Shadowrun

By Dave McCarthy Published 5 March, 2007

Cross-platform online gaming starring Elves, Dwarves and Trolls.

Since Microsoft announced plans to create a third videogame based on the pen and paper RPG Shadowrun, the fans have made their disappointment clear.

See, Microsoft's FASA Interactive will not be transforming it into an open-ended, epic videogame RPG that you might expect - something along the lines of a cyberpunk Elder Scrolls or a fantasy-tinged Deus Ex, for example. Nope, instead the company will be taking the nuanced blend of fantasy and dystopian sci-fi that has evolved over 18 years of pen and paper gaming into one of the most rich and complex of RPG settings, and it will be creating an online-only arena-based first-person shooter. But who cares about the fans if the online-only arena-based first-person shooter in question turns out to be brilliant?

But does it look like it's going to be brilliant? Well it looks like it could be a brilliant advert for cross-platform gaming over Xbox Live. Microsoft has been making a bit of a song and dance about the fact that Shadowrun is one of the first games that will allow PC gamers to take on Xbox 360 gamers over Xbox Live. Which, if you think about it, is a pretty reasonable idea. It's just it's probably going to be one of those reasonable ideas that people very quickly take for granted, without ever giving any credit to the people who came up with the idea. Because, to judge from a recent demonstration of Shadowrun, Live on Windows Vista is indistinguishable from Live on Xbox 360.

'Shadowrun' Screenshot 1

The game rewards you for team play. For example, instead of earning credit for kills, you earn credit for damage - which should end intra-team bickering about stealing kills.

"You can voicechat, you can create a Friends list, and you can do game invites just like on the console," explains FASA's studio manager, Mitch Gitelman. "If you're already a member of Xbox Live, your stuff works on Games for Windows Live, too. You use the same gamertag, and can show off the same gamerscore and achievements on each platform. The rest of the Xbox Live features, like Marketplace are coming later." More importantly, it was impossible to tell whether people were playing with a controller or via keyboard and mouse.

"There's a number of different ways that we've balanced it," continues Gitelman. "For one thing we have an accuracy model sort of like Counter-Strike in a way: what happens is as you fire your weapon you become more and more inaccurate, so you have to use short, controlled bursts. So we played around with that, and we played around with the aim assistance on the controller. What we found when we first started was that the controller people were absolutely owning the mouse and keyboard people, without a doubt. So we had to make some adjustments - there's things like smoothing and all that sort of stuff." There's also the fact that Shadowrun isn't just about crackshot crosshair accuracy, but more on that later.

For now, what about Shadowrun itself? Well it's set in Brazil in the year 2031, so it depicts events 25 years before the pen and paper game, and it depicts a conflict between RNA Global (a megacorporation), and The Lineage (a 5,000 year old secret society) for control of a magic artefact. And it's an online-only arena-based first-person shooter. The action takes place between two teams of eight players, over a series of four-minute rounds, with the action falling into one of three modes: Raid (one team tries to capture the artefact; the other team tries to stop them); Extraction (both teams try to capture the artefact); and Attrition (both teams try to kill each other). Players carry two weapons from a fairly conventional selection (eg. pistol, shotgun, grenades, sniper rifle), and during the first 30 seconds of each round players can spend money earned in combat on equipping themselves. So far, so conventional.

'Shadowrun' Screenshot 2

Using the glider opens up the vertical scope of the game's multiplayer maps.

So what distinguishes it from every single other online-only arena-based first-person shooter out there? Well, principally, the fact that players can supplement their pistols and shotguns with magic abilities and cybernetic enhancements. Or, as Gitelman puts it: "I can use magic to teleport through walls, through the floor, through the ceiling, through enemies. I can also glide, using a glider backpack - so I can glide over the battlefield. But the interesting thing about Shadowrun is the way that you can combine these interesting abilities together to outsmart the enemy. So for example I could jump off a building, start to glide, and just before I hit the wall to the next building, teleport right rhough that wall."

