Another RPG hits the Videogaming shelves

[Dedwrekka]

At E3 recently, it was announced that Microsoft and FASA have joined forces to produce a Shadowrun game for Windows and XBox 360. It will be fully compatable with their Live system which will allow it to reach a slightly MMO status while allowing for single-player gaming and play between players on XBox and Windows and visa-versa.
Although it may be a fairly obscure pen and paper game, it\'s never been anything less than a classic.

 

[Naukhel]

Never played it much on the table, largely because nobody else I knew had heard of it, but I\'ll be keeping an eye out for the game.

 

[Onis Lair]

Well the one guarantee is that it can\'t blow as bad as the old NES Shadowrun hame. of course the sega version i use to love. i will have to keep an eye out for the windows version. hell it could be the one thing to make me want an Xbox.

 

[ktooloo]

According to the demo team at E3, It is multi player only. It is more of a Counter-Strike clone than anything to do with Shadowrun. : ( They just used some of the basic concepts and they went off in their own (not very faithful to the table top game) direction.

The Genisis game was amazinig. : )

 

[Dedwrekka]

Originally posted by ktooloo
According to the demo team at E3, It is multi player only. It is more of a Counter-Strike clone than anything to do with Shadowrun. : (

Except, you know... magic, cybernetics, metahumans, and Ares tech.

I\'ve been reading up on the history of this game\'s release, and I think it\'ll be as fairly close to cannon as you can get a first-person shooter. To sum up the link above:

1. FASA got interested in making videogames for their pen and paper games, they created FASA Interactive.
2. FASA Interactive is given rights to FASA Corporate\'s Intellectual Properties (IPs)(Shadowrun, Battletech, ect.)
3. FASA Interactive is bought by Microsoft, only a very few of the original leave the company.
4. FASA Interactive, under Microsoft(MS), creates lines of successful games based off of FASA Corporate\'s pen and paper games (Mechwarrior, Mechassault, Crimson Skies, ect.). It\'s good to note here that the previous Shadowrun(SR) games were made before this buyout.
5. One of the people who left FASA Interactive founded Day 1 studios, who are now producing the Shadowrun game with permission from Wizkids (founded by the founder of FASA after a stint at MS) and under the mark of Microsoft.

 

[Pill X]

Bah. I hope it at least has a decent story with a co-op multiplayer story option...

What studio is producing it?

 

[ktooloo]

Dedwrekka - While your time line of FASA Interactive is correct to the best of my knowledge, I\'m afraid I have to disagree with you about the keeping within original content... There are very few aspects of the console game that are in keeping with the original lore. It\'s intentionally set in a time frame (2030s if I remember corrrectly) when only a few sentences exist of official info and so, many liberties were taken (most notablly, teleporting (a new/old metamagic ability?)).

After playing the game and talking to a couple of the designers at last years E3 (may it rest in peace) as well as reading the reviews (most recently an article in PC Gamer), I feel confident in saying that while it looks to be an excelent FPS, it looks to be a worse SR adaptation than the original SR console game (SNES i think). I understand it\'s an FPS and doesn\'t need to keep to cannon as well as a RPG, but at least they could have put all of the basic races in. To there credit, they did put in the mechanic of the more tech you use the less magic you can use.

Now if they can make a RPG console game and have Tom Dowd work it, with Stackpole doing the writing...... : ) : ) The current guys are amazing too, but they need to keep busy making more sourcebooks!!!! : ) or better yet.... have a good company make a MMO of SR...then all would be right in the world, god would be in his heaven, playing SR. : )

 

[Onis Lair]

Mmmmm... MMO of Shadowrun would make me go into a diabetic coma of pleasure.

 

[Pill X]

Ktooloo,

Was the version you messed with an early beta? If so, did you ask if they\'ll be adding in more assets down the road? With luck they will and we\'ll see a more polished game with a deeper feel of the SR setting....

 

[ktooloo]

Pill X - It was an early version , but they specifically (sp?) stated it will be FPS only for this release. I\'m hoping it will do well enough that they decide to make a computer RPG as well, despite the much greater resources it would take. As for this release, it is looking better than when I got to play it and the reviews sound yet more incuraging (sp?)... so it\'s merely an issue of the game not being close enough to the original lore for me. : )

Onis Lair - I sooooo whole heartedly agree. I think if they gave it 5 years, then WoW would be quited down a bit and then hardware would also be up to all the demands a truely good SR mmo would need (almost 3 seperate games, real world, matrix, and astral) to keep up with, and linked, for all the different reallities.

 

[Pill X]

...then I hope they\'ll introduce some gameplay elements that would bring out or emphasize something out of the Shadow Run setting. Otherwise, it may as well be just another FPS with Shadow Run themed models... -___-::

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Really doesn\'t sound like there will be much if any rpg elements.

From the Xbox Live Achievements site:

\"FASA Studio, the creative minds behind MechWarrior and Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, are back with Shadowrun, the new multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) based on the much beloved RPG franchise. Shadowrun propels team-based combat into a new dimension with a revolutionary blend of modern weaponry and ancient magic.

Up to 16 players battle for control of this new world through Windows Vista\'s Xbox 360-to-Windows Vista online compatibility. In Shadowrun, vie for supremacy in a constantly evolving battlefield where advanced technology and ancient magic provide an unprecedented and high-velocity tactical action experience.

Developed by FASA Studio
Published by Microsoft Game Studios

There are 50 achievements worth 1000 points
In total, there are 50 achievements worth 1000 points
Out of the 50 achievements, 6 are secret\"

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Some more info:

Shadowrun has officially gone gold for the both the PC and Xbox 360 and will be released on May 29. Shipping with nine maps and three \"map variations,\" the game will be focused on online battles with up to 16 players. It will also be the first PC/360 title to allow cross-platform gaming, although Windows Live users will need to have a Gold subscription in order to play against 360 gamers.

Going against the advice of various 1UP commentators, Shadowrun will cost $59.99 on the Xbox 360 and $49.99 on the PC. So 360 gamers not only have to use a controller instead of the classic FPS mouse/keyboard combo, but they also have to pay $10 more (and have an XBL subscription to play online -- joy!). Other questionable decisions: they\'re releasing it a little over a week before Halo 3\'s beta ends.