Product Reviews

Shadowrun is an online team-based shooter based upon a popular pen-and-paper role-playing game. In the near future, magic has returned to the world after an absence of thousands of years. This means that trolls, elves and dwarves walk the Earth and that magical spells are once again possible.

Players wield a mixture of conventional firearms, high-tech gadgets and magical powers. At the start of each match, you must first choose a race, each with its own unique skill. Then, before each individual round, you buy equipment and magical powers using money earned from kills. This means that you can

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create a unique mix of skills and equipment to match your playing style, or to counter that of your opponent. We played as both a mini-gun-toting troll with enhanced vision and targeting, and a swift elf with a katana, the ability to teleport through walls and a mini-glider on his back.

Shadowrun runs only on Windows Vista, as it requires you to have a Microsoft Live account. This means it can be played against Xbox 360 owners with the same game, an interesting idea that may appeal to those with console-owning friends.

The graphics look good, with plenty of nice magical effects, and the character animation is the smoothest we've seen in an online shooter. Sadly, there are only nine levels to play on. They're all well designed to take advantage of the powers and gadgets available, but we expected more at this price.

The gameplay is more tactical than most shooters, with team coordination often winning out over headshot skills. Battles become increasingly complex and hectic as players buy more powerful abilities and weapons. Shadowrun is a decent game, but the limited number of levels along with the requirement for both Vista and Live, result in an average rating.