Shadowrun Demo Impressions

Very few games have me sitting on the fence over their purchase quite like Shadowrun does. Even after reading a dozen or more reviews from critics and players, as well as spending some quality time with the demo, I find myself waffling on my verdict for this game.

Experience my "confused feelings" after the jump...

I will dispense with most the back story behind this controversial game. The Shadowrun demo was released yesterday about a week after the retail version arrived on store shelves. I would have expected a demo to precede the final version and it's unclear why there was this reverse in the typical demo/final release schedule.

I'll start with the many good points I noticed while playing the 1.1 GB demo yesterday. Upon firing up the game, I was impressed with the polished presentation of the menus. There's an ominous, Brazilian theme to the background music that adds a lot to the atmosphere. The demo includes 3 training missions that guide you through basic weapon use and introduces you to a handful of useful magic and tech skills. While fairly standard, I would say these tutorials do a great job of easing me into the game mechanics and are pretty much crucial if you want to learn the game's basics without too much frustrating trial-and-error.

One thing that really stands out in this game is the overall feel of moving my avatar. The weapon bob is mercifully subtle and pulling off all the maneuvers, from jumping and climbing to gliding and teleporting, feels fluid and natural. In short, I don't feel like the controls are getting in the way too much... until I start assigning skills to specific buttons. To be fair, they handle that mechanic pretty well and it's more of a learning curve issue than a glaring design flaw.

Even with a single map and game mode, I would say the Shadowrun demo is fairly generous with the content it has to offer. After you've run through the training missions, you can engage in bot matches or hop on to Live for a public match. If the monotony doesn't kill you first, you could squeeze a lot of fun out of this thing, free of charge.

Which brings me to the dark side of the moon: does the demo make me want to drop the $70 Cdn. on the retail version? Before I attempt to answer, I have a few grievances to air with the game itself. In an effort to even the playing field between PC mouse/keyboard users and 360 owners (this is the world's first cross-platform, cross-play video game), developer FASA implemented the expanding crosshair system used in so many tactical shooters. If you run or hop all over the place while firing, you will hit very little. Stand still or crouch and you will see your aiming crosshairs slowly contract and focus in for more precise shots. Let me repeat this; they will slowly contract. Does it have to be this slow? The delay in getting a focused reticule is even slower than in more realistic shooters like Rainbow Six: Vegas! In a sci-fi game that features magic, elves and trolls, this strict adherence to weapons realism feels very out of place and screw up the play experience somewhat by making the weapons unsatisfying to use. When I'm snapping off a few shots with the pistol, I get the impression I could use a shotgun and get the same amount of accuracy. Add to this the lack of any indication that you're successfully landing shots on someone and you have a very important aspect of any shooter that could have been done so much better.

The guns at your disposal are your standard fare. In the demo you are offered an SMG, pistol, rifle, shotgun and sniper rifle. Each of these acts as you would expect of them. It's clear that the designers didn't want the weapons to take the spotlight away from the magic or tech skills, because all the guns are purely functional. Flashy or innovative, they are not. This goes double for the character models, which are divided up into the 4 races (only humans and elves in the demo), as well as which faction you're playing for (red or blue team). All characters of a certain race within a team share the exact same appearance, which really lends a flatness to the presentation. This flatness also extends to the graphics in general. There are some nice special effects to be seen when someone teleports or lays down a Tree of Life, but the texture design, as displayed in the demo map, are pretty bland indeed.

Multiplayer matchmaking looks to borrow a page from Halo's book. You simply launch the system and wait, wait and wait for the game to connect you to an available game. The wait can be interminable. With preferences and TrueSkill filtering options available in the final version, I can see how this can be an efficient way to find games to play. I just wonder whatever happened to the tried-and-true method of bringing up a list of open games and simply selecting the one you want out of that list. Here's an example of a multiplayer menu screen:

• Quick Game


• Custom Game


• Create a Game

It's really that simple. If you cannot execute a new, more efficient way to organize multiplayer games, don't even bother. Just stick with the proven formula and save your customers the headache.

Finally, I have a few comments on the bot AI. Now I know that single-player is not the point of Shadowrun but I'm new to the game and need to brush up on my skills. The first 3 levels of AI that I've tested out seem pretty good, but why on earth is the AI on MY team so incompetent? I've played a dozen games where I'd be singled out by the opposing team, die early and watch in abject horror as my AI teammates flounder around the map. I was close to yelling at my TV set as I witnessed the end of one particular round where a lone enemy player trotted straight through FIVE of my teammates on the rooftop and successfully extracted the Artifact. Egads.

You'd think that I absolutely despise this demo at this point, but I don't. I still feel compelled to play the game because despite all of its flaws, it pulls off enough competencies to make the entire experience fun and rewarding. I liken Shadowrun to bringing home that sort-of-hot girl from the bar. She's got funky teeth and she smells kind of funny, but the bar was closing and you really had no other options. Even so, she's there, she's willing, so why not? You take what you can get.

If I do decide to buy Shadowrun, I would have to do it very soon. It won't be long before I'm distracted by the bigger, shinier toys that come out. The Darkness comes out at the end of this month and very soon after that, we'll start to get the heavy-hitting releases. Virtua Fighter 5, Bioshock or Halo 3 anyone?

Shadowrun is a fun game in its own right, but based on what I've, it can't compete with the ambitious, A-list titles that are due out for the 360 in the near future. That knowledge alone, keeps me hesitating. And the longer I wait, the less I will want this game.