Is Shadowrun Being Betrayed?

[MelFet Wart]

When Microsoft announced there would be a new Shadowrun title after nearly 10 years, pretty much everyone got excited. But then the details started coming out. Shadowrun has no story. At all. The maximum game lasts 4-minutes long, and there's no leveling up. In a universe made famous for its storyline, there's little to suggest it's really from Shadowrun besides the Elves and the Orcs. It's not based in Seattle, but in South America, and it plays like a fantasy Counterstrike mod. Check out this article, which includes an interview with the developers at E3 (http://www.gamesfirst.com/?id=1310), to see how they reacted when asked if they were worried if their game came across as shallow and inconsequential.

I... headed back down to South Hall with a list of questions for the designers. I wanted to know if they were aware that their title was in danger of disappointing every Shadowrun fan that cheered when they heard... the universe was making a comeback. I wanted find out if they knew that a lack of story went against everything that established the Shadowrun universe. I wanted to know how they would react if I said, "These graphics don't look worthy of what we've already seen on the Xbox 360, let alone something that's coming in seven months at the earliest. Are you planning on changes before it ships?"

I wanted to know what would happen if I suggested that their new brainchild was, quite frankly, shallow.

I used to love Shadowrun. Is anyone else worried about this, or do you think it'll be ok if the gameplay is really good?

[pheriannath]

Coming from a person who played the tabletop RPG for years, if they fuck this up there will be hell to pay.

[The Continental]

I checked out their official forum shortly after the site for the game went live, only to find an "explanation" from the developers as to the universe changes, which had devolved into a 10 or so page thread of people telling the developers how wrong this game is and how it has nothing to do with Shadowrun. There literally wasn't a word of praise to be found anywhere.

That made me smile.

[dena miscreant]

Shadowrun Console Games Topic

I agree that this is extremely saddening as this was one of my most beloved titles when I was much younger, but I've known that it's been an FPS for a while now. Shadowrun is a working title, if you look at GameSpot's Profile http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/shadowrun/index.html?q=shadowrun on the game.

If you look at the behind Shadowrun thing on Xbox LiVE, you'll see a lot of gameplay footage that they are proud of. They say it's been in some playable form for 2 years.

This is definitely not a final build of the game, it's one they built for E3. I'm more impressed with the behind the scenes footage than the trailer (also available on Xbox LiVE). That's the reason I'm semi-defending them. This is a completely new game, but it sounds fun. I'm disregarding most of the visuals, but trying to take in the gameplay. These are the guys who did MechWarrior, give it a chance.

Check out the Studio Manager's explanation for the change here, in his blog:
http://shadowrun.com/behindthescenes/teamblog/gitelman_5-8-06_blog.htm

Now take a look at where we started with Shadowrun.

1. there are magic spells
2. and shamanic spirit magic
3. and cybertech
4. and metahumans like elves, and dwarves and such
5. and astral space
6. and the Matrix
7. and megacorporations with the powers of sovereign nations
8. and a dystopian future where America has fractured into around a dozen countries
9. oh, and a Native American uprising
10. and 15+ years of sourcebooks
11. and there’s the individual storylines in the novels
12. and the console games

So what should we do? Satisfy fans of the paper and pencil game? The novels? The SNES and Genesis games? It wasn’t a long debate, really. We decided to restart the Shadowrun timeline and grow the fiction over a series of games, allowing the world we loved to unfold over time.

[Demo_Boy]

This will be a fun title for a $20 download on XBox live arcade.
It will be a nice pack in with Vista.

The mechanics are clever and interesting.
But the lack of ranking stats seems to run counter to the deeply skill based play they showed at E3.
A game like this will live and die on player Fame. So they had best reward players with it in whatever way they can.

[jeffbax]

They are doing more than one Shadowrun game, including an RPG.

that said, this shooter doesn't inspire much in me, I didn't care for Mech Assault though Crimson Skies was the shit.

[Savok]

It's bullshit, waste of a license and damaging to boot. Give us the fucking RPG we've wanted since Deus Ex

[Reanimated]

I thought the videos of the game looked fun, but visually, it's pretty shitty, and the world certainly didn't need another fucking multiplayer shooter - third OR first person. They have to know that nobody is going to give a shit about playing this online, since everyone is likely to be stuck on Gears of War and/or Rainbow 6 until Halo 3 ships.

