Comic 63

Fangirl Rant!

April 25, 2007

Shadowrun is one of my favorite games. In fact, it’s the first tabletop game I ever played in on a regular basis, and that makes it very, very special to me. I have fond memories of dodging cyber-ninjas and holding intricate planning sessions dedicated towards sneaking into corporate complexes…

So when I heard that Microsoft was making a new Shadowrun game, I was understandably excited. There have been other Shadowrun video games – some good, some not so, but the idea of making a Shadowrun game with today’s graphical capabilities made my inner fangirl -very- happy.

And then I saw what Microsoft was doing with the property, and I was sad.

Are there any Shadowrun fans out there who are looking forward to the new XBox360 Shadowrun game? I must admit that I’m not. From what I’ve seen, it’s not the Shadowrun I know and love so much as it is your standard first-person shooter that just happens to have orcs and trolls and magic. Where’s the gritty post-apocalyptic cities? Where’s the lean-and-mean cybersams fighting against the corrupt corporate conglomerates? The Shadowrun universe hold so much possibility as a really incredible MMO that it seems a shame to waste the franchise on a shooter.

Granted, that doesn’t mean it’ll necessarily be a bad game. Some of the screenshots [link] are pretty shiny, even if the trolls are a little Warcraft-y. (But that’s another rant for another day) I might even end up playing it, since Quake III would be pretty fun if you could play as a troll with a HMG. But is it Shadowrun? Not in my books.