The HD Review: Shadowrun

So, here’s the thing about “Shadowrun”: I can’t tell you if you should buy it.

It’s a first-person shooter for Xbox 360, and it’s one designed to hit a specific group of people right in the sweet spot, the breadbasket, as it were. For those people, it shouldn’t even be a question: Buy it. For others, it’s considerably more gray. Let me tell you a bit more though, and we’ll see if we can’t figure which type you are.

“Shadowrun” takes place in a futuristic world where magic has returned to the Earth. A corporation called RNA is battling guerrillas called the Lineage for control of one magical hotspot: Santos, Brazil. Each round of the game puts you on one side and pits you against the other. Sometimes you’re trying to return an artifact to a base, and sometimes you’re just trying to wipe the other side out.

The weaponry, with the exception of one mean katana, is pretty standard FPS fare, but the extra layer that “Shadowrun” adds is in tech and magical abilities. Some like gliding, teleportation and resuscitation really completely change the dynamic of the game, others are more booster abilities for shooting, dodging etc. Honestly, there’s so many different things in here, I’m sort of shocked it works as well as it does. The fact that the game is balanced is really a miracle.

It is balanced though and plenty of fun. There is a lot going on though, so much so that it’s going to take you some work to get the hang of it. And that brings us to the “Shadowrun” sticking point. This game is made for the sort of person who likes to invest a lot of time in a first-person shooter. There’s no single-player to speak of, so if you don’t want to play against other people online, there’s really not much here for you. It’s nine maps, the aforementioned gameplay modes, and that’s it.

If you’re the type that likes to play with different abilities, train at a game and get a lot of satisfaction by cleaning the competition’s clock, then the $60 price tag is probably worth it, there’s plenty of depth here. If you’re a casual fan who just thinks it sounds like fun to teleport around and turn into smoke, you’d probably be better off waiting for a price drop.

The sad thing is that without the added lifeblood from the second group being attracted by a lower price tag, the first group may find that they have no one to play with. Which, for fans of fresh air in shooters, is bad news indeed.

Justin McElroy covers video games for The Herald-Dispatch. He can be reached at jmcelroy@herald-dispatch. Or add his gamer tag, Lesko, to your Xbox Live friends list.