I suppose the one major hang up I have with the game is its linearity. There's no walking around, because that would require repopulating the same maps with people in different places, things going on ect....
I get that's not what the narrative is about, but all those city scenes were basically just large, one-use set pieces. They got a lot of attention in the press but turn out to have very little exposure in game. It contributes a bit to the sense of being less a Shadowrunner and more a Gumshoe in a movie. You're pursuing a crime and happen to make enough money along the way to continually rehire Shadowrunners to help you. Which isn't bad in and of itself. But for example, I just got handed, for the second time, an ass load of money to hire some runners, for doing something for which ostensibly there was no reward. "Oh, I raided some corporate info while we were looking up this thing, here's your "take", an amount of money equivalent to the highest paid thing you've done so far."
If they had tried so a some what less linear storyline I think I'd be appreciating the game a bit more, I'd feel a bit more like it's a world to be lived in. But what you're allowed to do in game feels very, very, very streamlined. The edges of the box are very clear. Where other games might have had an NPC standing there, offering you a side mission to do at your leisure, this game literally inserted a demand for a side mission in the middle of another mission, to which you must say yes or not right there. All so you can conveniently return to the Seamstress Union and take taxis every where you go (read as: skip to another one-off level.)
For how ultimately linear the SNES version was, it still offered a bit more of a believable world. Yeah, some people hate tedious walking around and re-treading, but it has the benefit of preventing you from feeling like you're being railroaded. Reviewers have said how they see potential for a replay here, but playing a decker, perhaps one of the most specialized classes in the game, I can't really see it. The Matrix is literally the normal combat system where you load programs into your deck to cast like spells....and you even have a couple slots for "Expert Programs" (read as: summons.) It's a nice clean design that is also very transparent. Which means you rely on the hand crafted content (containers, events, details) to carry you through. And this game is honestly light on those things. There's actually very little loot to be had by looking around.
Everything relating to classes is focused on combat for the most part. And there isn't enough variety in combat to make me really crave playing through a storyline I'm going to know very well, just for the sake of punching dudes instead of shooting them, throwing manabolt instead of firebolt.
So while it's a decent playthrough, a story I'm enjoying, just enough RPG and mechanics to give you something to pay attention to...I dunno. I was hoping for more. It's definitely going to take a dedicated modding community and access to the program guts to really bring this game up to its full potential. HBS laid a very nice groundwork, but the short development time really shows in how the campaign is structured, detailed and executed.
It's not that the game is worse than previous Shadowrun games. It's just that it's not a whole lot better in core areas. Worth the money? For $20 I think it's a good deal for someone who loves Shadowrun, just as a chance to get back into the world. As a backer who threw the most money ever at this Kickstarter project though, I feel like the bulk of my funds went to pay for merch. Ultimately the best thing about the game is what the editor is going to be able to do for it post launch.
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Topic: Shadowrun Returns - Let's Kickstart this into space (Read 52447 times)