Shadowrun

[StingingVelvet]

The game is out... it's a really great FPS that takes me back to my TF days. I was going to wait for TF2 or Quake Wars, but this looked too interesting to let slide...

The magic powers add a lot to the game and it plays rather differently from most FPSs... Not to an amazing degree, but enough to be interesting. The graphics are a mix of awesome and average, depending... a lot of textures look super-consoled, but others look great and the general look and feel of the game is impressive in a crisp and clean way.

One thing PC gamers might hate is the use of a console-style "accuracy circle." When motionless it's small, when moving it gets larger... Most console game ports (Lost Planet, Rainbow Six Vegas) ditch this scheme when porting to the PC, but Shadowrun has kept it, most likely because you can play against 360 gamers and they want it to be somewhat fair.

The game supports widescreen natively in both 16:10 and 16:9 ratios... 16:10 resolutions seem to be letterboxed though in a 16:9 frame, such as 1680x1050, which is what I am playing the game at. FOV appears to be correct and Hor+ though, which is great.

[The Mighty Wimp]

IGn said regardless of using the best video cards and CPUs, theysaid it loooked bad compared to the 360, is it true?

[StingingVelvet]

I don't have the 360 version so I can't compare them... The game does have a detail setting, high resolutions and AA up to 12, so I can't imagine the 360 version looking better... Like I said though, I can't be sure. The game looks good though, for the style it uses.

Also, it seems I can only play on dedicated servers? The online options and game finding ability is strange so I have to mess with it and see what's what, but I've been trying to play quick matches and I get a message that says "you need a multiplayer enabled account"... what? PC to PC is supposed to be free... I would not have bought it otherwise.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I heard good stuff about this game. I think I will like it.

I liked Jedi Knight FPS games because you had your force powers to mix things up. Also it incorporated using them as part of problem/puzzle solving. So I hope this game can do the same.

[StingingVelvet]

I don't know about puzzle solving but it certainly makes the game extremely "thought based"... which is to say, spawn a "tree of life" in the wrong place and you'll just heal the enemy and allow them to make a camp, then get booted from the game for being an idiot.

Screenshots to show resolution and anamorphic cutscene... the game looks a LOT better than that, it's a barren training level. Also, as shown, the game caps your fps to 30 ONLY when V-Synch is enabled. That was the main reason I grabbed these real quick, 'cause rumors were spreading it was capped no matter what.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I'll definitly have a look if I can find it on the net :P

My list of games to play is piling higher and higher, I need to hurry up and beat tomb raider legend so I can move to the next game.

[DaFox]

I'll definitly have a look if I can find it on the net :P

x2 I will also be getting vista because of games like this :/

[g00seberry]

From your screenshots at least, the 360 version looks pretty much identical, but with minor changes to the HUD to incorporate button positions on the controller.

The teleport skill will be lethal in the right hands I'm sure.
I've only done the first 2 "Chapters" of training so far.

This should be good on Live, but i can imagine PC players punishing 360 players, mainly because of the teleport skill. Imagine running towards someone, teleporting so you end up just behind him, and then whipping round 180deg to shoot him in the back. That's a slow as hell task on the 360 as you turn your view around. PC players can flick the mouse round instantly and get a whole magazine out before a 360 controller's caught up. Then they could teleport back the other side and do it again.

On a side note, I love the sniper rifle.

[StingingVelvet]

Glad to see someone else digging the game... I'm having a LOT of fun with it but it's got such a negative impression to overcome in the PC community simply because it's a 360 game as well and requires Vista.

Oh, and there's an interview on IGN today where the developer says the 360 and PC are identical except the PC does not have motion blur.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Vista only... yeah that will give a game a neg rep id think.

I cant think of any reason it would have to be vista only code wise, so it sounds like an evil way to force everybody to vista. This is not the first game eather.

[StingingVelvet]

I'm pretty sure this and Halo 2 are Vista only because they use the Live service, which is integrated into Vista. They probably could release some kind of update for XP to use it as well though, so it's really not an excuse.

In any case, I had Vista for other reasons before either game came out.

[ViciousXUSMC]

:( that may be a reason but not a good one to me.

