Shadowrun | 
 enlarge | From: Microsoft
Category: Video Games
List Price: $49.95
Buy New: $3.25
You Save: $46.70 (93%)
New (24) Used (9) from $3.23
Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 1669
Format: Cd-rom
Platform: Windows Vista
ESRB: Mature
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 17 - 20 years
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 1.2
MPN: q01-00032
UPC: 882224382366
EAN: 0882224382366
ASIN: B000PHNW3A
Release Date: May 29, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New & Factory Sealed in the Original Retail Box.
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| Features:
| • | Ancient magic co-exists with deadly high-tech weaponry - Purchase advanced technology and magic each round in an extraordinary arms race | | • | Balance your teams by using the talents of humans, elves, dwarves and trolls in your battles for supremacy among soaring corporate towers | | • | Train offline with the robust A.I. or play coop through online mini-games with your friends, as you master magic and technology | | • | Take on friends or work with them via System Link, Splitscreen, LAN, or Xbox Live -- even if you're playing on a Windows PC |
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Product Description
NOTE: Requires Windows Vista to run Shadowrun is the new multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) based on the classic RPG franchise. Team-based combat shoots into a new dimension, with a revolutionary blend of modern weaponry and ancient magic. After a 5,000 year absence, magic has returned to the world of 2021. Global corporations are in a war to to harness this reawakened power. Be a part of the RNA global megacorp and bring order (and profit) into a world of chaos, or join the Lineage to keep magic wild and free at all costs. Choose a side and wage war for the future of magic in the new world of Shadowrun. Up to 16 players battle for control of this new world through Windows Vista's Xbox 360-to-Windows Vista online compatibility.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Everything the game does, it does right. The only problem is that it doesn't do very much. June 30, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Shadowrun is a game that seems to have a lot of potential. In the end, though, it isn't fully exploited. The game mixes fantasy games and sci-fi shooters in a marriage that should be any nerds dream, and it does so very well. When you go online the game is solid. The problem is that there are only 3 game modes. So, after completing the tutorials and playing a few matches online, you'll be wondering where the rest of the game is. Sadly that is a question the will forever remain unanswered.
There are a couple things to note about Shadowrun. First, it is Windows Vista only and does require a decent system (2GBs RAM and Ge Force 7600+ graphics card). It is enhanced for dual core system so if you have one it, its a plus. Also, since this is a Games for Windows LIVE title, the online requires a Windows LIVE account (hotmail account) to play online. You can play against other PC players with a silver account, but to most games are from Xbox 360 players and you'll need a Gold account which is $50 a year if you don't already have one (it does come with a month free). Of course the game can be played locally over LAN, if you're opposed to online for whatever reason.
Shadowrun is set in a fictional future where, in addition to technological discoveries, magic is uncovered for the first time in 5000 years. The discovery of magic lead opposing forces into war and also created different races of meta-humans. As the player, you're fighting for the forces of RNA or Lineage for control of magical artifacts simply called "artifacts" (creative, right?). Anyway, the story doesn't matter at all and serves only as an excuse for you to be shooting at other players online.
When you join a match you'll be placed on a team. At the beginning of each round you'll have a chance to buy your choice of weapons or skills. For anyone who has played Counter Strike, that should be pretty familiar. Then you'll set off to destroy the opposing team. Should you be killed you will not respawn, but you can rejoin the fight if one of your team members revives you. Once the game gets going there will be people flying and teleporting around, as well as shooting and healing, killing and reviving. It is a lot to wrap your mind around and that is the real strength of Shadowrun.
In the game there are four races, human, elf, dwarf, and troll. Each race has its own advantages and they are all balanced very well. In addition to the races there are Tech and Magic... oh and of course guns too. Magic skills allow you to heal team mates, or teleport, or even summon minions and more. Tech abilities allow you to use a glider, or have radar like vision, or improve your speed, or aim better. As for weapons there is your standard fair of pistol, machine gun, rifle, shotgun, sniper rifle, mini-gun, rockets, and (maybe not so standard) katana. When you start messing around with Race/Skill/Weapon combos then you start to understand Shadowrun's complexity, and its uniqueness. From my experience it is easy to make a combination you like, but difficult to master all the different aspects of what your enemy may be doing at any given time.
So, the game is totally based around team play and, as I previously mentioned, there is an astounding 3 different modes to play and that might even be brought down to two. Each map is set up as either a Extraction Map or a Raid Map, and Extraction Maps you can't play Raid on and vise-versa. Extraction has both teams fighting to bring the artifact back to their base, while in Raid only Lineage tries to capture the flag while RNA tries to protect it. In either of these game modes if one team eliminates all players on the other team, they win the round regardless of the artifact. The third game type, availible on all maps, is called Attrition, where the objective is to kill the other team. In Attrition the artifact stays on the map, but only serves as a kind of power-up that either team can use. While all of these game modes are fun they're not very diverse and I really feel the game could use more modes to choose from.