"There's other abilities in the game too. I could use my cybernetic vision to look through a wall. I might see a troll on the other side of the wall. So I teleport through with my katana, take him out from behind and then when an army of dwarves come to get me I can teleport back up through the ceiling, glide across the battlefield to a sniper perch, pull up my sniper rifle, use my vision again. And then when I see somebody about to poke his head out I snipe him, and then when everybody swarms all over me I turn into a puff into smoke and the bullets go right through me and they hit each other. You can see how that can really change the way first person shooters are played."

So what distinguishes it from every single other online-only arena-based first-person shooter out there is that it features a whole load of innovative abilities and equipment, each of which can be used in innovative ways or combinations to create open-ended tactical variation. Take, for example, the Tree of Life. There are no medpacks in the game, but you can use magic to create a permanent Tree of Life, which heals anybody nearby - including enemies. And, of course, since it's permanent, you can also use it for cover. Another power, called Strangle, allows players to create crystal blockades - sealing up walls, or creating a defensive barrier in the middle of battle - or even, by casting it directly at an opponent, incapacitating enemies, making them a sitting target.

'Shadowrun' Screenshot 3

It's possible to summon creatures, who cause massive damage in general, but they can also be targeted at particular opponents.

Tech abilities include wired reflexes, which allow you to run faster, reload faster and jump faster; enhanced vision, which allow you to see further, and through walls; and a glider, which allows you to, um, glide. And although you're free to choose from both magic and tech, each piece of tech reduces the amount of Essence available to use magic; and while Essence eventually recharges, some spells place a permanent drain on your resources, and some tech items can suck all the Essence out of their surrounding area.

The other thing that distinguishes the game is that you can choose from four different races: Elves are fast but flimsy but they regenerate so they're good for hit and run tactics. Dwarves suck magic out of the area, preventing other characters from using their magic skills, and they're immune to headshots. And, of course, they're short, making them smaller targets. Trolls are slow, but they become more resistant to damage the more they take, and they're also the strongest race. And humans are, obviously, the all rounder.

With all those possibilities on offer, the game itself does have a bit of a learning curve. There are six training chapters to prepare players, but initially it can be confusing as you try to remember what ability you've mapped to which of the three buttons that are available. That's probably why your humble correspondent spent most of the hands-on part of the demonstration humbled and hands-off, staring at a dead carcass on the screen (like Counter-Strike, if you die you remain a mere spectator until the next round. Unless your team-mate uses magic to resurrect you. Unless your opponent has used damage to destroy your body, in which case you can't be resurrected).

'Shadowrun' Screenshot 4

A troll. With a big gun.

Still, in the brief moments before getting shot, it's pretty clear that using the various abilities in combination can open up an abundance of tactical avenues. Using enhanced vision, teleport and glide in conjunction to conduct hit and run attacks all over the map is pretty satisfying stuff, but the real possibilities became apparent after sitting back and watching some of the FASA experts at work. In experienced hands the combination of magic and tech opens up a dizzying range of tactical possibilities - a sort of moving Magic: the Gathering, if you will. It was particularly instructive to watch the experts gliding high above the action to survey the earthbound pack of journalists, utilising the huge vertical scope of some of the maps.

The game does have a singleplayer of sorts: it's possible to play entirely with or against bots in any combination. But after seeing the polished and strategically complex combat it's difficult not to feel some slight disappointment that it's not been wrapped up in a singleplayer campaign that does justice to the game setting. Nevertheless, Shadowrun is undeniably a pretty decent online-only arena-based first-person shooter, and although the hands-on experience was fairly harsh, it's the kind of game that will reward repeated play, especially with regular team-mates, with whom you can establish specialised roles and tactics.

Picture of Dave.

About Dave McCarthy

Read more articles from Dave by visiting the Dave McCarthy archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 5 years ago

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  • mkreku #1 5 years ago

    I would have loved an open-ended Oblivion-type RPG in the Shadowrun setting :(

    This sounds like pure crap.