A better idea would be a disclaimer on the box "warning only under vista can you use the online multiplayer functions of microsoft live, older operating systems will be limited to single player content only"

Something along those lines.

[Paradigm Shifter]

Why allow older OSes to run a new game, when MS can force you to upgrade if you want to play it? :twisted:

[ViciousXUSMC]

Why allow older OSes to run a new game, when MS can force you to upgrade if you want to play it? :twisted:

He has been assimilated! he is one of them now!

Watch the next step be: "only one 64bit vista!" and they make everybody with x86 vista upgrade ^^

They did that for a special UT2004 and Farcry patch to show off the power of x64 OS's.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Ugh.. I just read the gamespot review. Good thing I did. I had a very wrong idea about this game and have just about lost all intrest in it.

Instead of being a nice new version of jedi knight where you have spells and skills to use with the additon of traditinal FPS point & shoot, and a nice world to explore. There is no one player!!! Its just online multiplayer only. Thats mostly what I was looking for, in multiplayer it wouldnt be the same, and it wont beat BF2142 for me I am sure.

Whats worse tho is that there are only 8/9 maps so the game gets old fast they say.

Worse yet is MS being greedy and forcing you to pay for gold membership to there multiplayer service to even be able to use a traditional server lookup and join pc only games for the fastest/best connction avalible.

I dont want to get off topic much, but has anybody noticed the Major trend in microsoft latley about being super power hungry and greedy with money?

There are several BS lawsuits they have filed against people to try to get rights to things so they can make more money. Then there is the idea of games like this one wich force you to vista so they can make more money, then in the game itself they want to force you to pay for alot of online gaming apsects. This is a horrible trend to start. One of the reasons I much prefer PC to console gaming is because its always free and well supported with the exception of MMORPG's wich I can fully understand due to the nature of the servers and the kind of service you get.

MS is really getting on my badside, and with the game being 60$ on the storeshelves (saw it at best buy today) it wont be one I will get anytime soon.

[StingingVelvet]

Ummm, you don't need to pay to browse servers, you only need to play to have "quick match" which includes 360 players, or to browse "Gold servers"... of which there are none right now anyway. There's PLENTY of free PC on PC action to enjoy.

As for being multiplayer only that was always known, sorry I didn't mention it. It's EXTREMELY FUN multiplayer though, so I don't think that instantly makes the game a bad game. The gamespot review is being widely criticized by almost everyone who has played the game themselves... it's very fun. It has only 9 maps, but Quake Wars only has 8... it depends on how good the maps are, and for the Counterstrike style game this is, they are very good. The main problem with the game is a lack of $50 worth of content in some areas, but the game is so fun you stop caring at some point.

I'm not telling you to go buy it, it might not be your thing, but that review was basically a "I wanted a different game than this intends to be" whine session than a real review.

I think a demo comes out this week sometime... at least give it a try.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Yeah i'll try the demo given I have vista by then.

I like the concept and idea of the game so I am sure I'll like it.

I have the feeling it may semi revive the feelings of when I used to do mulitplayer in jedi knight, only no light saber :P

I bet that game wont run on vista, I dont even think it runs on xp (the first 2 jedi knight games and my fav)

gamespot had kinda said it wrong that you need gold membership to do pc vs pc on a regular sever browser type level, other wise your stuck with quick match.

[StingingVelvet]

Yeah, "quick match" is actually the thing you need to pay for, because it includes 360 players in the mix. You can browse servers and pick your own game for free, though some servers are marked "Gold Only" and you need to pay to use those... It's funny though, because of the 20 servers give or take I have never seen one marked "Gold Only." Strange. There were only two servers or so on release day and I was freaking out but there's a bunch of people and servers now...

The game comes with a free trial of the Gold, so I've been messing with that. The quick match thing takes FOREVER and honestly you're better off picking your server anyway. It certainly doesn't scream "worth $50 a year" to me when I choose not to even use it.

[Gabbo]

The game looks interesting, however I think this is a grave mis-use of the Shadowrun IP. In fact, I bet the game would have gotten slightly more favorable reviews if it had just been a new unknown IP with no previous conceptions.

[DaFox]

I was looking forward to this quite abit, i was even planning on going vista just to get this (and halo 2) but my dreams were crushed when i found it its muiltiplayer only :/