Shadowrun is a heartbreaker. It could have been a really interesting RPG with some shooter elements that brought together 360 and PC gamers; what it is is a proof-of-concept demo, crassly disguised as a retail package. There are lots of things to like in Shadowrun, and some people might even really enjoy the whole thing. But for most people, the game will be like a fruitcake: there's some stuff in there you'll like, maybe even some stuff in there you didn't even know you liked but it turns out you do (hey, yellow cherries!), but the whole package is just about the last thing you want to unwrap. Technically, artistically, and gameplay-wise, Shadowrun is a mess. That it managed the score above is a testament to just how interesting the game's core is.

You Know, They Don't Say Frak Anymore...

The setting, in which cyberpunk meets magic and has a nasty baby, is taken from the tabletop RPG of the same name. The big change is that the tabletop game is set in 2070, and the 360 game in 2031. 2031 is a mere 20 years after the explosive revelation of magic existing, and we think it's a great choice for the setting. The sheer bulk of background content and player options meant that some elements of the setting would have to be cut. By paring the world down to some of its best conflicts -- magic versus technology, individuals versus the corporation, the old ways versus the new -- and setting the game in a time when those conflicts are reaching a boiling point, Fasa has made a game that is clearly "Shadowrun" without getting bogged down in canonical detail.

A huge part of how they've captured that feeling is through incorporating race, cybertech and magic as distinct, fun elements of gameplay. Regardless of the game's other issues, the abilities that you can create by mixing and matching these elements (all of which are covered in this preview) are neat. Being able to summon a demonic defender, combine teleport and a set of glider wings to cover huge amounts of terrain, scream across a map by combining elves' native speed with wired reflexes, sneak attack an enemy with a katana, escape away in a nearly invulnerable smoke form... that's all very neat.


That fun increases when you're playing with a good team, as well. Each game is a best-of-ten set of rounds, and before each round you have a few seconds to buy tech, weapons, and magic with money you've earned from kills, healing, and resurrecting teammates (you can also lose it for friendly fire). A good team will work to make sure that each strike team of two to four guys (of a maximum of eight per team) has a mix of complimentary skills. A really good team will also be adapting to what they've seen the enemy team use, trying to outthink them to make sure you come onto the field with a trick that's rock to their scissors. A good team will use the excellent d-pad functionality that lets you press a button and transmit an accurate assessment of what you're looking at to your whole team It's fun, but once you've got a good team rolling, it's hard to miss the fact that what you're playing isn't really a shooter. It's really rock-paper-scissors.