I just find everything about this game to be nonsensical. I really don't understand how the concept got approved with Microsoft's 1st party content pipeline being what it is.

I have to say that I really think FASA's time would be better spent on something else. If I were MS, I'd either shitcan the game, delay it and direct them to make a single player game along the lines of Deus Ex, or put the team to work on something like MA3 or Crimson Skies 2.

Basically they need to do what they did halfway through the development of Crimson Skies - send the team back to the drawing board, because their E3 showing was a fucking disaster. There's no way the game turns a profit if it ships in it's current state.

[Lexicon]

Basically they need to do what they did halfway through the development of Crimson Skies - send the team back to the drawing board, because their E3 showing was a fucking disaster. There's no way the game turns a profit if it ships in it's current state.

Couldn't agree more.

[Deadend]

This will be a fun title for a $20 download on XBox live arcade.
It will be a nice pack in with Vista.

The mechanics are clever and interesting.
But the lack of ranking stats seems to run counter to the deeply skill based play they showed at E3.
A game like this will live and die on player Fame. So they had best reward players with it in whatever way they can.

Yeah, from the sounds of it, having it be a full retail game is suicide.

[Kelegacy]

I hope the game, if it sucks, bombs so hard my mother feels it.

[Savok]

Basically they need to do what they did halfway through the development of Crimson Skies - send the team back to the drawing board, because their E3 showing was a fucking disaster. There's no way the game turns a profit if it ships in it's current state.
Heh, yeah, these guys seem to respond well to "this game is a pile of shit". Crimson Skies was awesome.

[DoubleUranium]

Wow, that is a crushing disappointment. I was hoping for a FPSRPG type of game set in the Shadowrun universe, not some soulless FPS. If there are no RPG elements and no story, why set it in any universe with a backstory. That's like coming out with Shadowrun Pacman. Pointless.

[Serapth]

Shadowrun as described isnt the game I want. A tactical 3rd person shooter like graw, but set in 2050's to 2060's, with magic cyberware and the matrix, that I would have been all over. I would have been espeically happy if they followed the mold of the Genesis version just updated and more advanced.

That said, by the developers words, this is the first in a series of games and is intended as an introduction. If those words end up being true and they release game after game while increasing the scope and changing the timeline up a bit, im ok with that.

[GrinR]

Everything I saw looked like a cheap Quake 3 mod. I wouldn't buy it with someone else's money. Frankly, I'm not upset about it because when I realized what it was, I realized it wasn't a Shadowrun game at all.

It'd be like getting mad at the Dungeons and Dragons movie for ruining JRR Tolkien's books.

[Ayup]

I know AO sort of was the Cyberpunk MMORPG but I think this would have really rocked as one.

A couple of questions though...

1. Won't Vista users be at a distinct advantage with keyboard/mouse over controller?

2. How many games are they planning on releasing for Shadowrun? What types? Is it just me or does this seem like a way to get fans to spend even more money? Come out with a bunch of different Shadowrun games, loosely tied together and charge $50 US each for them? I know that is how things are done, make as much money as possible but I don't usually stand for it.

[Bishop]

It was psyched to hear that there was going to be a Shadowrun game coming out on the 360. All I could think of was a game with the graphics of Oblivion and the gameplay of Deus Ex. But that wasn't the case, all we get is a Counter Strike Wanna-be with no RPG elements whatsoever. The bigshots for this game should have been locked in a room with the Source material for the pen and paper game, the old SNES game and a copy of Blade Runner. Maybe they could have hatched a game that could have pleased us fans.

[Borys]

Good, now every 360 owner will feel the same way we PC owners felt when Deus Ex: Invisible War launched with a massive, orange FUCK YOU, FANBASE label plastered on the back of the box.

Buy Deus Ex (the original), forget this sci-fi CS crap.

Or better yet - wait for Mass Effect for the ultimate sci-fi fix.

[Serapth]

2. How many games are they planning on releasing for Shadowrun? What types? Is it just me or does this seem like a way to get fans to spend even more money? Come out with a bunch of different Shadowrun games, loosely tied together and charge $50 US each for them? I know that is how things are done, make as much money as possible but I don't usually stand for it.

