Everything the game does, it does right. The only problem is that it doesn't do very much.
Shadowrun is set in a fictional future where, in addition to technological discoveries, magic is uncovered for the first time in 5000 years. The discovery of magic lead opposing forces into war and also created different races of meta-humans. As the player, you're fighting for the forces of RNA or Lineage for control of magical artifacts simply called "artifacts" (creative, right?). Anyway, the story doesn't matter at all and serves only as an excuse for you to be shooting at other players online.
When you join a match you'll be placed on a team. At the beginning of each round you'll have a chance to buy your choice of weapons or skills. For anyone who has played Counter Strike, that should be pretty familiar. Then you'll set off to destroy the opposing team. Should you be killed you will not respawn, but you can rejoin the fight if one of your team members revives you. Once the game gets going there will be people flying and teleporting around, as well as shooting and healing, killing and reviving. It is a lot to wrap your mind around and that is the real strength of Shadowrun.
In the game there are four races, human, elf, dwarf, and troll. Each race has its own advantages and they are all balanced very well. In addition to the races there are Tech and Magic... oh and of course guns too. Magic skills allow you to heal team mates, or teleport, or even summon minions and more. Tech abilities allow you to use a glider, or have radar like vision, or improve your speed, or aim better. As for weapons there is your standard fair of pistol, machine gun, rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, mini-gun, rockets, and (maybe not so standard) katana. When you start messing around with Race/Skill/Weapon combos then you start to understand Shadowrun's complexity, and its uniqueness. From my experience it is easy to make a combination you like, but difficult to master all the different aspects of what your enemy may be doing at any given time.
So, the game is totally based around team play and, as I previously mentioned, there is an astounding 3 different modes to play and that might even be brought down to two. Each map is set up as either a Extraction Map or a Raid Map, and Extraction Maps you can't play Raid on and vise-versa. Extraction has both teams fighting to bring the artifact back to their base, while in Raid only Lineage tries to capture the flag while RNA tries to protect it. In either of these game modes if one team eliminates all players on the other team, they win the round regardless of the artifact. The third game type, availible on all maps, is called Attrition, where the objective is to kill the other team. In Attrition the artifact stays on the map, but only serves as a kind of power-up that either team can use. While every match plays slightly different, there are not a lot of options. I really feel the game could use more modes to choose from, but as is at least all the players are searching for the same type of game.
Graphically the game does pretty well, but there are a few issues. Each team has a different look for the different races, but other that that there is no difference between characters. You can't change your clothes or looks in the slightest way, there isn't even a choice to change gender (everyone is male). Still, everything looks good and holds up, even with 16 players quickly moving around and using magic and skills. The PC version does better than the 360 though, if your system is powerful enough.
Sound does OK. The music isn't bad or distracting, but that is because there is no in game music. One thing the game does that I appreciate, is that it allows players to give auditory warnings about their surroundings. Not everyone playing uses them well, so it can get annoying. If they're done right, they're very helpful and worthwhile inclusion. Also, sound effects are excellent and with a 5.1 surround system, you'll be able to hear enemies trying to sneak up on you and react. Its great!
In the end, Shadowrun is a fun, but limited game. Everything it does works well, and if you like online shooters then there is nothing like it. The game can actually be picked up fairly cheap now, especially if you get it used. If you're the kind of person who enjoys playing games like Counter Strike then this game will hit the right chords. For everyone else, you wont be hurting yourself if you decide to skip this one.