  • jebus #2 5 years ago

    Loved the SNES version of "Shadowrun" RPG back in the day. This looks more than a little lame to be honest. The PC and Console thing is neat though.

  • Ginger #3 5 years ago

    cheap waste of a good brand

  • GordonJ@work #4 5 years ago

    Is it too much to ask for? A real battletech game instead of those MechAssault abominations and a real shadowrun game?

    Heard an interview with Mitch where it sounds like the long term plan is to get the shadowrun name out there with this title, then create an rpg further down the road.

  • RedPanda #5 5 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Walshicus #6 5 years ago

    Looks pretty good to me; especially the magic and tech balance. I don't have any Shadowrun baggage clouding my judgement, which might explain my lack of my-poor-franchise angst.

  • Walshicus #7 5 years ago

    Take a look at the bloody article Yellow. PC and 360.

    And it actually looks rather nifty.

  • woodnotes #8 5 years ago

    Anyone reckon this suffered a similar fate to Warhawk?

    ie Originally it was meant to have a single player camaign too but they cut it out halfway through development?

  • JediMasterMalik #9 5 years ago

    Still hate the art direction, the elves look crap especially.

  • Walshicus #10 5 years ago

    Woodnotes; I don't think they ever insinuated the game would have a singleplayer component beyond bots. It's always been known as a multiplayer title.

  • symmetry #11 5 years ago

    Ooh, interested.

    Looking forward to demo.

  • BrokenSymmetry #12 5 years ago

    "if you die you remain a mere spectator until the next round". Sounds like fun. Not.

  • Tiiti #13 5 years ago

    They should call this Shadowrun: Arena or something so as to keep the option open in the future for a true RPG sequel / version

  • kangarootoo #14 5 years ago

    I'm sure this has already been said, but I have to vent.

    CHRIST what a waste of a license. Quake 3, with elves on hang gliders. Thats what i see here.

    The Shadowrun universe has such potential to be the basis of a well executed RPG or action adventure shooter. To license it purely to create a multiplayer shooter just makes me wonder who footed the bill for this and did they realise what they were getting for their money.

    Now maybe the license came cheap, as Shadowrun is kind of old now and pen and paper RPGs don't have the popularity that they used to. It still seems somewhat pointless though. Hopefully the end result will still be fun, regqardless of the seemingly moot attachment to the Shadowrun system.

    Tsk.

  • Overlush #15 5 years ago

    Seem to be seeing the PC and 360 logos in news articles a lot these days. Isn't PS3 invited to the party or something?

  • kangarootoo #16 5 years ago

    This game uses the Live Anywhere tech, which means PC and 360 gamers can play together in the same matches.

  • JediMasterMalik #17 5 years ago

    It helps that it's published by MS.

  • JackB #18 5 years ago

    It's most interesting team based strategic and tactical FPS, I've ever heard of.

    Can't wait.

  • Darth_Flibble #19 5 years ago

    meh, it should of been some kind of RPG. in the style of mass effect or Oblivion.

  • Overlush #20 5 years ago

    "It helps that it's published by MS."

    Ahh yes, that would do it!

  • Svecke #21 5 years ago

    Another multiplayer shooter. What a waste.

  • kangarootoo #22 5 years ago

    @JackB

    It might well be a good title, and I do hope that it is. But the license attachment still galls me.

  • jellyhead #23 5 years ago

    Utter, utter arse. :(
    Who's responsible for this travesty?
    Lazy devs or boring publishers?

    I imagine Unreal will wipe the floor with this anyway so what's the point?
    Gutted. :(

  • BradlayLaw #24 5 years ago

    Don't FASA own the licence or something?

  • The-Bodybuilder #25 5 years ago

    The 360 needs more FPS shooters......

  • Bezzy #26 5 years ago

    God. The ideas sound all over the place :/

    Reminds me of an overenthusiastic class-based Quake 2 mod from back in the day, trying to cram in as many ideas as possible, no matter how unrelated they are.