Meh, its the way the industry works. Nintendo basically pioneered the concept, grow an IP, then branch that IP into as many different games as possible. Mario, Mario Party, Mario Fighting game, Mario Racing game, Mario Golf game, Mario baseball game, etc... Granted, Nintendo is by no means alone. Jak & Dexter have a spinoff racing game, Namco has made god only knows how many Vs fighter games, plus games like DoA -> DoA Volleyball.

[Karmakaze]

Too bad they're starting the "series" off with this, because there's no way this game will sell well enough for Microsoft to invest in a full-on RPG. And like they said FASA doesn't have the talent to do an RPG anyways. Now if they licensed the name to Bioware that's another story, albiet most likely a pipe dream.

[Nite_Moogle]

Considering how massive of an undertaking it would be to make a game that faithfully reproduced all the parts of the "classic" Shadowrun era I can't say I'm terribly surprised they picked a historical point in the game's storyline to make a game around. The Matrix is an incredibly compelx facet of Shadowrun that was only briefly touched on in either of the two previous video game adaptations and could easily be its own game. Their approach to this game lets them limit the number of things they have to implement.

However that's no guarantee it won't be no fun.

[Tinderbox]

Basically they need to do what they did halfway through the development of Crimson Skies - send the team back to the drawing board, because their E3 showing was a fucking disaster. There's no way the game turns a profit if it ships in it's current state.

I think it should be pointed out that Fasa wasn't originally developing Crimson Skies, they ended up w/ it as part of the "going back to the drawing board"

[Sparky]

I had a chance to play this @ E3 and being a big fan of the SNES/Genesis games and the (shudder) pen and paper RPG, I was digusted. It is such a total waste of what could be an incredibly deep property. This would be like churning out 'CRAZY D&D RACING' or 'EXTREME MECHWARRIOR DOGDEBALL 3050' just to make a quick buck. Whoever said it was like a Counterstrike mod was dead on the money (just add gliding and annoying teleporting). And if they think that this game will bridge the gap between Xbox Live and PC Online gaming, they are sorely mistaken.

Truly a craptastical experience.

[Serapth]

Too bad they're starting the "series" off with this, because there's no way this game will sell well enough for Microsoft to invest in a full-on RPG. And like they said FASA doesn't have the talent to do an RPG anyways. Now if they licensed the name to Bioware that's another story, albiet most likely a pipe dream.


Ohhhh sourcing the Shadowrun brand to Bioware/Pandemic would make me a very happy little man.

[MosBen]

I'll never understand the investment necessary to get pissed off like this. Mario Sunshine sucked balls, but it wasn't a "betrayal" of Mario, nor do I like the better Mario games any less. Furthermore, I know that at some point in the future Nintendo will release a 3D Mario game that I will like. This Shadowrun game may have little to nothing in common with the good games of the past, but if the game isn't fun I won't buy it nor will many others. If the Shadowrun franchise is a rich universe, which I think it is, eventually a game in the style I'm looking for will come along. I may have to wait a while, but patience is a virtue and all that.

[Evil Avatar]

What sucks about this is that when the game bombs, companies like Microsoft tend to blame the license itself instead of the fact that the company made a shitty game.

Look at Activision - they haven't touched Interstate '76 because Interstate '82 failed - despite huge outcry from the beta testing team that the game sucked ass the whole time they were making it.

ATVI blames the license instead of the fact that the game sucked.

Microsoft will probably do the same thing with Shadowrun.

[Zaro]

Like i've already said, for me it's like making Wizardry in Counter Strike style.

[Ayup]

If the Shadowrun franchise is a rich universe, which I think it is, eventually a game in the style I'm looking for will come along. I may have to wait a while, but patience is a virtue and all that.

My fear with that is they will come out with games before then that are crap. It will then be harder to get another game made if MS thinks they are going to be a flop.

[Wyrm]

What sucks about this is that when the game bombs, companies like Microsoft tend to blame the license itself instead of the fact that the company made a shitty game.

Look at Activision - they haven't touched Interstate '76 because Interstate '82 failed - despite huge outcry from the beta testing team that the game sucked ass the whole time they were making it.

ATVI blames the license instead of the fact that the game sucked.

Microsoft will probably do the same thing with Shadowrun.

While you are absolutely correct, it's really sad that they cant identify the problems with their games. Most companies will always assume it's the franchise and not their shitty developers. But those stupid developers keep getting hired to make new games. It's like the movie industry.

Why the hell does Uwe Boll keep getting work? How come people continue to ruin yet another franchise?

