Shadowrun has been talked about a lot recently, this is mainly due to it being the first game to bridge the PC and Xbox 360 divide, therefore allowing PC owners to play with or against their Xbox Live counterparts, it is also the first game which is pointless buying for your console unless you have a Xbox Live Gold account, this is due to the fact that there is no real single player mode on offer, but what of the game, is it any good, does it justify having to fork out £40 for this as well as a Gold membership? well...

The menu offers you three options, you can do the training, which basically gets you up to speed on how to play, teaching you special moves such as glide, teleport and tree of life to name a few, it is well presented and easy to understand and with a bot match offered at the end of each session it allows you to test your newly created skills out. As well as the training there is a single player mode where you can fight against the computer generated bots, however it is very difficult when set at a higher level and becomes demoralising quickly, it isn’t anywhere near as fun as playing over Xbox Live.

The last mode to speak of is the multiplayer matches and this is were the fun begins, these offer you the chance to play against other people on Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live. When being paired up at the start of the game you are matched with someone of similar Trueskill, this allegedly makes the matches more balanced and therefore more fun, whether this actually works is hard to tell though as during some of our team matches there where a few 6-1 scores (I wont tell you to which team), therefore maybe it would have been an idea to allow you to choose at what level you play? there are also a few other annoyances, like when you create a party you can’t even be sure that you will all be on the same team and then most frustrating of all is that when the host drops out you lose the entire game.

Although what we have said so far doesn’t really point to a enjoyable game, these are just a few bad points of what is a very fun game to play, there are a lot of first person shooters on the Xbox 360 as you are no doubt aware, but one of Shadowrun’s finer points is that it is so different from the rest and this is mainly due to the clever use of the tech and magic attacks which have been integrated into the game.

All in there are nine maps and three game modes for you to choose from. The three modes of play available are Extraction where you basically capture the artifact from the other team and return it to your base, Raid mode, where the Linage team tries to captures the artifact while the RNA corps try to stop them and finally Attrition where the team with the artifact can see the other’s positions and therefore try eliminate them to win, should not all the team be wiped out then whoever has the artifact when the timer run out is the winner.

Before you jump into the action you will be asked to choose one of four races, these are Elf, Dwarf, Human and Troll, each race has it’s own advantages and disadvantages, Dwarfs for example are small and more difficult to hit, where as Trolls are easier to hit but more difficult to kill due to their tough skin and large size. Each character can also make different uses of essence which is used to cast magic, elves for example can use it to regenerate by staying out of the range of fire, while Dwarfs absorb it from everyone around them, which makes it easier for them to fuel magic and tech attacks. 

Once you have chosen your race and are just about to get into the action you will find yourself in either the Lineage team or the RNA Corps, before each round begins you are given the chance to buy spells, tech items and weapons, although should you die during the match you will get to keep anything you have bought, with the exception of weapons which need to be repurchased in every round.

When the action finally begins the game gets interesting, it is difficult to think of another First Person Shooter where abilities such as teleport and glide exist and this is what makes Shadowrun stand out, for example should you find yourself under heavy fire you can just run through a wall and cast tree of life on the other side, this will help you to regain your health, meaning you can get straight back to helping your team mates, there many other uses for all of your tech attacks and spells, some people cast tree of life beside them when in battle, this enables them to use the tree to heal while also using it for cover from fire, if purchased you also have the ability to resurrect a team mate, although when you die so does he unless one of your other team mates gets to him first and casts the same spell, there are many various spells and tech attacks, all of which can give you an advantage when used at the right time. The games weapons don’t really offer the same level of enjoyment, they are limited in choice and can be inaccurate at times and as there is a lot of wide open spaces within the maps this can make for a frustrating time, however the online mode is a very enjoyable experience and you will probably get hooked on it pretty quickly.

Shadowrun offers a bit of a dilemma really, do you want to spend out money on a First Person Shooter that only offers online play and no real single player mode? There is no doubt that online it is a great game to play, thanks mainly to the tech and the magic, it, but as it stands it is no more than average, however should Microsoft support this game by offering more maps, different abilities and races and by improving the servers so that there isn’t quite so long a wait before a match then this game could go from average to a completely different level.