Graphically the game does pretty well, but there are a few issues. Each team has a different look for the different races, but other that that there is no difference between characters. You can't change your clothes or looks in the slightest way, there isn't even a choice to change gender (everyone is male). The developers also failed to put in a ladder climbing animation for some unknown reason. Still, everything looks good even on the lowest settings. Everything holds up graphically even with 16 players quickly moving around and using magic and skills.
Sound is pretty simple in the game. I don't know that there is much to say on it. It isn't bad or distracting, but its not something you'll be looking for the soundtrack for. One thing the game does that I appreciate, is that it gives you auditory warnings as to where enemies are and where your team mates are fighting. Some people might find that annoying, but it isn't overdone, so I'm glad they included it. As far as sound effects go everything sounds like it should.
In the end, Shadowrun is a fun, but limited game. Everything it does works well, but you might get sick of what is really just two different types of matches. This PC version can actually be picked up fairly cheap now. I got mine for $10 with a free month of Gold. If you're the kind of person who enjoys playing games like Counter Strike endlessly and want to try something different you need this game. For everyone else, you wont be hurting yourself if you decide to skip this one.
 can game wit freind May 4, 2008
I know to some this game blow but to let me and my friend play together we have a ball and I think its pretty cool but not the best so to me its worth $5 or $10 to buy cause still with out story it aint worth much but good multi fun for all so hope this helps
Tons of Fun for a month or two. February 11, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This game is very fun when you get down to it, the gameplay depite what others have said is quite innovative, and if your playing on vista all the XBOX360 players love you. i run an Average system for vista 3GB of ram 2.0Duo core 256mb video card, and it runs great, only laggs when the game picks a bad server which is 1 in 20 games at most. this does get a bit boring after about 50hours. but its great fun until your tried every combo of magic, races, weapons and tech. The guy who said he had a robust system, he must of had some drivers out of date, because this game runs great. Im guessing 64bit has some graphics driver problems but thats nvidias fault not this very fun game.
 Shadow Run - First person shooter February 8, 2008
I used to play the Shadow Run role playing game and was excited to see it available as an online game system. I was hoping that this was an MMOG like WOW or Everquest. What I got was an online first person shooter game system that creates arena-like rapid fire duels. It attempts to create a system that combines magic with technology but it comes off as just labels for different kinds of healing vs. damage abilities. The graphics are decent and the action certainly works but it was not at all what I was expecting or hoped for. There is no story line whatsoever.
Is this shadowrun? October 20, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
At first glance, I was very excited to finally see a FPS made after an RPG that really deserves one. This game was very slow paced as a pen and paper Role Playing Game. For example, if you fired you're minigun at a crowd of corporate thugs; you then had to roll 100 dice just to see if it did anything. It totally took the vindication out of "G.E. Vindicator Minigun". So I got this game, loaded it up and got ready to hook up with my trusty fixer, make some contacts, and geek some corporate thugs to make some nuyen and karma! To my horror, it wasn't "Shadowrun" at all.
The good: The artwork rocks; maps, characters, gear, weapons and spells all represent their RPG counterparts pretty well and look and behave almost exactly as I once imagined I like the minigun's behavior, even though it lacks a belt feed system. The game play and net code are also very refined and solid, with everything reacting how you would expect.
The bad; Most of the RPG's charm and diversity is missing. There are very few maps, weapons, cyber enhancements, races, and gear to choose from and this makes the game get old real quick. My favorite characters, the deckers and riggers are absent, and that means no computers or security systems to hack and vehicles and drones to drive. No paranormal animals either, not a single cockatrice, or hellhound, and you can forget dueling a dragon or feathered serpent...
Game design wise, I could write a thesis on how this game went wrong. Seriously! The concept behind this game is totally uninspired. It would have worked better as a MMRPG like World of Warcraft or a single player FPS like Metal of Honor. Instead, it has a very generic feel; like a quick and dirty Xbox adaptation of Halo, with some gimmicks thrown in for color.
The programming its self is lacking too; The AI is erratic and I've seen them teleport through doorways, since they would otherwise run into walls and get stuck in corners, which they happen to do a lot too. The controls are limited to one input device, and only 2 gamepad setups and you can't bind your own buttons and axis's.
Technically, it's been proven that this game's DX9 graphics engine works just fine on XP, so what's up with Vista being only operation system that it was released for? this is scandalous! My Saitek P990 game pad is also incompatible, and when it's plugged in; I can't play with the mouse and keyboard. It's like they programmed the game so I have to use Microsoft's Xbox controller or as an inconvenience; reach down and around the back of my case and unplug the controller so I can use mouse and keyboard. The only online choice is the Microsoft's Live service, which is too expensive for me. They could have at least given a choice to use the free Game Zone, for us less fortunate people.
The ugly: Fasa went out of business years ago, so any games made after their products aren't going to represent any of their vision or standards. This game was made simply to make Microsoft a quick buck, plus promote their pay services, Halo game platform Xbox peripherals and new OS. I'm sure the Owners of the Shadowrun license, whoever they are now, will also collect some royalties too. This product is a key example of why and how NOT to make a Shadowrun FPS game.
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