Shadowrun Hands-On
-- September 18, 2006 by: Chris Remo
Despite the RPG source material of FASA's properties, FASA Studio--as it is now named--largely considers itself to excel at multiplayer action games. The company has shipped games such as MechWarrior 4 and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, the Xbox followup to SOCOM developer Zipper's PC title Crimson Skies, itself an adaptation of a FASA RPG. Now, FASA Studio is in the midst of developing its first game based on the fantasy/cyberpunk Shadowrun universe, yet another FASA RPG property. Previously, Shadowrun has been adapted by various developers into three separate console RPGs, one each for SNES, Genesis, and SEGA CD. Microsoft's announcement during this year's E3 of a new Shadowrun game was preceded by months of rumor, but many were surprised when the game turned out not to be another RPG but rather a multiplayer-only--plus bots--first person team-based action game. I recently had the chance to visit FASA and spend some time with both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game, and playing against seasoned FASA pros.
FASA has spent months weathering criticisms from Shadowrun fans regarding the direction being taken with the game. To that, studio manager Mitch Gitelman recites the mantra that Weisman laid down for FASA Interactive: "Gameplay trumps everything." Gitelman explains that, despite having written an enormous amount of lore for several substantial fictional universes, Weisman has no problem modifying source material to fit a fun game. To that end, he worked extensively on the background for the new Shadowrun game, ensuring it all works into the established mythos. When it comes down to it, it's unlikely that this will be much consolation for devout Shadowrun fans who feel burned by the fact that you can't actually be a shadowrunner in the game, but them's the breaks.
The Shadowrun universe is based on the concept that magic exists in the natural world, and resurfaces on a cyclical basis about every 5000 years. In December 2011, magic returns to the world, causing drastic changes. Formerly dormant magical DNA in humans is reawakened, many humans are transformed into mythical races such as elves, dwarves, orks, and trolls, and ancient magical sites reemerge. Among these is a great ziggurat located in the Brazillian town of Santos. Meanwhile, human society has become dominated by massive sovereign corporations. ("Yeah, yeah, every game has that," admits Gitelman. "You know why? Because it's real. It's not fantasy, it's prediction.") Some companies, such as the growing RNA Global corporation, seek to control the world's magic. RNA sends a research expetition to Santos. Opposing RNA is an ancient society called the Lineage, charged with keeping magic free and open. Those two factions make up the playable teams in the upcoming Shadowrun game.
When joining a Shadowrun server, you'll choose your team, either the RNA Global corporation or the Lineage. These teams, each consisting of up to eight players, are functionally identical in gameplay terms, though they of course have different sets of skins. Shadowrun is not a class-based game, though the game's distinct spells and equipment along with the small-scale character persistence from round to round mean that players who are actually cooperating with their teams are likely to slot into something of a role by the end of a game's six rounds. Currently, the game has two gametypes, both variants of Capture the Flag. Extraction is basically classic CTF, with each team protecting its own flag and trying to steal the opposition's. Raid is similar to Halo 2's one flag CTF, with one team defending a single flag and the other team attempting to steal it.
The centerpiece of Shadowrun, and what largely sets it apart from objective-based team games such as Counter-Strike, is the game's surprisingly deep magic and tech system. Each player starts out with a certain amount of initial money, and then gains more in game by killing enemes, scoring points, and performing various beneficial actions. A game of Shadowrun is made up of six rounds, each four minutes in length. At the beginning of each rounds, players have access to a buy menu where they can acquire weapons and tech. Weapons in Shadowrun are fairly rooted in reality, but are very archetypal in nature, covering broad weapon classes rather than going in-depth into a huge arsenal such as in Counter-Strike. There's the pistol, submachine gun, medium-range rifle, sniper rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher--the type of stuff you've come to expect from an FPS, essentially. Then, there's the katana, which is extremely short range but also extremely powerful when used successfully.
Shadowrun's tech and magic are where the game distinguishes itself. Interestingly, none of the spells or tech abilities are outwardly offensively oriented, though they can certainly indirectly result in enemies taking damage. In general, they are defensive or related to personal mobility. One of the game's staple skills is teleport, which does just what it implies and is remarkably intuitive and functional given how uncommon it is in this sort of game. When activated, you immediately teleport about eight meters in whichever direction you are currently moving. This means if you're strafing, you can be firing in a separate direction than the direction you're about to teleport. If you're falling and about to land on a roof, you can teleport and you'll end up down below, inside the building itself. Likewise, jumping and teleporting effectively confers a vertical boost. Once you become accustomed to teleporting, it is difficult to pass up buying it as soon as possible. It becomes a crucial part of the game, both for getting around the map quickly as well as for evading enemy fire. Since the same skills and tech in Shadowrun are available to all players (given enough money, of course), you become adept at anticipating enemies' teleports and keeping a bead on opponents as they zip around. I was impressed by how natural it feels in the context of the game. On the tech side, a similarly useful skill is glider. This too is just as it sounds; when in the air, activating glider greatly slows vertical descent and gives a bit of a boost to horizontal momentum, making it possible to cover great distances, particularly if starting from a high point. One of the most widely used ability combos in the game combines and glider. Combining the two skills when jumping in a given direction gives a huge boost in that direction followed by glider's slow descent. This is ideal for reaching ledges that are much higher than one would ordinarily be able to reach. Some of the experienced players can pull off amazing feats of agility and speed using this trick.
Continue to the next page to read about some of the possibilities afforded by Shadowrun's magic and tech.