[ÜberJumper]

They had something good with that IP, and they seem to have decided to put all the previous loyalty that had been built up for the IP into a big pile, and squat on it.

[Citizen Philip]

I think their fasttalk bullshit backpedallinh is a crock. Someone gave these dorks a license, they did absolutely no research and produced a mediocre title. They brought this steaming pile to E3 to IMPRESS, because it was the best they had.

They should have the license stripped.

[ÜberJumper]

Sadly, Microsoft owns the license.

[Citizen Philip]

Sadly, Microsoft owns the license.

I wa going to say "Daddy Microsoft" probably handed them the license, but I didn't look it up. I do know Mech Warrior and Shadowrun were both FASA

[Zeal]

I know how these Shadowrun fans feel. Many people felt the same way after playing Halo 2.

[Lord Dongkey]

I have to voice the same opinion as, well, 100% of EVERYONE who has any love of Shadowrun at all. Sad thing, I never got a chance to do the pen and paper...

However, taking ANY pen and paper setting, especially one with the rich story and ruleset of Shadowrun, and making this shitsack of a game out of it? I mean, come on, strip out 40% of the polish of CS:Source, add a few "magickal" features, slap the shadowrun name on it, and we're supposed to buy it?

I'm not even a huge Shadowrun player (sorry, went from D&D to AD&D to 2nd ed... to making my own pen and paper game for 14 years, not out of lack of love for what Shadowrun had eh), but this is a fucking slap in the face to anyone with a brain that wants a decent game made out of sacred IP.

[Borthcollective]

I was so hyped when I picked up my copy of Interstate 82 only to have what was Interstate 76 pulled out through my nose like I was being mummified.

On a brighter note, I'll bet Interstate 82 is way better than this ball of crap Shadowrun game.


What sucks about this is that when the game bombs, companies like Microsoft tend to blame the license itself instead of the fact that the company made a shitty game.

Look at Activision - they haven't touched Interstate '76 because Interstate '82 failed - despite huge outcry from the beta testing team that the game sucked ass the whole time they were making it.

ATVI blames the license instead of the fact that the game sucked.

Microsoft will probably do the same thing with Shadowrun.

[ProfPuppet]

Originally Posted by Shadowrun.com
Now take a look at where we started with Shadowrun.

1. there are magic spells
2. and shamanic spirit magic
3. and cybertech
4. and metahumans like elves, and dwarves and such
5. and astral space
6. and the Matrix
7. and megacorporations with the powers of sovereign nations
8. and a dystopian future where America has fractured into around a dozen countries
9. oh, and a Native American uprising
10. and 15+ years of sourcebooks
11. and there’s the individual storylines in the novels
12. and the console games

So what should we do? Satisfy fans of the paper and pencil game? The novels? The SNES and Genesis games? It wasn’t a long debate, really. We decided to restart the Shadowrun timeline and grow the fiction over a series of games, allowing the world we loved to unfold over time.

The 'world we loved'? This is like them getting revenge on an ex-girlfriend that slept around. That whole 'the graphics are mediocre at best because of lag' is bullshit unless their coding is utter crap. If GRAW can run multiplayer, if UT2007 is going to run multiplayer, etc, without lag worries, then so should this. 'I think people are objecting to the art style' = 'I hear what you're saying, but I'm going to reparse it, ignore your concerns, and provide a flimsy excuse.'

FFS, take one of those aspects you listed and make a good squad-based game with RPG elements or something, not a shitty Quake mod that looks subpar compared to a lot of the fanmade mods I've seen.

[Zeal]

I'm pretty sure this game is going to be canceled. The backlash surrounding it is the biggest I've ever seen.

Just go take a look at their forums.

[Kelegacy]

I loved the SNES Shadowrun, but hear the Genesis version was better. I played it for a few minutes back when I was a kid, but since it didn't feel like the SNES version I ended up discarding it after a quick rental. Is it worth going back today, now that I'm mature and can appreciate things a bit more?

[Serapth]

I loved the SNES Shadowrun, but hear the Genesis version was better. I played it for a few minutes back when I was a kid, but since it didn't feel like the SNES version I ended up discarding it after a quick rental. Is it worth going back today, now that I'm mature and can appreciate things a bit more?

