Shadowrun vs. Shadowrun

eToyChest's regular 'I roll 20s' column today looks at the different faces of Shadowrun in the world of Videogames. Before the most recent, ill-conceived, 360 title there were several other attempts to bring the rich cyberpunk-meets-Tolkien world to gamers with controllers. Some met with more success than others. From the article: "In the Genesis Shadowrun, you played an actual Shadowrunner, the sort of guy a corporation would pay to do their dirty work, and then deny the existence of after the fact should things manage to find a fan and hit it. Moreover, you were given the ability to create a character designed after whichever abilities and archetypes you found to be most savory, and as a result, a huge array of hybrid character styles were available, creating a game with a good deal more replay value than most Sega Genesis action RPGs."

Comments

Genesis Shadowrun

[Pantero Blanco]

I've been trying to find the Genesis version at flea markets and used game stores around here for a while, without much success. The only person that had it wanted as much as the game probably cost when it was new.

I felt it was a lot better than the SNES version, which was incredibly linear. The Genesis version let you free-roam for the most part, in both "the Matrix" and the streets of Seattle, and complete the missions when you wanted. I figure that I looked at it the same way kids look at San Andreas today.

It also made the first Gibson novel I read (when I was thirteen or so) all the more entertaining. "Wait a second, Black ICE, Chiba City, Runs...I know this!"

Re:very excellent game

[MrSquirrel]

Shadowrun was amazing. You could play the game however you wanted with so many aspects -- street tough fist-fighter, gunman, magic user, sneaky spy, charismatic talker... combine the endless customizability with the party system (3 characters in your party at a time), the story, and the great gameplay and you end up with an amazing game.

Take the piece of crap Microsoft is making and you have... a big, smelly, piece of crap.