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endings
05-17-15 06:41 PM
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Jordanv78
05-17-15 10:46 PM
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Shadowrun, magic and technology at your service.

 
Game's Ratings
Overall
Graphics
Sound
Addictiveness
Depth
Story
Difficulty
Average User Score
9
7
8
8
7
6
7
endings's Score
7.8
7
8
8
7
6
7

05-17-15 06:41 PM
endings is Offline
| ID: 1168545 | 1383 Words

endings
Level: 58


POSTS: 635/828
POST EXP: 193055
LVL EXP: 1504177
CP: 19834.2
VIZ: 1243384

Likes: 0  Dislikes: 0
Shadowrun is a game based on juxtaposition of magic and technology. This has the character trappings of a fantasy game - there are things like orcs; vampires and elves, and magic spells - but its set against a cyberpunk world with guns, public transit, and concerts. Where giant megacities are ran by even bigger CongloCorporations - that can actually own their employees with lifetime work contracts.   These big companies do many illegal things as they contest each other, and smaller members of society look to bring down the companies to improve their way of life. This is where a Shadowrunner comes in, which is basically, a mercenary in a world that needs many talents. Say you want to hacking into a evil company's records, you need a decker, people who have actually got machine ports in their heads to hack into cyberspace. Their internet is a virtual state with avatars, and one and possibly die there from hostile security programs. There are magic-users, who can cloak themselves or change shape for stealth missions, or sling a fireball at badguys when a deal goes south.  Or one could just be a gun for fire, the fast draw, the quickest sword.  

So, as a video game, this plays top-down view, and plays somewhat like a pc point n' click game. You click on things to examine them, and in a fight, you click on the enemy you want to shoot. Most times you'll just get a target in sight and shoot as fast as you can. This is a fairly text-heavy game, but as an rpg, its fairly light on most parts, having little inventory to upgrade, but having a ton of items to find or use.

Is this a world you want to 'run' in? Lets see the tale of the tape..


Story: 6

Set in Seattle, Washington, you play the part of a John Doe who was gunned down and unfortunately, can't remember anything about your past.  The unfortunate thing about this game as far as story, is it doesn't tell you much about this rich world (based off a pen and paper game of same name), or much about your character. Instead of unraveling your past, or understanding the strange culture of fantasy and sci-fi at work here, you spend the majority of it just trying to find out who put a hit out on you. Its a pretty linear journey, with less sidequests than one might be used to.

Its not all bad though. Being an RPG, there is some decent characterizations, none more so than when talking to people.  There is a nice bit of flavor in the text, for instance, the oft-used word "chummer" - which is this future's way of say "dude", or the credstick, a short, wand like thing, which is their version of a credit card.

Shadowrunners are free agents you can hire to help you, like Steelflight - are much different in personality and abilities, than say, my favorite, Norbert. As a lead character, the silent protagonist you are not, getting to choose things to say from a list, and some other conversations can open up new topics to bring up to other people. Overall, I'd say the story is fairly light for an RPG game, but conversations are very important to moving the game ahead and in getting certain things that might be missed.  While your character's talents grow, you never really get to know him or the world very well story-wise.


Sound: 8

I think they did a good job on the music. The Intro and track 3AM/Seattle Blues (which you hear often walking around on the streets in the beginning), are great and stick with me years after playing. There is also some short, but solid loops that add mystery and ambiance. Once you see a new characters portrait appear for the dialog, you’ve never quite sure who is friend or foe with the track Somber News playing.   
But its not all good. Overuse of tracks can get annoying.  There is a song that plays in every club,which makes no sense since its different live acts. Only one popular song in the future?  I also was not so sold on the fight music, which seemed a bit upbeat, and would have appreciated a little variety.


Graphics: 7

I didn't quite like the graphics in this game, the top down view doesn't really complement how sparse some of the areas are. For being in Seattle, sometimes it feels like a small town. Nightclubs seem dead and empty when you have a bird's eye view on how little there is to do in some of them.  That said, there can be some very fine details in the backgrounds, even if there is few people about. Whenever you take an elevator, you see a side view of your character, the detail is nice. Putting on different gear does not change what your character wears.

In combat you often just stand out in the open and shoot it out, turning a gunfight into a slugfest over whose lifebar is longer.  You will see a lot of the same type of enemy, and some of the Shadowrunners you hire reuse the window portrait pictures, which is disappointing.  Inside the Matrix (the hacking mini-game) in the SNES version is fairly unimpressive, looking a bit like Minesweeper. Given this was supposed to be a virtual reality where your avatar flew around, the SNES version really dropped the ball here.


