the game.
Shadowrun plays very smooth and very fast, much like Unreal. Players have wings on their backs that let them glide around the arena, and there’s a teleporting option that makes the game feel even twitchier. When players move forward, their character picks up speed and momentum, and by pressing a button on the controller (or the spacebar on the keyboard) they can teleport right through walls. It doesn’t matter which way the character is looking, teleporting will result in a jump eight to 10 meters in the direction the character was soaring. This includes jumping into the air; do that, and the character will simply teleport higher and higher before eventually gliding back down.
The gun combat is comprised of the traditional shotgun, sniper-rifle and machine-gun variety, but FASA Studios has included lots of staffs and swords for melee lovers as well. As in Halo or other online shooters, players have the option of taking the weapon of someone they’ve fragged, but in Shadowrun they get to keep it for use in the next round. And in a nod to Counter-Strike, players earn cash to purchase items and power-ups between rounds.
Since the Shadowrun universe includes magic, players can use their magic abilities to create a “healing tree” that teammates can use for cover as well as health-regeneration. There’s a bit of a strategic element to the cover aspects of these trees, but even more so when you consider that your enemies can also stand near the tree to regain health. Magic also lets players look through walls and resurrect a fallen teammate. Once you’ve resurrected a teammate, though, you should expect that person to follow you closely, because if you die, so do they.
Shadowrun does take a hit in the graphics department, that one’s not even worth arguing, but it’s probably because the game was ported from the original Xbox. And even then, it must have hit a few bumps in the road on the way over. The fuss people have made over this is somewhat ironic, though, because with all of the recent “it’s not the graphics, it’s the gameplay” talk, one would have expected a bit more forgiveness in that regard.
Shadowrun is a fast-moving experience, and whether it will come out as good as FASA hopes or as bad as the post-E3 coverage implies all boils down to whether all the different races, weapons and moves can be balanced into a fun game. It’s a game about magic versus technology, shooter versus fighter and PC versus 360. That’s a difficult game to make, so put this one in your rental queue and see if FASA can pull it off.
— Robert Dusseau