    ...

    Could be good, though.

  • nickthegun #27 5 years ago

    "There's other abilities in the game too. I could use my cybernetic vision to look through a wall. I might see a troll on the other side of the wall. So I teleport through with my katana, take him out from behind and then when an army of dwarves come to get me I can teleport back up through the ceiling, glide across the battlefield to a sniper perch, pull up my sniper rifle, use my vision again. And then when I see somebody about to poke his head out I snipe him, and then when everybody swarms all over me I turn into a puff into smoke and the bullets go right through me and they hit each other. You can see how that can really change the way first person shooters are played."

    If it works even remotely like he is saying, it will be possibly the most annoying game on the face of the planet.

    Sudden death kills from out of nowhere and constantly teleporting enemies ARE NOT FUN.

  • spongebob #28 5 years ago

    The graphics look decent, though.

  • asphaltcowboy #29 5 years ago

    I think it sounds like fun. So there :p

  • smelly #30 5 years ago

    Yawn!

    See this is one of the reasons im geting bored of games, and spending more time talking about them on forums than actually playing them.

  • thedaveeyres #31 5 years ago

    Absolute travesty. The dev's should be locked in a room with SNES Shadowrun till they understand.

  • Mr_Brown #32 5 years ago

    How was this ever a good idea? To make a awesome and well respected RPG into a mindless and bland FPS, with its only selling point being the first 360 game to be linked with Vista...whoevers idea this was should quit right now.

    Shadowrun RPG would have been awesome...this however as at maximum 6/10 written all over it.

  • TheJanitor #33 5 years ago

    SUCKS

    this is the kind of thing that reminds me of how microsoft sees games totally the wrong way.

  • L0cky #34 5 years ago

    'It's just it's probably going to be one of those reasonable ideas that people very quickly take for granted, without ever giving any credit to the people who came up with the idea.'

    Like Quake 3 on Dreamcast vs PC?

  • ph101 #35 5 years ago

    You have to pay for live subscription. Will M$ be phasing this into vista too, then?

  • bonker #36 5 years ago

    "Loved the SNES version of "Shadowrun" RPG back in the day. This looks more than a little lame to be honest. The PC and Console thing is neat though. "

    Me too. SNES Shadowrun gave me some of my greatest memories of that platform (and I have many). I'd never played a game like it at the time and the atmosphere and whole cyberpunk vibe was terrific.

    I've no knowledge of Shadowrun outside of that experience but I can't believe they're bending yet more IP to the fooking FPS format ...

    And yeah, an Oblivion-scope RPG in the style/atmosphere of Shadowrun is the stuff that AAA and format-defining titles can be made of - this does indeed sound like if they absolutely nail it 100% it's a 7/10 at best ...

  • daedalus2 #37 5 years ago

    Wow, negative comment storm. I think it looks quite promising. Incidentally, I think they're planning an RPG to be the next game in the franchise if this does well.

    This seems quite reminiscent of the criminally underappreciated Xbox game Phantom Dust - that game was a real blend of Magic: The Gathering mechanics (deck building, hundreds of abilities) with 3D multiplayer action. If this turns out anything like that, it could be the first online shooter I'll have bothered with in years.

    Footnote: I actually think they are right not to try and revive the franchise with a huge big budget Oblivion-style RPG. Although what fans it does have are rabid (as evidenced here), there are probably not enough of them to support an expensive AAA game like that right out of the gate. If this does well, they'll have the franchise back on a path to bigger things, IMHO.
    Edited by 1 at 05/03/07 @ 19:18

  • Scimarad #38 5 years ago

    Possibly the worst waste of a license ever...

    /may be exagerating

  • Charroux #39 5 years ago

    Oh no this looks awful.

    Shadowrun would make an ace MMORPG or plain RPG - you've already got tons of lore, and the mix of cyberpunk tech and fantasy elements is really appealing.