Yes, the genesis version was by far the better ( more mature? ) version. It was much more indepth, had greater freedom and the matrix aspects are pretty cool. I replayed it a year or two back and the gameplay holds up pretty well.

I do have one big beef with both of those games though. On the SNES version, you could spend so much time in the Arena, that you had so much money you could get uber weapons/cyber and then the game was basically a cake walk.

In the genesis version its the same thing but different. Magic sucked ass, so their was no reason to go that route ( and thus avoid cyberware ). Basically decking was king, and once you had a good enough deck, you could make 100K's per 5 minutes, then max out all your weapons/armor/cyber, and the game also became a cakewalk.

This is true off all RPGs though. If you find an exploitable system, you can be uber and take all the fun out of any combat challenges. Hell, In Morrowind, I could have extremely powerful equiptment within 5 minutes of game start. That made things pretty damned boring to the point I gave up. Plus, in that case, I didnt exploit a bug or glich or anything, I just went swimming right off the hop, found some guys tomb that has a wicked weapon and armor I believe and presto, the game was boring. For all its mechanical faults, Oblivion did an infinitly better job in this regard. Only a few times has my character seemed massively over powered, but now the game seems to have balanced that out a bit.

[PixelSamurai]

Whoopdedoo, another CS clone. This is mod quality at best, FASA.

[Citizen Philip]

I don't blame the developer, I blame MS for this one. They prolly have some proto-executive in charge of the IP licenses that MS can farm out to the dev houses, and they handed a self-confested FPS company a title and told to do what they do best with a Shadowrun flavour.

Had they (MS) the forethought to scope out the residual cyberpunk genre fans (of which Shadowrun belongs), you'd find most of those fans dwell online and enjoy the atmosphere the genre created more than anything else. A dark crumbling dystopian future, with shining glass and gritty streets.

What was produced was a direct slap in the face of all that. Even a TINY bit of research could have at least hinted to the kind of reaction that had resulted. It's not the developer who is handed the IP and told to make a game, that makes that decision.

[Nessus]

What sucks about this is that when the game bombs, companies like Microsoft tend to blame the license itself instead of the fact that the company made a shitty game.

Look at Activision - they haven't touched Interstate '76 because Interstate '82 failed - despite huge outcry from the beta testing team that the game sucked ass the whole time they were making it.

ATVI blames the license instead of the fact that the game sucked.

Microsoft will probably do the same thing with Shadowrun.


Catch 22. If the game does well then they'll make another FPS because that's what sold.

[Asmodan]

Even as an FPS Shadowrun has (or had apparently as this is pretty much done...) a boatload of potential if they were to just include some basic RPG systems.

Sure, make it an FPS but let me create my character. Let me pick some skills, let me gain some Karma for winning and maybe improve a bit or at least let me pick up some goodies to distinguish myself. Even if all you could spend Karma on were flashier clothes, different graphical representations of weapons and equipment, and purely visual things like that it's still an RPG-like reward system that encourages me to win or at least play more.

If I could 'roll up' my character for a Shadowrun FPS and make a stealthly sniper oriented elf with enhanced reflexes and smartlink or a troll samurai with dermal plating, spurs, and a bad attitude I'd be *all over* it. As it appears now we're stuck with the even standard stereotyped characters where all Indian characters are shamans and trolls all have shotguns.

I really and truly hope I'm wrong on this, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Viking+]

The other thing is that it is REALLY bad art direction. The characters are cartoony baloon jokes of how cool the shadowrun universe is AND the levels are absolute crap. It may still be a fun game, but man they should not have used this license.

[Sazime]

I love tabletop games. I play them all the time. And when I heard Shadow run was being turned into an FPS, I had one thing to say... KAAAAAAAHHHHHNNNNNN!!!!!

[Heretic Machine]

I don't see what the big deal is really.... Shadowrun, as a franchise, hasn't done well in a long while. I mean, I never heard of people playing that action figure game that Wiz Kids released in their Clix line, and I never see anyone playing the RPG anymore. They need to make some cash, and an FPS is usually a good way to do that.

[Citizen Philip]

I don't see what the big deal is really.... Shadowrun, as a franchise, hasn't done well in a long while. I mean, I never heard of people playing that action figure game that Wiz Kids released in their Clix line, and I never see anyone playing the RPG anymore. They need to make some cash, and an FPS is usually a good way to do that.

