Many of you have heard the news about Shadowrun, the first truly multi-platform game. PC and Xbox 360 Console gamers will be able to compete head to head in real-time battles. The game itself is a mix of FPS, technology upgrades and magical abilities. The somewhat open Beta has been around for some months now, but I have not been involved for more than a week. The NDA was lifted on the 20th so I'm happy to provide you all with some gameplay video.
Aside from playing the bots for a couple of rounds, this video was my first attempt at playing real opponents. I played against some great guys and had a blast. I got so addicted to playing I didn't realize that hours had passed.
This is only one of the two levels offered in the Beta. This build is also old so the final graphics and artwork will be far better than is represented here. Also my camera apparently sucked at capturing this last night.
With all that out of the way, check it out here. This is about an 8 minute clip so grab a beer and enjoy.
For perspective, this video represents about half of the entire match that I played.
The match starts with a very CS like buying menu. You can purchase weapons, technology upgrades or magical abilities. You then assign them to the right or left triggers and bumpers. The entire process takes a minute or two to get used to, but once you get it down, its a breeze to set up the controller/abilities to your liking.
Certain magic can be used for harming opponents. For example, one of the magic available is called "smoke" (crap, now I'm forgetting), but it is something like that. It allows you to turn into a cloud of smoke and avoid being hit by bullets, etc. It is a great defensive mechanism.
That being said, another magic is called gust. This will "push" people away from you with a gust of wind. If someone is in smoke mode, gust will actually injure them. If they are not in smoke mode but high up on a catwalk and you gust them off, they can be injured or die by the fall.
This game is very fun and very addicting. The party system is not active in the Beta, but I'd love to play with you all!
As for the magic to harm others, there is a spell called: Strangle, which not only serves as a barrier, but it takes health away from people who get caught up in it. There is also a spell called "summon" which conjures a huge fiery minion creature that will stomp anyone you look at.
Overall the magic in this game is meant to be used to aid in the strategy of the FPS experience, rather than "I hurl a fire ball or force lightening at you". The smart use of magic creates advantages to succeeding in the team play. The dynamic is balanced, even if it is a bit under-featured.
Lastly, regarding party systems, I think that we can do private games and send out invites. That might be the current way around this issue.
Really? I like to see what's going on around me! haha. This game is pretty fast paced and man you can die quickly when someone is shooting you from one side or another and you don't see them. Good stuff.
I'll try to get some more gameplay in and try to capture some of the other magic and stuff.
AZ - oh yeah, let me explain that one. It actually makes sense!!
One of the magic abilities is revive. If someone revives you it takes up a certain amount of their available magic pips. You are then tied to that person. If that person dies, you slowly bleed out because they are no longer sustaining you magically.
If you shoot someone after they are dead you can kill them beyond revival. I can't tell you how many times I was unloading on someone and they revived some random person next to me who ended up killing me. So I took out the people beyond revival to avoid that.
I could just hear your sticks clicking in the BG. This looks very cool... and hectic as hell.