    Plus I can't imagine them overcoming the balancing problems between the keyboard-and-mouse players and the controller ones. The two control systems are just too different.

  • decibel #40 5 years ago

    Yeah, this does indeed seem like a bit of a cold-hearted waste of a good brand.

    The visual style does nothing for me. It's like they didn't retain any of the core elements that made Shadowrun such a fun game, jesus!

    Sure, they'll eventually get round to do a 'proper' RPG, but it'll blatantly be in the same style as this. Bah :(

    Sci Fi CS? Great. But ... they should have just taken the plunge and gone for a new IP, in my humble opinion.

  • smelly #41 5 years ago

    >Will M$ be phasing this into vista too, then?

    Geee.. what do you think? :-)

  • Lov3 #42 5 years ago

    "If it works even remotely like he is saying, it will be possibly the most annoying game on the face of the planet.

    Sudden death kills from out of nowhere and constantly teleporting enemies ARE NOT FUN."

    Incredibly good point. It's like all the cheap hacks cheaters use in mulitplayer FPS's are suddenly legal, and everyone has them. Lets not forget that 360 owners also have aimbot mods... no thankyou.
    Edited by 1 at 05/03/07 @ 20:59

  • GodlessXVIII #43 5 years ago

    Fasa sold the rights for Shadowrun (the pen-and-paper RPG) to Fanpro at the beginning of the third edition - a while back - but kept the rights to make Shadowrun video games. The original RPG hasn't been part of Fasa's business for a long time. Now they're milking what they have left of the franchise, namely the right to use the Shadowrun name with their game, to promote their FPS pet project. Fasa has made it clear that they do not care about the pen-and-paper fandom, they're only expoiting an established franchise for their own gain. Numerous forums have petitioned for Fasa to change the title to "Shadowrun: Arena" or something to that effect. Fasa has failed to answer the petitions.

  • smelly #44 5 years ago

    To me, this is akin to making a sequel to final fantasy which is a kart racer.

  • BurningR #45 5 years ago

    "So I teleport through with my katana, take him out from behind and then when an army of dwarves come to get me I can teleport back up through the ceiling"

    Army of dwarfes? Is he referring to the other SEVEN PLAYERS on the opposing team as "an army"?!

    Really, this is 2007, 8 vs 8 just aint gonna cut it anymore

  • YourMessageHere #46 5 years ago

    Looked a bit poor in any case, even disregarding the ridiculous license rape, but these details make it look pure shite. NickTheGun is dead right, that kind of "I'm warping and flying and disappearing and you can't get me, look at my SKILLZ!!!!1" behaviour is why I don't play against humans any more. That's the sort of thing singleplayer should let you do, but in MP, that's not fun. Not fun = not touching it.

    Plus the "pad users were owning mouse and keyboard users" comment kind of gives me clues that these people have very little idea of what they are doing; putting autoaim in for some and not for others is a bit unfair, no? The "we thought using the CS aim deviation model was a good idea" thing confirms it, CS aiming is pure fucking fiction. Asshats.

  • Overlush #47 5 years ago

    I stood in Tescos today looking at their 360 top 5: Crackdown, Lost Planet, Gears, Vegas and COD3. Blokes with guns everywhere.

    But, y'know what, it looked like a damned fine sight and much more appealing than the PSP, PS2, PC or Wii chart

    LOCK AND LOAD, TEABAGS!!

  • Quine #48 5 years ago

    /+3D6 on the new mech game comment,

    FASA need to back away from this mess and get some proper stompy shooting action sorted.
    Edited by 1 at 05/03/07 @ 22:52

  • Martin #49 5 years ago

    This sounds ace! Shut yer pie holes.

  • subtlesnake #50 5 years ago

    Wow. I guess when I joined the internet somebody forgot to give me my crystal ball. I mean knowing exactly how a game will play, and being able to microscopically list its failings, after reading a short press preview... that's pretty impressive.

