Shadowrun (PC, 2007)

I picked this game up before all of the negative reviews started coming out at gaming sites like IGN, et al. Had I seen them beforehand, I doubt I would have purchased this game.

That would have been a shame.

This is one of the most addictive shooters ever to grace the market. It is also balanced, which is an unheard-of accomplishment in the genre; no one race, or combination of weapons, magic, and tech is all-powerful. Every point has its equal counterpoint, and many different types of players can enjoy the game using their own playstyles.

Moreover, there is so much more involved than with most shooters, because of the magic and tech available. You get a limited amount of money each round, so your build strategy becomes very important, and must alter depending on map, game type, and who your enemies are.

The game does have some flaws, in the minds of reviewers:

There is no single-player campaign. This isn't surprising, since the game was always billed as online-only.

A few corners were cut with animations, like how one hovers up a ladder (which occurs in quite a few other shooters, as I recall, and nobody ever gave them heck about it). I guess, if you buy your video games to admire the grace and beauty of people climbing up and down ladders, this isn't the game for you.

It is claimed there is a lack of maps. This isn't true, especially when you count the 8-player maps along with the 16-player ones. Unfortunately, it looks like there will not be another map pack for this game, or the naysayers would really have to eat their words.


The point is: you can listen to the professional reviewers who consistently get it wrong, or you can ask people who actually own the game and have played it for 100+ hours.

This game is fast-paced, well balanced, it is quick to get from round to round, and the community who play the game are overwhelmingly mature gamers (likely because of two things - the lack of leaderboards, and the appeal to the old pen and paper Shadowrun players). Even the achievements help eliminate cheating and boosting, as most of them merely serve the purpose of encouraging you to give equal time to all of the skills, races, magic, and technology.


I can't recommend this game highly enough!

As a fan of the pen-and-paper role playing game of the same name, I was a little hesitant to purchase this game because of its lack of role-playing elements. In addition, the lack of user created mods puts a damper on this game.

These issues aside, Shadowrun is a fun, blast 'em to pieces multiplayer extravanganza with good graphics, a nice assortment of upgrades (spells, technology, and a nice, but small, variety of weapons). The four races (human, dwarf, troll, elf) are all recognizably different, and require different tactics to master their unique abilities.

If you are not up to multiplayer with live people, the game offers a single player mode that mimics the live experience to a greater or lesser degree, and on the highest settings the AI can be brutal.

Overall, this is a fun frag fest, as long as you are not expecting a role-playing session.

This is a waste of time and money. My computer exceeds the specs for this game and the installer program claims I cannot run it. Processor faster, video better ram higher more disk. It also REQUIRES a GOLD Microsoft Live account to play against the X-box players.

If everyone else has as much trouble with this game as I did, then there will be 99% x-box players and you will never get a game with a free account.

I really wanted this to be a good game

Shadowrun, for all those who do not know, is an FPS that utilizes not only weaponry but magic abilities as well. This concept is very fresh and integrates well into gameplay.

The graphics of the games are very smooth and have a very nice feel to them. Not cartoon-like, but more of a Team Fortress feel.

There are two main problems that I have had with Shadowrun on the PC: one is that no matter how much I tried I could not stay connected to a game for more than 10 minutes. I tested to make sure that it wasn't my computer, but games like Halo 2 and Counter-Strike worked perfectly fine online.

The other problem I had was the lack of a single-player campaign, which I would be less disappointed with if my connection would last through a game.

All in all, I had technical trouble with it, but nonetheless a great game, and even just blasting hundreds of bots gives a wonderful feeling.

A game that had potential. Shadowrun is a cross platform game, that allows Windows Vista and Xbox 360 users play together. The game is basically Counter Strike with magic powers.

Online is not as active with about a average of 12-20 matches. Even if you get into a match it does not guarantee that the match will be played all the way through. Connection problems plague the game to death.

It is a OK game nothing great, just happy that I did not pay full retail price for it.
6.5/10