Addictiveness: 8

This score might seem kind of high after mentioning the lack of some graphics, and the lackluster story - but this is a fun game. Being able to choose whom to hire (if anyone) and how each changes the situation is very interesting. While the world is not fully fleshed out, what is here is good and sets up a great mood. There are a lot of people you can talk to, or hire even, to continue your quest with you. Once I beat the game, I did go through and play it again, because I found out I had missed a skill that required you to talk to someone to get. Did the skill change the new game significantly? Nope, but I still just wanted to use it, because hey, this is a cool game.


Depth: 7

The selection of the conversation topics,  different areas of the city, and the choice of shadowrunners is the highlight of depth here.  Compared to most rpgs, there is only a handful of gear to equip (armors, guns). The main character is a hodgepodge of many the character types. He can have magic, or hack into computers - and this gives the player a lot of versatility but also doesn't quite fit into the nature of the game - hero Jake lacks focus. Since you never create your character, you also miss out on the original Shadowrun tabletop game archtypes, like street samurais and riggers - but what you don't know you're missing won't hurt you.


Difficulty: 7

If you don't know where you're going, it can be frustrating. Some fights, such as the gang leader, seem harder than later ones. I tried beating the last boss without a key item, and it took a long time. I used the item, and it made it trivial. The ability to hire several runners to help you does lessen the difficulty, as they often start firing at enemies before you even know where they are coming from.
Based on the birds-eye view, some small items are difficult to find. Some conversations are also easy to miss, and can affect later situations where you won't have the keyword (or topic) to use. 


Overall: 7.8

Shadowrun is a neat mix of fantasy and sci-fi. Its a bit clunky on its presentation, but its unique and a lot of fun to play. You kind of get a blade-runner vibe from it, since its depiction of the future is grim, and thats kind of cool they were able to get that ambiance to their setting.  The graphics are nothing to write home about, despite some good character portraits, but the sound often is strong and memorable. Rpg players might like it, also try it if you ever thought of elves and orcs living in the future, lol.
Shadowrun is a game based on juxtaposition of magic and technology. This has the character trappings of a fantasy game - there are things like orcs; vampires and elves, and magic spells - but its set against a cyberpunk world with guns, public transit, and concerts. Where giant megacities are ran by even bigger CongloCorporations - that can actually own their employees with lifetime work contracts.   These big companies do many illegal things as they contest each other, and smaller members of society look to bring down the companies to improve their way of life. This is where a Shadowrunner comes in, which is basically, a mercenary in a world that needs many talents. Say you want to hacking into a evil company's records, you need a decker, people who have actually got machine ports in their heads to hack into cyberspace. Their internet is a virtual state with avatars, and one and possibly die there from hostile security programs. There are magic-users, who can cloak themselves or change shape for stealth missions, or sling a fireball at badguys when a deal goes south.  Or one could just be a gun for fire, the fast draw, the quickest sword.  

So, as a video game, this plays top-down view, and plays somewhat like a pc point n' click game. You click on things to examine them, and in a fight, you click on the enemy you want to shoot. Most times you'll just get a target in sight and shoot as fast as you can. This is a fairly text-heavy game, but as an rpg, its fairly light on most parts, having little inventory to upgrade, but having a ton of items to find or use.

Is this a world you want to 'run' in? Lets see the tale of the tape..


Story: 6

Set in Seattle, Washington, you play the part of a John Doe who was gunned down and unfortunately, can't remember anything about your past.  The unfortunate thing about this game as far as story, is it doesn't tell you much about this rich world (based off a pen and paper game of same name), or much about your character. Instead of unraveling your past, or understanding the strange culture of fantasy and sci-fi at work here, you spend the majority of it just trying to find out who put a hit out on you. Its a pretty linear journey, with less sidequests than one might be used to.

Its not all bad though. Being an RPG, there is some decent characterizations, none more so than when talking to people.  There is a nice bit of flavor in the text, for instance, the oft-used word "chummer" - which is this future's way of say "dude", or the credstick, a short, wand like thing, which is their version of a credit card.

Shadowrunners are free agents you can hire to help you, like Steelflight - are much different in personality and abilities, than say, my favorite, Norbert. As a lead character, the silent protagonist you are not, getting to choose things to say from a list, and some other conversations can open up new topics to bring up to other people. Overall, I'd say the story is fairly light for an RPG game, but conversations are very important to moving the game ahead and in getting certain things that might be missed.  While your character's talents grow, you never really get to know him or the world very well story-wise.