  • JediMasterMalik #51 5 years ago

    That is what a preview is for though. To see how a game plays. People simply don't think it will play well.

  • Jac #52 5 years ago

    With quake3 on the dreamcast you could go onto the dreamcast servers with the pc version. Lets just say it isnt very fair on the people playing with control pads. I imagine this will go the same way with xbox players unable to compete.

    Bad news brown.

  • Charroux #53 5 years ago

    @subtlesnake

    I understand where you're coming from. But I've played the original (paper RPG) game, and they are seriously wasting an opportunity here. I could even understand it if it was title "Shadowrun: Arena" or whatever, to show that it was a spin-off franchise rather than the main event.

    I suppose I'm just disappointed that they're spending all this development time and money on yet another sci-fi FPS. When they could be producing a decent (MMO)RPG, where the cyberpunk/sci-fi genre is sorely lacking.

    Plus the PC/360 PvP will never work :)

  • JackB #54 5 years ago

    Yeah, 8 on 8 just isn't going to cut it anymore. Gears of War better be more than 8 on 8 or it won't sell...

    Oh, and I think I'm not going to play anymore Basketball games like NBA 2k7, because they keep making these stupid 5 on 5 games.

    Damn, I just realized I can't play Virtua Fighter 5 either because it's 2 on 2.

    No one seems to know how to make any good games anymore. When will they figure it out. Screw gameplay. I want more 50+ player games like Blackhawk Down. Now, that was great game.... sigh...

  • Scimarad #55 5 years ago

    So, looking back over these comments what we have here is a game called Shadowrun that doesn't remotely appeal to fans of Shadowrun. Well done!

  • ConsoleCowboy #56 5 years ago

    I am a Shadowrunner since '89 with first Edition. Over here in Germany ppl in the nineties were crazy with pen&paper rpg (and not just the nerds). Would I rather like to see an RPG than this? Sure! But let's just for a second pretend it wouldn't have the "shadowrun" nametag and take another look:

    @FPS xbox vs. windows
    I don't see a fair shootout here as most other ppl have already posted. And to "yourmessagehere": Aiming in CS in *not* a myth for the other players. Maybe just for you though :-)

    @Magic/Cybergadgets
    Someone remembers the "super heroes" mod for Quake2&3??? That's what it sounds like - it was a blast at LAN-Parties, but nothing you could seriously play for weeks on the internet. At least not sober! But how that game *feels* in the end? Can't tell.

    @8 vs 8
    Could be okay. It all depends on the Maps. I don't feel well with an Unreal Tournament Shadowrun - but it would be worse with a "Battlefield 2060".

    What I fear is that if this game fails (and it doen't look too good) there will be no more SR games of any genre.

    Just my 2 Nuyen.

  • Dizzy #57 5 years ago

    "So, looking back over these comments what we have here is a game called Shadowrun that doesn't remotely appeal to fans of Shadowrun. Well done! "

    Fans of the Shadowrun old console RPG you mean. P&P Shadowrun fans like me can appreciate this. P&P Shadowrun combat system was very FPS anyway ;)

  • gnarl #58 5 years ago

    I'm surprised nobody has mentioned it's Vista only(as far as I can tell), so while it's theoretically out on the PC, well, not for most of us.

  • YourMessageHere #59 5 years ago

    @ ConsoleCowboy

    Aiming in CS is possible (even for me), it's just unrealistic in a game supposedly based on realism (random deviation? I think not.) and altogether crap compared to other systems, like Frag Ops mod for UT2004 for example. I'm no expert, but I know a crap system when I see it =P

  • ccfb #60 5 years ago

    Anyone* who wants a link between Shadowrun pen-n-paper to the FPS game this has become need look no further than the old "DMZ" tabletop skirmish game. This seems like a logical game to make from what I remember of the SR universe and that game in particular.


    * = those whining about the game despite the good write-up because they feel the game makers owe something to the RPGs of old...