The Shadowrun forums are due to be closed in the next few weeks but there's hope of further products from the brand emerging in the future.
Shadowrun developer FASA recently closed its doors to the public, presumably after the damp reception the 360 and PC game received. If you remember it was the first game for 360 and PC that allowed cross-platform gaming between both parties. You may also remember that we scored it 6/10.
A post on the Shadowrun forums reads: "We're going to be closing down the Shadowrun forums in about two weeks. As many of you know, the old FASA crew has mostly moved on to other roles within Microsoft, and that means we don't have enough people to monitor and respond to posts here for the coming year.
"We'll eventually close down www.shadowrun.com and transition it to the folks working on the next generation of Shadowrun products."
I hate Catherine Tate. She is absolute rubbish; repeating the same handful of catchphrases from episode to episode, series to series. Same joke different scenario. Little Britain's just as bad really.
But saying that, there's one statement from Catherine Tate's tawdry and tired show that seems particularly apt where this franchise is concerned...
Shadowrun was a massive missed opportunity... the original IP is an interesting and very versatile setting; FASA studio could have done any number of things with the cyberpunk fantasy espionage thriller setting. But no, they made a poor mans UT which may have had a few interesting features but was by no means a) especially good b) anything new c) actually finished by the time it was released.
However, if MS can pull some other Shadowrun titles out of the bag, and actually use the setting properly... we could have some good games in the pipleine.
I think were all well aware of the fate that awaits any product based on a failed launch, but now with added wankwords like 'next-gen'.
For all my luke-warm feeling towards Valve and Steam, they seem to be one of the few developers that take note of some of the feedback and actually make the effort to right some wrongs. Not only that, but they let their fans know that they're being listened to; it's important.
On the one hand, you have Richard Garriot (now forever known as Lord Dick) who blamed his playtesters for a poor product, when in fact, he just can't see an average game due to his blinding ego.
On the other hand, that guy who shot down Blacksite: Area 51 or whatever it's called is a Hero
Recognising your game is s**t (perhaps listening to the playtesters eh Lord Dick?) is the first step in getting things right.
Mistakes are made, were only human; but fix them before they hit the public domain, even if it's a closed beta as world will get around.
It was a watse of the Shadowrun name in my opinion. Firstly, why make it an FPS when 360 is swimming in them? Secondly, why on earth choose to have cross platform play when it's the most difficult genre to try and adapt so it's actually fair due to the different control scheme's? With all that in mind, it was set to fail from the word 'go'.
The least they could have done is admit the game was wank rather than try and kid themselves about the quality of their product.
You have a point. From a console perspective, it's all FPS and racing games with the odd (in both senses of the word) jap RPG thrown into the mix.
Most FASA games that I'm aware of (and it's been a long time since I've seen any) would be suited to RTS style. For some reason that's never been explained, consoles don't do RTS. Well, how about you change the RTS format into something that suits consoles, something slower paced with more emphasis on strategy and tactics than zipping across the map and micromanaging every flippin unit.
In fact, how about an overhaul of the whole RTS genre...
You're right, so many licenses are wasted as the devs try and squeeze them into reliable formats rather than building a game around what makes that license interesting in the first place.
Such an underrated game... I loved the SNES shadowrun rpg... but i love the 360 Shadowrun shooter even more. Check out the demo if you havent already and decide for yourself if this game deserved all the criticism.
Shadowrun is a total blast, yeah so it wasnt the game lots of Shadowrun rpg fans wanted... but now they can relax coz it looks like an rpg will be made after all.
Does that mean i should go and troll the forums for the new game coz i prefer FPS type gameplay? of course not, i may be a geek, but im not a sad spiteful geek
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