Just because they don't make 'The Man with No Name' Spaghetti Westerns starring Clint Eastwood doens't mean you should make a Dance Dance Revolution version to connect it to a younger audience. It has fans who appreciate what it stood for, not whomever has owned it over the years. You know, fans who might buy it.

[Inglorion]

I felt that Deus Ex had some of the same atmosphere and feel Shadowrun did on the SNES.

[jacktion]

Wow, this is beyond disappointing. The most disturbing thing about this remake of the game is the complete waste of an amazing IP. The Genesis game set the stage for a really novel amazing world that was made for a next-generation game. It has everything one could want. It is complex. It has backstory and interesting play mechanics. It is tailor-made for Microsoft to come along and transform it into a huge money-making franchise that will reward them for their effort for years to come! And what do they do? They fuck it up. They transform it into complete drivel.

I am trying to think of an analogy for those of you who haven't played the original.
Ok, imagine if you and a small group of people had read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series before it got popular. You loved it. Everyone you know who had read it loved it. Then a movie studio comes along and says they are going to make a "Lord of the Rings" movie except it stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as a Ninja. And he travels through time slaying dragons with a midget called Gandalph. They drive in a magic time-traveling car called Shadowfax and have to fight Nazis.

Now would you be disappointed at this abomination of this amazing story? You bet your ass you would.
This game has so much potential and to see it squandered makes me hate this game that replaces it and Microsoft for being so obtuse.
I recently read that they had a chance to get GTA3 exclusivity before it blew up but they lacked the vision to see how anyone would like a game like that. Now it is the biggest game ever made. It seems that Microsoft lacks vision in several areas.
A real disappointment.

[NeuroMan42]

A great game/setting being pissed on by making it a FPS.

[UglyPimp]

As a 360 owner I was totally floored when I heard FASA was doing a Shadowrun game. I played Mechwarrior for years (it was my first RPG/Tactical Tabletop Game) and Shadowrun was my second. After seeing FASA make good execution on the Mechwarrior games I had high hopes.

Shattered, smashed and trampled on after seeing the work in progress product.

I guess we can't expect FASA to churn out some RPG hybrid on a grand scale that would do the material justice (I mean when has an RPG franchise really been executed properly as an RPG video game?) but still, I expected much more than this.

Weak sauce, FASA. Weak sauce.

[CrashCart]

I hope Microsoft has their DocWagon super plat contract paid up. This game is going to be DoA.

[Banacek]

I checked out their official forum shortly after the site for the game went live, only to find an "explanation" from the developers as to the universe changes, which had devolved into a 10 or so page thread of people telling the developers how wrong this game is and how it has nothing to do with Shadowrun. There literally wasn't a word of praise to be found anywhere.

That made me smile.

Me too. I love the backlash this is getting.

I'm pretty sure this game is going to be canceled. The backlash surrounding it is the biggest I've ever seen.

Just go take a look at their forums.

I can only hope that you are correct.

[Sazime]

I don't see what the big deal is really.... Shadowrun, as a franchise, hasn't done well in a long while. I mean, I never heard of people playing that action figure game that Wiz Kids released in their Clix line, and I never see anyone playing the RPG anymore. They need to make some cash, and an FPS is usually a good way to do that.
Yeah, but they have new books out there too. People still play the RPG. This is going to be an FPS made for the wrong crowd. People that pay the RPG won't get into it, and people who play FPSes won't care, unless it has some great gameplay.

[Draft]

I've never played Shadowrun, but this game looks like a real waste of the license. I was hoping for a Deus Ex style FPS/RPG. Oh well.

[JG_ZERO]

One of the biggest disapointments of e3 is Shadowrun. WTF. Why even buy the license for the shlock they are making?

[Pex-Corrh]

There literally wasn't a word of praise to be found anywhere.

That made me smile.


Me too. I love the backlash this is getting.


As I'm reading through the comments here I can't help but wonder why all the hate? It's one thing to be disappointed and say a game looks bad, but it's another thing entirely to wish misfortune on somebody else. Why would you want a game to fail? It's not like there haven't been bad games before, what makes this so special that you wish harm on the people who are creating it? Instead of wishing it sucks, wouldn't you be happier if it was fun? It's not done yet, it could rock. You never know until you play it.

