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Wednesday - March 21, 2007

Shadowrun first impressions

Today, Microsoft released the NDA on the game I've been playing recently, Shadowrun. The game is loosely based on the popular tabletop RPG (of which I have zero experience). It's an interesting blend of typical FPS action and RPG abilities. Think Halo crossed with WoW.

First, you can play as multiple races, Human, Elf, Dwarf, or Troll. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Also, at the beginning of the match, you can 'buy' tech and magic upgrades. This is where it really starts to mimic your typical RPG. You can choose healing and resurrecting abilities and magic spells, or just go with big guns and grenades, or any combination. All magic and special abilities use 'essence' aka mana. So far my favorite setup is a Dwarf with the Summon ability. Dwarfs are small so a little harder to shoot, but they do move slower because of their short legs. Summon is similar to WoW's warlock class, and the summoned minion can work as offense or defense.

Considering the game isn't finished yet, it's still quite fun, and the graphics are quite nice. I don't know if there's much longevity in the game, since the beta only includes the multiplayer deathmatch/CTF type scenarios. Will the single player be any good? Only time will tell.

Posted by jcraven at March 21, 2007 2:36 PM