Well, I've bought Shadowrun. Despite the 6.9 and all the other lowish reviews its getting.

Now, I think the reviewers are bringing down a really good game, because everyone knows that most people who look at a review only look at the score. And the score is in my opinion unjustified. I wouldn't put this game in the same score range as games like Spiderman 3, TNMNT and other 6'ish games.

I mean, this game online is such a big blast to play, and there is a lot of tactic if you play with a team were people communicate. Wich happens in most games because the community seems to be rather mature! Plenty of times I start with a troll and ask for donations so I can buy smartlink and (out of my own pockets) the minigun. And I usually get the money when round 2 or 3 starts.

Also some reviews were complaining that the weapons seemed to be underpowered or unbalanced, wich is not the case. The rifle (most reviews complain about this one) is just as deadly as any other weapon. If not more, you just can't run and gun but have to stand still to fire it accurately. Its a very good weapon for mid to long range.

Anyways, I think every reviewer knows how much their score, sets people's opinions. Most people don't bother reading the review, and this really hurts shadowrun. Why? Because the game gets knocked down on score for, no animation when climbing a ladder (This makes the game unplayable!!! /sarcasm off) there are only 9 maps and 3 smaller versions of 3 of those... Sure more would have been fun, but I have yet to find a sucky map in the game. And everyone who plays games online knows that in the end only a few maps will be played anyhow. BFMC2 has backstab running 80% of the time. GEoW most games are on 2 or 3 maps as well (besides that I think this game is bland and overrated online.) Halo 3 ended up with most people in custom games only playing 3 or 4 different maps. CoD3 same. And I think, that when you think about it just about every game has this problem.

I rather take 9 maps that are very well done, then 22 maps of wich I will end up only playing 3 or 4 at most, because the other ones are never played....

The Bad: Bad and missing animation makes the game look unfinished; not enough maps to stay interesting for long; does absolutely nothing with the shadowrun license

animations, well sure eye wants something... but how important is this for average joe when the game is just plain fun. not enough maps, well already said something about this... rather have 9 great maps then 22 maps where only 4 are great and the others are never played. Does absolutely nothing with the shadowrun license... didn't know about shadowrun before, and how does this affect me having fun.

Now I'm not crieing for a 9/10 or 8/10. But a 7.4-7.9 would do way more justice to the game.

Imho

Gameplay 9

The spells twist up the game bigtime, the guns might be run of the mill, but with the spells and the ability to play this game really tactically with a team makes it a winner. Plenty of games where I'm a troll and get to the artifact with my minigun and a elve puts down a tree next to me, and I just leadhose the entry point of the opposing team. Wich will have a hard time getting by me, because not only does my skin harden when I'm shot (thus giving me more armor), but I'm also getting constant healing as well. But then a dwarf teleports in with his shotgun and drains the magic from the tree and rips me a new one... awesome stuff

Graphics 7

Well sure it doesn't look to great and it doesn't look to bad either, the visuals are clear and sharp.. the levels sometimes feel a little bit boxy but, thats because it improves the gameplay, you can always go to cover by teleporting yourself out of the room (more objects would made teleport a pain to code) use smoke, glide away, or come in gliding from above.. Oh the gameplay. Missing animations, not the greatest looks but its still pretty decent.

Sound 7

Hardly any music in the game, but that isn't really needed in an online FPS. Everything sounds good, but not great. Not much to say about this one.

Value 7

With all the possibilities etc there is a lot of fun to be had, however more maps (oh I contradict myself) would have been nice. More maps would have meant that reviewers had less to whine about. Anyways the game is a bit expensive for an only online shooter. Well there is a singleplayer option against bots (who are pretty good), but the meat of the game is online. It is fun enough to last anyone who is into online shooters a pretty long while in my opinion. But the pricepoint could be about 10 euro's lower, to give a bit more incentive for buying the game. It would be a pitty if this game didn't do well, because its a great game. If you are like me and find yourself playing the online part of games more then actually finishing singleplayers.. well this game is great. (who needs singleplayer when you can fight real people)

Tilt 9

Is it playable? Check
Is it fun? Check
Does it allow for good teamplay, and more importantly does it promote teamplay? Check
Is the magic system usefull? Check
Are there plenty of combinations to use in an assualt or defense? Hell yeah! So Check
You never played or never cared about Shadowrun PnP, then you don't care about the license either. This applies to me :P

Now for my overall scores.

Do you like playing online a lot, and find yourself playing online more then singleplayers in games? Then see this score

7.9

Do you hardly play online, or don't have xbox live gold, or just don't like shooters, are a shadowrun pnp fan? Then see this score

6.0