After Chit Hot included ShadowRun as one of our picks for the best Xbox 360 games, we’ve received a significant amount of feedback. There’s still an audience for the game, and one which is welcoming to new players. Still playable on all modern Xbox consoles and PC, ShadowRun is a team-based multiplayer FPS that was innovative within its era, and has left a lasting mark on the genre as a whole.
Little was expected of Fasa Studio’s 2007 title upon release. Coupled with possibly the worst scheduled release in the history of FPS – colliding heavily with Microsoft’s public beta for Halo 3’s online multiplayer – ShadowRun was always going to be playing catch-up. Fasa Studio has been hard at work on ShadowRun for over two years. Sadly, it would be the last title they would produce. Fasa was shutdown just three months after the release of ShadowRun. For a game with the potential for a long tail of DLC – in an era where this was very uncommon – it’s a real shame the game was never given the opportunity to live up to its promise.
ShadowRun 2007
ShadowRun is a title based on the series of the same. It’s a transmedia franchise, and you may remember Amiga, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Mega-Drive/Genesis RPG titles being released. Two of which quite recently came to Xbox Game Pass. This ShadowRun is a different type of ShadowRun, however. The storyline in the title is, frankly, practically insignificant. The game more closely follows the route of Quake III: Arena and Turok: Rage Wars. It’s about arena-based team-play, as opposed to the story-lead presentations of Quake 4 or Turok 2. After a brief, six-level tutorial (each followed by a bot battle, in-order to execute the manoeuvres taught within), the player is then thrust immediately into a world filled with Dwarves, Elves, Trolls and Humans thirsting-for-blood.
Being an arena-based FPS with an emphasis on team-play, the gameplay options actually appear very limited at first. Only Raid, Attrition and Extraction modes are available. Each game is played as a best-of-10 series of rounds. Raid involves the team known as Lineage attempting to steal the Artefact from under the RNA’s protection and escape with it. Extraction sees both teams attempting to escape with the Artefact, while Attrition is a simple team-based deathmatch. A decent variety of maps are available (with, no doubt, more intended to follow as DLC which sadly never materialised). Each map has been painstakingly crafted to allow players to draw the most from their choice of race, weaponry and abilities. And this is exactly where ShadowRun excels: in it’s choice, strategy and perfected balancing act.
Play Your Way
Four options of race are available to each player; Human, Elf, Troll or Dwarf. Each varies drastically in basic abilities. The player is told the effectiveness through a series of stat bars when selecting the race with which to play. Elves are the fastest movers, and can heal when not under-attack for a short period of time. Trolls aren’t encumbered by carrying large weaponry. Dwarves can steal Essence from other players (as well as active Magic within the Arena) which is required for using skills.
Players have the option of equipping up to three selections from the skills and tech available. These are assigned to either the L trigger, L button or R button (with the R trigger being restricted for firing your weapon). Other purchases may be made, but will instead be reserved for mid-game equipping through a wheel menu. Before entering each round, players have their cash (earned through playing well) allotted for spending on weaponry, skills or tech. The Essence at a player’s disposal is denoted by a series of pips on the bottom-left of the screen. These slowly recharge over time.
Pips, Bullets and Cold Hard Cash
Each ability requires a different amount of these pips for use. Some, such as Resurrect and Strangle, restrict a certain amount of pips after use. Teleport grants the player the ability to travel eight metres in the direction they’re facing (including through walls, floors and ceilings). Gust projects a small amount of air to push-away opponents (and does a great deal of damage to those using Smoke). Resurrect revives fallen team-mates. Smoke allows the players to avoid damage from conventional weaponry for short periods of time.
The tech available also provides an inviting array of opportunities. A Glider allows the player to drift around an arena with a birds-eye view, while the Smartlink increases the accuracy of weaponry and makes friendly-fire nigh-on-impossible. Weapons are seemingly limited, but are clearly as finely balanced as that of the skills and tech. Pistol, SMG, rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle and rocket launcher provide a generic line-up. These are coupled with the katana (which, upon equipping, restricts the player instead to a Third-Person perspective) for melee combat.
ShadowRun that Fine Line
The cost of each tech, skill and weapon has been finely balanced. It becomes quite clear after even just a few games that the vast majority of time in development has been spent creating a fine equilibrium between cost and effect, design and employ. Alone and within relation to each other. The depth of the strategic options available when combining just a few of these skills or tech is simply phenomenal, and any strategy FPS fan looking for a new online, PvP challenge is most definitely going to find exactly what they’re looking for with ShadowRun.
If you’ve never played ShadowRun yourself, it should remain easy to see that the wealth of options available are core to the game. Taking a Glider, Smartlink and a sniper rifle makes you a hyper-mobile marksman. Gust and katana lets you get in close for the kill. Taking a healing tree and Resurrect makes you a super-buff ally. But then, there’s also the opportunity to mix-and-match these archetypes. Stealthy assault? Healing tank? The opportunities are vast, and your favourite combination may not be what you would expect.
And I ran, I ran so far away…
While ShadowRun’s strong points clearly lie within its balance and strong network coding, its graphical quality could easily be considered one of the title’s greater downfalls. Falling even to the likes of Wii’s Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, ShadowRun lacks the polish of Xbox 360 peer releases such as Forza Motorsport 2 and Portal 2, yet still is pleasing within its design and chunky character models. The sound quality, too, follows the same pattern. Neither in excel nor at detriment to the title, the effect is passable. Its perhaps a little to reminiscent of the Xbox 360’s earlier offerings, such as Perfect Dark Zero and Amped 3.
ShadowRun is an incredibly well built game. If ever first impressions could be wrong, Fasa Studio will have more reason for accreditation than many. Although there are many reasons that ShadowRun may not appeal, the lack of any real single-player option or split-screen multiplayer chief among them, but for its target-audience ShadowRun will be nothing short of an addiction. It’s a game that may never quite lived-up to its potential. Yet, the hallmarks of its innovations can still be seen in the likes of Overwatch 2 and Varlorant today.
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