Shadowrun (2007 video game)
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| Shadowrun | |
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| Developer(s) | FASA Interactive |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Designer(s) | John Howard, Bill Fulton, Christopher Blohm, Sage Merrill, Derek Carroll |
| Release date(s) | June 2007 |
| Genre(s) | First-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360, Windows Vista |
| Media | DVD |
Shadowrun is a cyberpunk first-person shooter, loosely based on the pen and paper role-playing game (RPG) Shadowrun[1], being developed by FASA Studios for Windows Vista and the Xbox 360.
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[edit] History
Three video games based on the Shadowrun universe were created throughout the 1990s: one for the SNES, one for the Sega Genesis, and one other for the Mega CD (released only in Japan).
In January of 1999, Microsoft purchased FASA Interactive[2], acquiring the electronic rights to Shadowrun in the process. Microsoft then filed a trademark for the Shadowrun title in November, 2004[3].
At E³ in May of 2006 Microsoft officially revealed Shadowrun for Vista and the Xbox 360. [4].
[edit] Gameplay
Shadowrun is a multiplayer only first-person shooter introducing mild cyberpunk elements to the gameplay. The game takes place in Brazil in the year 2031: before the events that shaped the Shadowrun universe.
The player will choose from two factions to play as, the megacorp RNA Global and the resistance group known as The Lineage. Playable races are Human, Elf, Troll and Dwarf. Each race has their own racial traits (Humans can equip more Tech, while Elves can regenerate health, and Dwarves suck essence, while Trolls turn to stone while taking damage, etc).
Players will purchase magic, tech, and weapons in between each round of play. Magic will include teleportation, resurrection, and a castable tree of life that will slowly heal any players that stand near it, turning into smoke for invulnerability, summoning a monster to do your bidding, casting a field of lethal crystals, and blowing a powerful gust at enemies and objects. Purchasable tech items include enhanced vision, which allows the player to see through walls, a glider, which enables short distance flight, wired reflexes, which greatly increases your physical attributes, anti-magic generators, Smartlink, which gives you greater accuracy and other specific advantages. Weapons include a sniper rifle, SMG, a shotgun, a minigun, a semi auto rifle, a rocket launcher, and a katana for assassinations and ninja style tactics.
[edit] Console vs. PC Game
Shadowrun will be the flagship title for the Live Anywhere service that allows Windows Vista PC users to be fully integrated into Xbox Live. In Shadowrun, you can play Xbox 360 versus PC seamlessly, with adjustments to balance gameplay between the two different controllers.
[edit] Controversy
Shadowrun has received strong criticism from some fans of the original pen-and-paper game. Most complaints revolve around a few dramatic departures from the canonized timeline and abilities.
Differences include:
- Magic: There are no equivalent spells in the RPG. Some, such as Teleportation and Resurrection, are even explicitly impossible.
- Essence: The RPG uses it as a measure of humanity (that is, how much of the character is not cyberware). The console uses it as the source of power for spells (It also determines the max amount of magical ability a person may have in the rpg, however).
- Astral plane: There does not seem to be an equivalent arena in the console game.
- Summoned beings: All summoned beings in the RPG are motile and under the summoner's control. Console game abilities such as "healing trees" that heal whomever is nearby regardless of the summoner's wishes are not possible.
- Races: None of the new racial traits (Ex. Health Regeneration, etc.) are present in the RPG.
- Canon: The video game features new factions and events, instead of using the previously established Shadowrun timeline.
- Technology: The game lacks cyberspace combat and remote vehicle controlling, also known as decking and rigging, respectively.
- Shadowrunners: The game features no actual shadowrunners or runs which are a staple of the Shadowrun setting and origin of the name.
Another controversy is based on the changes made in order to balance the PC and console versions in online play. Fasa has implemented a feature which will distort the PC's aiming reticule during quick turns[5]. PC players, who have a more sensitive control scheme, are able to turn significantly faster than their controller brethren and would have gained an unfair advantage. The console players will also have a form of autoaim since controllers are not as capable of 'pixel-accuracy' adjustments.
On February 2007, Microsoft and FASA have issued a press release detailing new aspects of gameplay for Shadowrun, and lots of (apparently absent) aspects of the pen-and-paper RPG were indeed included in the game, such as different traits for the four races -- Humans, Elves, Trolls and Dwarves -- and magic versus tech as equippable skills.
[edit] See also
- Shadowrun
- Dystopia (computer game) a similar game
