I kicked 2023 off with Shadowrun Returns on Steam, and with the year coming to a close I thought it'd be interesting to pay a visit to its SNES uncle. And this game really started off strong, with a more effective narrative hook than Returns; before you even select "New Game" you watch as your character is gunned down by a hit squad and left for dead, only for a mysterious shapeshifter to cast a spell on you before leaving. You wake up in the morgue with a splitting headache and amnesia and have to piece together what you were doing before. And while this may sound a tad derivative, the Cyberpunk-Noir atmosphere and the way the game slowly opens up in a nonlinear way really make the difference - the vibes really do a lot of the heavy lifting here!
Mechanically there are plenty of interesting ideas as well (mostly adapted from the tabletop ruleset): the ability to spend karma (experience points) to raise specific stats, spending money to hire mercenaries to fight on your side, and later on finding a character who will teach you various magic spells in exchange for various random trinkets you've (hopefully) been collecting. The execution is mixed - it's not hard to raise your stats to the point that you can go without hired help, and few of the spells are particularly useful - but the effort is appreciated.
Where the game falters is in its UI. It uses a point-and-click interface which, on the SNES controller, is unsurprisingly clunky. Using different buttons for shooting, casting, investigating, and picking up is unnecessary - why not just a dedicated 'action' button? And if all this merely added up to clunky menu-hopping I might still be inclined to give it some goodwill, but the point-and-click system also extends to the (real-time) combat! It makes aiming an absolute pain, and reduces 99% of combat to standing in one spot and DPS-racing the enemies - moving around strategically in between shots simply isn't a usable approach because your enemies aren't constrained by the point-and-click system and can aim instantaneously.
Add in some extremely obtuse requirements for progression and some very suspect balancing (the most dangerous enemies are rats!) and you have a game that becomes quite a chore to play at points. Still, if you're willing to use a guide, this is a relatively streamlined sub-10-hour experience that's worth trying out if you're into this genre!
Also one of the characters looks like Robin Williams with elf ears.
Mechanically there are plenty of interesting ideas as well (mostly adapted from the tabletop ruleset): the ability to spend karma (experience points) to raise specific stats, spending money to hire mercenaries to fight on your side, and later on finding a character who will teach you various magic spells in exchange for various random trinkets you've (hopefully) been collecting. The execution is mixed - it's not hard to raise your stats to the point that you can go without hired help, and few of the spells are particularly useful - but the effort is appreciated.
Where the game falters is in its UI. It uses a point-and-click interface which, on the SNES controller, is unsurprisingly clunky. Using different buttons for shooting, casting, investigating, and picking up is unnecessary - why not just a dedicated 'action' button? And if all this merely added up to clunky menu-hopping I might still be inclined to give it some goodwill, but the point-and-click system also extends to the (real-time) combat! It makes aiming an absolute pain, and reduces 99% of combat to standing in one spot and DPS-racing the enemies - moving around strategically in between shots simply isn't a usable approach because your enemies aren't constrained by the point-and-click system and can aim instantaneously.
Add in some extremely obtuse requirements for progression and some very suspect balancing (the most dangerous enemies are rats!) and you have a game that becomes quite a chore to play at points. Still, if you're willing to use a guide, this is a relatively streamlined sub-10-hour experience that's worth trying out if you're into this genre!
Also one of the characters looks like Robin Williams with elf ears.
When I finish you. WHEN I FINISH YOU!!!
I just love the morgue music honestly. It's one of the greatest RPG intros.
A really ambitious game for the SNES and it doesn't quite pull it off with the combat being mostly silly wait and shoot. The story and dialogues are fun though, and the game's got strong moods!
A really ambitious game for the SNES and it doesn't quite pull it off with the combat being mostly silly wait and shoot. The story and dialogues are fun though, and the game's got strong moods!
Shadowrun is a pen and paper RPG that I always wanted to play but never got to (mainly because I'm not into the concept of pen and paper RPGs) but I have always loved the universe and the story of Shadowrun. Playing a video game based in that world was a dream come true but I have also found both the SNES and Genesis games to be difficult as hell to progress through. I still have fond memories of renting them and giving them a shot, though.
Great game, lots of good and fun dialogues;
I'll preface this by repeating what I've said in other reviews, which is that I typically don't like it when magic and sci-fi mix. Most people mess it up horribly and it almost always feels like a nerd who couldn't make up his mind on what cool nerd thing he wanted in his story. Mixing magic and cyberpunk the way the Shadowrun franchise does has never been my cup of tea so these games would always have an uphill battle on their hands with me.
The other thing I'll say is that I have never in my life played Shadowrun as a pen and paper experience, and I didn't even know it existed the first time I played this game in the early 2000s so I really can't speak to how well the game is adapted from the original concept.
That said, what is here plays interestingly like a CRPG of the period more than your typical console RPG, but despite the game's efforts to provide a robust experience, a lot of the components fall short here. The combat is clunky, with the aforementioned magic abilities seemingly being the most useless part of the gameplay. The story has you interacting with characters through a keyword system that creates a bit more of an emergent dialogue, but isn't nearly sophisticated enough to be considered some sort of branching discussion system that would become so popular in the 2000s and beyond.
On the whole, it feels like a game that failed to live up to the initial scope the developers had in mind.
The other thing I'll say is that I have never in my life played Shadowrun as a pen and paper experience, and I didn't even know it existed the first time I played this game in the early 2000s so I really can't speak to how well the game is adapted from the original concept.
That said, what is here plays interestingly like a CRPG of the period more than your typical console RPG, but despite the game's efforts to provide a robust experience, a lot of the components fall short here. The combat is clunky, with the aforementioned magic abilities seemingly being the most useless part of the gameplay. The story has you interacting with characters through a keyword system that creates a bit more of an emergent dialogue, but isn't nearly sophisticated enough to be considered some sort of branching discussion system that would become so popular in the 2000s and beyond.
On the whole, it feels like a game that failed to live up to the initial scope the developers had in mind.