Shadowrun

The Good
I don’t believe I have ever witnessed a more creative and effective way of introducing a character as a badass than having him escape from his own slab at the morgue. I mean, this tells me that even death couldn’t stop him. That’s the kind of storytelling that makes this lesser-known action RPG worth playing.

From what I know, it’s based off a pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, which I know nothing about. The Super Nintendo game follows an amnesiac shadowrunner by the name of Jake Armatage, as he tries to figure out who wants him dead, and why. The game is really great about giving you little pieces of the puzzle to lead you along. I rarely felt that the main character knew more than me, and that’s unusual for an RPG. The storyline is also very concise, so you’re never doing anything that seems unrelated.

The art style seems to take cue from Bladerunner. The city is gritty, dark, and atmospheric. Despite several hours passing throughout the game, you don’t see a wink of sunlight. That atmosphere is one of the strongest points of the game. There is heavy use of black, everything is very bleak, and the city feels lonely yet lived in. The wonderful and memorable music adds further to the atmosphere. The game certainly does have its own personality. Altogether, the graphics aren’t anything amazing, but the art style more than makes up for it.

Combat is very simple, but it works. I found it to be a welcome alternative to the turn-based battle system that plagues most of that era’s RPGs. Basically you just point and shoot. You can run around corners or cast spells, but for the most part you just place your cursor on an enemy and fire at him until he’s dead. It sounds boring, but it does its job without being tedious at all.

The Bad
Shadowrun had one major problem; it severely lacked polish. Almost every problem I had with the game can be linked back to this.

You are able to recruit party members to help you through the game. Unfortunately the system for them doesn’t work, it’s more like babysitting. You ally’s AI has 2 routines; follow you, and shoot anything hostile. That leaves you to monitor their HP, because they won’t heal themselves or run away. You have to manually select their additional spells, which means you have to drop what you’re doing, scroll over them, select them, pick the spell you want, and who you want it casted on. You also can’t revive downed teammates, so after they get themselves killed, they’re dead forever. Luckily, you can play through the entire game without ever needing a teammate. Otherwise, this would totally ruin the experience.

Some of the smaller items and switches blend into the background. On more than one occasion I found myself wandering aimlessly because I missed something. Once, it was because I couldn’t tell that a gate I had to go through was open. Something simple could have prevented these things from happening, like making objects you can interact with slightly brighter, or having items sparkle or glow. The UI as a whole is quite unwieldy, and could have been tightened simply by replacing the cursor with an action button.

I found the game to be quite unstable, as well. On over a dozen occasions, the game locked up on me. A few times, I could no longer interact with anything in the room, and couldn’t move. I ended up having to find exactly what would cause the game to stop working, so I could figure out a way around it. I’m willing to concede that maybe it was a flaw in my particular cartridge, but I can’t imagine what.

The Bottom Line
Shadowrun is a very different game. I can’t really think of another game that’s quite like it. It shares some similarities with RPGs like Fallout, or adventure games like Déjà Vu, and apparently there’s another, completely unrelated, Shadowrun game on the Genesis, but this Shadowrun is really something of its own. Its style and personality do a lot to hide its flaws. For those reasons, I’d say it’s entirely worth your while to try this game. Overall, Shadowrun is a GOOD game.

The Good
This ambitious game looked to push the limit of what you could do on the SNES. Half RPG and half shooter the creators tried exceptionally hard to recreate the experience of a tabletop Shadowrun on your SNES, and succeeded in many elements.

The Cyberpunk noir detective story of your own past wasn't the height of gaming story lines, but it was straight forward and fun. There was plenty of opportunity to talk to residents, shady bartenders, and lewd strippers. If that isn't enough, you can also surf Web 3.0 as envisioned by William Gibson as a digital avatar shooting lightning. Hacking isn't guessing passwords or uploading a subroutine, instead you fight computer defenses in a cyberworld dungeon. And yes, it was done much better than "Johnny Mnemonic".

And the developers don't hold out on you with the goodie bag either. Not only do you begin the game as an elite "Decker" who hacks into computers for wealth and clues, but you progress onwards to also become a street Shaman with your own Totem. Fighting off zombie gangers with magic, machine guns, and hacking? In the Shadowrun world this is equivalent to letting you ride a unicorn wielding a burning flail that pulverizes your antagonists.

The Bad
There just wasn't enough buttons on the controller to fit in all the features Shadowrun. Combat requires sitting still and moving your targeting reticule over targets while they can both charge and attack you simultaneously. The graphical limitations of the SNES aren't what holds the game back either, simply it is the lack of having 2 8-direction D-Pads. A potentially better combat system would involve an auto-target and target-cycling while allowing the freedom of movement on the D-pad.

Also there is a brief period where you have tag-along buddies, whom solely for personal reasons you don't want to die. Unfortunately they will die, and it will be a chore to keep them alive. While it amounts to only a minor story detail it is a failing that you are unable to control the AI tactics of your comrades.

And the music is completely unmemorable, meaning it must have been so bad I played the entire game muted or listening to the theme music to "Johnny Mnemonic".

The Bottom Line
Cyberpunk doesn't get much better than this. Shadwrun comes complete with stats, level building, the DayGlo world of the matrix, and the much loved Blade Runner ambiance.

There are hours of gameplay to enjoy after getting over/use to the combat system oddities, and even being a part of it's graphically appealing world is fun in of itself.

And it even tries to be an existentialist review of technology and humanity, even if it's a bit short on story. If there's a Sci-Fi element it's missing, it's an extra hand to use munching on popcorn. Because you will have to use a lot of thumb maneuvering to kill that ganger in the dumpster, let alone the charging street Samurai.

The Good
The play control was quick and responsive, the story was engaging, and the graphics were well suited to the entire mood of the game.

The Bad
Although the graphics were well suited I would have liked for the character size to be a bit larger and the onscreen detail a little more in depth.

The Bottom Line
An awesome RPG experience, that i have and will continue to play over and over.