Shadowrun: "What Do You Mean 'Ooops'?!"
Written: Aug 24 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Made shades, trenchcoats, & hacking cool WAY before Keanu knew kung fu.
Cons: Random encounters get annoying. Item interface is cumbersome.
The Bottom Line: Someone needs to make a new version of this so people stop making things like Tsunami 2265 and Oni.
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| Alkaiser's Full Review: Shadowrun for Super Nintendo |
Back in the 90s, the Super Nintendo pretty much ruled over everyone else. Sure, the Sega Genesis had some pull to it and had earned its share of diehard fans, but the Nintendo brand name had all but conquered the industry.
Only problem with that is Nintendo is a very, very PC company. (By PC, I mean "Politically Correct" and not "Personal Computer".) Their games were designed with the idea of not hurting the player's feelings, so you were never given "lives" in any Nintendo made game, you had 1Ups, or "Continues".
So when this game came out, it must have come as a huge shock to some people who had grown accustomed to the coddling given to them from previous games.
When looking at the source material, it's hard to imagine it any other way besides dark and foreboding. The game's based on the FASA pen and paper role playing game of the same name. A game set in the year 2050 where information has become the new currency and where skyscrapers blot out the sun.
In the shadows is where the general populace found their hope. For there, in between the cracks, they could hack the systems, and fight back at the corporations, or just eke out a means of subsistance for themselves.
When something really, really needed to get from one place to another safely, you used a courier who would store the information in a computer in his skull and ferry it from one place to another, and upload the information once he got to the client.
Sometimes, someone doesn't want this information to get to the other client, and they take out the courier.
That's where you come in...
You've just been taken out.
Less than 30 seconds into the game, and they're shoving you into a morgue locker. The Nintendo guys must have flipped when they first saw this.
Anyway, you take the role of Jake Armitage. You don't remember anything except that you were almost killed a couple minutes ago, and you'd really like to prevent a repeat occurance.
Time to find out what you know, and what's in your head.
At the beginning of this game, you don't even know where you live. You have to go find your apartment again. That's how messed up you are. In addition, you gotta find yourself a gun POSTHASTE. That's because as you walk on around on the streets people will pop up from everywhere and start shooting at you.
Combat works very simple once you've found yourself a gun. Hit the "A" button to bring up a target cursor, and hit the "A" button again to start firing at whatever's under your cursor, whether it be a Sniper, Orc, or just a Busy Man. (You know how you get less busy? You die.)
After you've gotten yourself some magic spells, you'll use those in a similar method, only substituting the "X" button for the "A" button.
Along the way you'll be able to pick up other party members and buy yourself new weaponry.
Building up your character is done through "Karma". Kill a certain amount of evil people, and your Karma goes up. When you reach a bed to rest at, you can spend your Karma. Kill innocent people, or just shoot at civilians who aren't firing at you, and you'll be rebuked by the computer, and lose Karma.
Karma is used to raise your stats and skills. You learn new skills by either buying upgrade modules for your computer, or by talking to people who have the skills.
To raise a stat or a skill, you need Karma points that are equal to what you currently have that skill at. I.e., if you want to raise a stat from 3 to 4, it costs you 3 points.
Interacting with objects is done by using the "B" button. If you're too far away from an object, the game'll let you know, and you'll be given a list of interactions you can have with that object.
The "Y" button will allow you to bring up an items menu, and this interface is kind frustrating, especially since the items don't disappear after they've been used. I mean, I wouldn't be carrying around the key from the first locked door in the first area of the game in any other system, so it's a big hassle to scroll all the way down through the item list later on.
A much more elegant way to work all of this out would just figure out what items in your inventory were meant to be used in this situation, and then just go ahead and use them.
What's also annoying is that the Start button brings up a menu, too, but it has an entirely different purpose. I would have just made one menu for the two of them if this was going to be the case, especially since they look nearly identical.
Another facet of the game is "Decking". A decker is someone who is proficient in the use of a CyberDeck, a computer that one can use to connect to the information network that houses all of the world's data known as...
The Matrix.
That's right. The Matrix. How random is that? I hope FASA got some cash out of the guys who stole their concept. I mean, this was like maybe a decade before the movie.
While you're decking, it basically plays out like a big game of Minesweeper. You're trying to get your guy over to the little data cubes on the network. The path is blocked by ICs, programs designed to stop intruders from making off with their data.
You can't see where the ICs are, but you can tell how many of them are in squares around you. Hitting the "B" button will try and engage the ICs in combat, but you don't always win. It also costs you health. Die while jacking into The Matrix and you die for good.
The graphics for the game look a little dated, but that's because the game's 9 years old. Also, the random guys popping their heads out of peepholes and shooting at your gets really old after a few hours. Especially when you have to keep healing your loser party members.
One impressive thing for the time it was made is the use of stereo and volume effects for the game. If you're trying to get to a club that's cranking music, you'll hear the music get louder as you get closer to the club. On top of that, most of the music from the game is pretty good. One of the few times I've caught myself actually noticing that music in a game was actually enjoyable to listen to.
This game's engrossing to this day. If you can find a ROM or a cart of it around, knock yourself out and pick it up. I mean, what else is out right now? Tsunami 2265? You're better off poking out your own eyes.
A trip down memory lane that proves to be almost exactly as much fun as you remember it being. Do yourself a favor and revisit this classic.
Unfortunately, you're unlikely to see a newer version of this game, as Microsoft has the rights to the game license (probably picked up at about the same time they had the MechWarrior license.) and then scrapped the game they were going to make with the license. Uncoolness.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Alkaiser
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 - Top 500 |
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Member: Clayton Chan
Location: Irvine, CA
Reviews written: 655
Trusted by: 344 members
About Me:
Broke the 700 pound mark on my leg lifts.
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