By Boot Scraper

Shadowrun has finally come back to the videogame scene in the form of an Xbox 360/ PC exclusive. It isn’t exactly what fans might have expected as what was once a deep RPG is now an online FPS. Many have cried out against this drastic change while others have shown their approval and acceptance of this genre adjustment. But which side will be happy and which side will be cursing the name of FASA Studios for making such a blatant blasphemy?

I usually start out these reviews by delving into the story of the game. I just can’t do that this time. Not because the story is too strange to comprehend or to intelligent to fathom, but because it just doesn’t have a story. This is where the main (and probably only) problem exists in Shadowrun. Now it’s one thing for a first-person shooter to not have a story, but for a game planted in the universe and named after a deeply rooted pen-and-paper RPG to not have a story mode is just insane! It does have a single player option, but that is just a training mode for the online component. When you go through the training, however, it mentions several times about a conflict that is waging between the rebellious Lineage and the corporate RNA who are all fighting over ancient magic. It’s almost as if the game makers are torturing you by showing you how amazing the game could have been by hinting at a story mode that isn’t there.

What is there, however, is one of the best online multiplayer games since Halo 2. You start out by choosing from one of four races: the sluggish and hard to kill trolls, the small and magical dwarves, the evenly balanced humans, and the weak, but quick elves. The weapons you choose from when you start each map are pretty typical of an FPS. You have the shotgun, pistol, sub-machine gun, sniper rifle, and so on, but when you add in the magical and technical abilities you have something much more interesting. All of the different and map-like abilities are great and balanced, but the best part is that they all react dynamically with each other and the different races. For example: if you have an Elf and give him the enhanced vision and teleporting powers, you could see an enemy through a wall, teleport through that wall, and take him out with more stealth than Sam Fisher. Or, if you have a Troll with the Smartlink power and minigun, you can be an accurate killing machine. There are so many different combos of power/race/weapon interaction that the possibilities are mind-boggling.

The controls help keep all these powers very manageable. You map each power to either the bumpers or the left trigger. It makes you limit your choice, but also makes you choose wisely when you make your decisions. The game plays fairly close to Counterstrike. You even use money to purchase weapons and ammo at the start of each match. It all works so well together that only one that plays it can truly see the genius of it all.

Still, the aching feeling of potential lost is too much of a pain to ignore. The source material along with the ingenious gunplay begs for a story mode between the two battling factions. What you are left with, though, is merely half a game. But the half that is there is too damn fun to pass up. Score: 8 out of 10.