The thinking man's FPS -- better than Halo 3.
The main reason I believe Shadowrun is underrated is because it's much more than a simple slaughter-fest, or the capture the flag game that it initially appears to be. If you take the time to complete the training missions you'll quickly see why it's an extremely clever, precisely balanced game of co-operative tactical combat. Those that rate the game poorly are most likely those that compare Shadowrun's options (or lack of options) to Halo 3 or similar games which have dozens more arenas, options, and things to do. It's easy to latch onto the flaws such as the game not having any single player campaign, or lacking a deathmatch mode, for example. It's far harder to look past those gaping flaws and spot the little intricacies of the game.
I'll give you a few examples of Shadowrun's strong points, which can be easily overlooked.
The four standardised fantasy races (Elf, Human, Dwarf, Troll) each come with unique strengths and weaknesses. But rather than it being simply a case of one is stronger and another is faster, the makers have gone a step further and given the non-human classes each a distinct power. Trolls have skin which hardens as it gets hit, at the expense of their magic power, but they move more slowly as their skin hardens (their hard skin can be negated by an anti-magic generator thrown in their vicinity). Dwarves leach the magic power from other people, and can absorb certain magical spells of others such as summoned creatures and defensive crystal spike things, but their magic recovers more slowly and they are short. And Elves, while being fairly easy to kill, have more magical capabilities and recover health over time without the need of any kind of magic. These might seem simple concepts, but offset against one another, when played against various tactical spells and weapons, it becomes a battle of wits almost as it does of skill.
Two of the amazingly fun things you have at your disposal in Shadowrun are Glide and Teleport. Glide Tech lets you extend glider wings on your back, which allows you to sour over your enemy's head and rain down bullets on them. Teleport, which can be used in conjunction with Glide, transports you 10 metres in any direction (including up or down), and even through solid walls. Used cleverly, you could be running from an enemy, step back, teleport behind them and headshot them before they know what is going on. Or you could glide towards an enemy sniper on a high-up platform and take him out while he is looking at the ground. These two abilities change the entire feel of the traditional FPS.
But more impressive are the individual tactical battles being fought between various kinds of magic, technology, weaponry, and skill. Do you play a stealthy Elf character and sneak up on your opponents with a Katana, and then transform your body into smoke while you make your escape and let them bleed out from the surprise wound? Or do you play a Dwarf with anti-magic generators, the ability to dispel summoned creatures, and gust powers which can even damage individuals cloaked in the smoke power? Have too many Elves on your team and a Troll might mow you all down. Have too many Trolls on your team and a Dwarf might leach your magic and take away your hard skin ability. From the first choice it's a battle of wits.
Yes, there are huge problems in this game when it comes to variety. The lack of a single player campaign disappointingly passes by the chance to integrate a trademark Shadowrun storyline, which could have included all kinds of dark alleyways, shady individuals, mercenary missions and (of course) hacking. Then there is the shameful lack of combat modes, even when playing with friends. The only modes available to you are a capture the flag sort of game, a fortress sort of game, and another capture the flag game in which you have to escape with the "flag". There's no death match, team death match, king of the hill, or any kind of zombie slaying points game, you can't even set the damage ratio, or the points needed to win.
While this does severely limit the possibilities of the game, it does not take away from the fact, however, that what little Shadowrun does do, it does better than most of its competition. The gameplay mechanics handle wonderfully, and even using a controller, the balance is well-crafted enough that you can handle the odd PC user or two. The action feels furious, goes on for just enough time, and forces you to look out for your team-mates (with options such as the d-pad activated warning system which can be used to communicate quickly without needing to plug in your headset).
The original Shadowrun games are of course a great big shadow or two hanging over the heads of this underrated game. Both the SNES and Sega versions of the original 90's Shadowrun were mammoth games, far ahead of their time, and fans of these two games were no-doubt heavily disappointed when they realised that this outing of Shadowrun is - on the surface - little more than a frag-fest. But if you put away your pre-conceived ideals of RPG stats, shadowruning and decking missions, you'll start to enjoy this game for what it is, rather than what it could have been.
All in all, it's a pretty original, addictive and a very inexpensive little game that you can pick up brand new for £5 if you live in the UK. Give it a chance and you might be impressed. And if you're not impressed, give it away or play it for some easy achievement points.
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Score Breakdown
Based on the non-story variation of the Mooncalf Reviews scoring system as shown on this blog post here:
http://uk.gamespot.com/users/MooncalfReviews/show_blog_entry.php?topic_id=m-100-25395842
> > Story: N/A
> > Hook: N/A
> > Characters: NA
> > Originality: 4
This little game does more for FPS originality than I've seen since Goldeneye on the N64.
> > Art: 3
Lets itself down with the duplicated characters and reliance on unrealistic quantities of blood. But basically, Shadowrun has the nice dark, foreboding feel to it we've come to love.
> > Voice Acting and Script: N/A
> > Music Score: 2
Very very rare music, but the title theme is excellent.
> > Fun: 9 (/10)
Enjoyment factor only slightly negated by the lack of VS modes.
> > Freedom: 2
A total lack of options makes you yearn for something else.
> > Lifespan: 4
The devilishly clever tactics involved in the game can keep a person interested for years (and it has with hundreds of players), or it can turn you off instantly.
> > Multiplayer: 5
Add human brains into the equation and you've got yourself a nifty little party game, online or off.
Total Points: 29 (out of a possible 45)
Gamespot converted rating: 7