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After a disappointing appearance at
E3 2006, little was
expected of Fasa Studio’s latest title. Coupled with possibly the
worst scheduled release in the history of First-Person Shooters –
colliding heavily with Microsoft’s Public Beta for Halo 3’s
online Multi-Player -
ShadowRun was always going to be
playing catch-up. Fasa Studio has been hard at work on ShadowRun
for over two years; could it be possible that the depths of the
title were yet to be discovered?
Trade shows are rarely the best place to sample
work-in-progress code. Loud noise, big flashing lights and over a
hundred different Press Agencies competing for that fifteen-minute
slot that remains free on the last day of the event often lead to a
disappointing performance from titles which may be should’ve been
first experienced in a much calmer atmosphere. ShadowRun
proves this point ten-fold, simply by being a title with which
nothing can be gained in a brief session of Bot battling, yet
everything remains to be learned through extended play as intended –
online, in a Player Vs. Player environment.
ShadowRun is a title based on the same series of
which you may remember Amiga, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
and Mega-Drive Role-Playing titles being released. The storyline in
the title is, frankly, practically insignificant; as the title more
closely follows the route of Quake III: Arena and Turok:
Rage Wars 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 brief 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 First-Person Shooter with an
emphasis on team-play, the gameplay options actually appear very
limited at first, with only Raid, Attrition and Extraction modes
available. Each game is played as a “best-of-ten” 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 mode sees both teams attempting to escape with the
Artefact and Attrition is a simple team-based Deathmatch. A decent
variety of Maps are available (with, no doubt, more to follow as
Downloadable Content through Microsoft’s Xbox360 Marketplace), each
of which 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.
Four options of race are available to each player; Human,
Elf, Troll or Dwarf. Each varies drastically in basic abilities, and
the player is told the effectiveness of this 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, whereas Trolls aren’t encumbered by carrying large
weaponry. Dwarves can steal Essence from both members of their own
team and the enemy (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, assigning them 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
assigned to the B Button. 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. Each
ability requires a different amount of these Pips for use, and 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 with the press of a button
(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,
and 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, coupled with the Katana
(which, upon equipping, restricts the player instead to a
Third-Person perspective) for melee combat.
The cost of each Tech, Skill and Weapon has been finely balanced,
and 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, 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 fan looking for a new online, Player
Vs. Player challenge is most definitely going to find exactly what
they’re looking for with ShadowRun.
While ShadowRun’s strong-points clearly lie within its
balance and strong network coding, its graphical competence 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 seems to lack the polish of more recent Xbox360
releases such as
Forza Motorsport 2 and Colin McRae: DiRT,
yet still is pleasing within its design and chunky Character Models.
The sound quality follows the same pattern as that of the graphical
capabilities of the title; neither in excel nor at detriment to the
title, the effect is passable, if perhaps a little to reminiscent of
the Xbox360’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 given ShadowRun’s E3 2006 showing.
Although there are many reasons that ShadowRun may not appeal
– the lack of any real Single-Player option, no Split-Screen
Multi-Player and the requirement of an XboxLIVE! Gold
Membership – for its target-audience, ShadowRun will be
nothing short of an addiction. |