[Banacek]

As I'm reading through the comments here I can't help but wonder why all the hate? It's one thing to be disappointed and say a game looks bad, but it's another thing entirely to wish misfortune on somebody else. Why would you want a game to fail? It's not like there haven't been bad games before, what makes this so special that you wish harm on the people who are creating it? Instead of wishing it sucks, wouldn't you be happier if it was fun? It's not done yet, it could rock. You never know until you play it.

You seem to have missed the point. I love the fact that people aren't happy because some developer shit in a box and put the word "Shadowrun" on it. I would love for a great Shadowrun RPG to come out. This isn't it. And I never wished harm on anyone. In fact I'm not really sure what you're saying here. Is it that we're supposed to like the fact that someone took something that I really enjoyed as a kid and raped it?

Anyway, I heard FASA's next project is a Transformers game, but instead of featuring robots that transform it's going to feature elves and unicorns.

[Sparky]

As I'm reading through the comments here I can't help but wonder why all the hate? It's one thing to be disappointed and say a game looks bad, but it's another thing entirely to wish misfortune on somebody else. Why would you want a game to fail? It's not like there haven't been bad games before, what makes this so special that you wish harm on the people who are creating it? Instead of wishing it sucks, wouldn't you be happier if it was fun? It's not done yet, it could rock. You never know until you play it.

Oh, I played it. And it absolutely positively sucks.

3rd/1st Person arena combat with the ability to glide, teleport and bring people back to life. Oh yeah, and did I mention poorly implemented melee weapons? Cause those are in there too. w00t - cutting edge...

I not only wish misfortune on those that ruined this license, but also that it never sees the light of day. The schmucks that I spoke to at the show were more concerned with the connectivity between the PC and 360 than the depth of the license.

There is no way that this title will be salvaged unless they scrap it entirely and burn all printed material bearing its likeness.

[Kyle Jones]

This is looking rather bad. It was pretty exciting at announcement, but it's just showing that all the FASA properties are dying a horribly slow death. Fanpro continues to pump out Shadowrun, but 4th edition was apparantly crap so I've avoided most of their stuff and what they've done to Battletech makes a grown man cry (turned it into an action figure game, 2 okay action games, and ruined the plotlines that were so amazing).

Thank the lord for companies like Bioware who know how to treat a tabletop property and do it up right...

[Bagger]

They are doing more than one Shadowrun game, including an RPG.

that said, this shooter doesn't inspire much in me, I didn't care for Mech Assault though Crimson Skies was the shit.

No RPG has been confirmed as far as I know. The studio manager mentioned that the game was intended to be the first of a series of games, but hasn't said anything more about what sort of games those will be. They allude to possibilities of an RPG, but I think that's mainly because they weren't expecting the bitchslapping they got from the Shadowrun community for this travesty of a game they are producing.

Mech Assault had me yawning. Boring game, especially compared to the Mechwarrior games. I still need to try Crimson Skies.

[Bagger]

I don't blame the developer, I blame MS for this one. They prolly have some proto-executive in charge of the IP licenses that MS can farm out to the dev houses, and they handed a self-confested FPS company a title and told to do what they do best with a Shadowrun flavour.

I don't think that's what happened. I think this game was never supposed to be a Shadowrun game. I think it was already pretty far along in development when they decided to tack the Shadowrun name on it. But it obviously didn't fit in with the Shadowrun universe, so they cooked up this BS story about setting it before the Shadowrun timeline and "reimagining" etc., etc. They don't give a damn about the license. They want to show off a game that lets XBox 360 players play with PC players. If they have to crap all over the SR license to do it, then that's fine with them obviously. I seriously want to see this whole thing explode in the face of whoever decided to use the SR license with this game. :mad:

[Bagger]

As I'm reading through the comments here I can't help but wonder why all the hate? It's one thing to be disappointed and say a game looks bad, but it's another thing entirely to wish misfortune on somebody else. Why would you want a game to fail? It's not like there haven't been bad games before, what makes this so special that you wish harm on the people who are creating it? Instead of wishing it sucks, wouldn't you be happier if it was fun? It's not done yet, it could rock. You never know until you play it.

Because even if the game itself is fun, it shouldn't have the Shadowrun name on it because it's NOT Shadowrun. It's not even close. I'm more certain all the time that they just tacked the SR license onto a pre-existing game. There's no other explanation that makes sense. We're hating them, because they obviously hate Shadowrun fans. Otherwise they wouldn't be abusing the license like this.