Sound: 8

I think they did a good job on the music. The Intro and track 3AM/Seattle Blues (which you hear often walking around on the streets in the beginning), are great and stick with me years after playing. There is also some short, but solid loops that add mystery and ambiance. Once you see a new characters portrait appear for the dialog, you’ve never quite sure who is friend or foe with the track Somber News playing.   
But its not all good. Overuse of tracks can get annoying.  There is a song that plays in every club,which makes no sense since its different live acts. Only one popular song in the future?  I also was not so sold on the fight music, which seemed a bit upbeat, and would have appreciated a little variety.


Graphics: 7

I didn't quite like the graphics in this game, the top down view doesn't really complement how sparse some of the areas are. For being in Seattle, sometimes it feels like a small town. Nightclubs seem dead and empty when you have a bird's eye view on how little there is to do in some of them.  That said, there can be some very fine details in the backgrounds, even if there is few people about. Whenever you take an elevator, you see a side view of your character, the detail is nice. Putting on different gear does not change what your character wears.

In combat you often just stand out in the open and shoot it out, turning a gunfight into a slugfest over whose lifebar is longer.  You will see a lot of the same type of enemy, and some of the Shadowrunners you hire reuse the window portrait pictures, which is disappointing.  Inside the Matrix (the hacking mini-game) in the SNES version is fairly unimpressive, looking a bit like Minesweeper. Given this was supposed to be a virtual reality where your avatar flew around, the SNES version really dropped the ball here.


Addictiveness: 8

This score might seem kind of high after mentioning the lack of some graphics, and the lackluster story - but this is a fun game. Being able to choose whom to hire (if anyone) and how each changes the situation is very interesting. While the world is not fully fleshed out, what is here is good and sets up a great mood. There are a lot of people you can talk to, or hire even, to continue your quest with you. Once I beat the game, I did go through and play it again, because I found out I had missed a skill that required you to talk to someone to get. Did the skill change the new game significantly? Nope, but I still just wanted to use it, because hey, this is a cool game.


Depth: 7

The selection of the conversation topics,  different areas of the city, and the choice of shadowrunners is the highlight of depth here.  Compared to most rpgs, there is only a handful of gear to equip (armors, guns). The main character is a hodgepodge of many the character types. He can have magic, or hack into computers - and this gives the player a lot of versatility but also doesn't quite fit into the nature of the game - hero Jake lacks focus. Since you never create your character, you also miss out on the original Shadowrun tabletop game archtypes, like street samurais and riggers - but what you don't know you're missing won't hurt you.


Difficulty: 7

If you don't know where you're going, it can be frustrating. Some fights, such as the gang leader, seem harder than later ones. I tried beating the last boss without a key item, and it took a long time. I used the item, and it made it trivial. The ability to hire several runners to help you does lessen the difficulty, as they often start firing at enemies before you even know where they are coming from.
Based on the birds-eye view, some small items are difficult to find. Some conversations are also easy to miss, and can affect later situations where you won't have the keyword (or topic) to use. 


Overall: 7.8

Shadowrun is a neat mix of fantasy and sci-fi. Its a bit clunky on its presentation, but its unique and a lot of fun to play. You kind of get a blade-runner vibe from it, since its depiction of the future is grim, and thats kind of cool they were able to get that ambiance to their setting.  The graphics are nothing to write home about, despite some good character portraits, but the sound often is strong and memorable. Rpg players might like it, also try it if you ever thought of elves and orcs living in the future, lol.
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05-17-15 10:46 PM
Jordanv78 is Offline
| ID: 1168567 | 46 Words

Jordanv78
Level: 190


POSTS: 8152/12281
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LVL EXP: 95392873
CP: 78597.7
VIZ: 575550

Likes: 0  Dislikes: 0
This is a decent game, certainly interesting. I preferred the Genesis/Sega CD version better though. That game felt more like an RPG. Plus, I enjoyed the "Matrix" better in those versions as well.

(The Sega version is a totally different game for those that don't know)
This is a decent game, certainly interesting. I preferred the Genesis/Sega CD version better though. That game felt more like an RPG. Plus, I enjoyed the "Matrix" better in those versions as well.

(The Sega version is a totally different game for those that don't know)
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(edited by Jordanv78 on 05-17-15 10:47 PM)    

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