CROSSOVERS happen all the time. Comics are adapted into movies and vice-versa.
So it is little wonder that the pen and paper game Shadowrun was turned into a videogame.
Sadly, the final product ends up being one devoid of all its original roleplaying elements.
Instead, the game is now a first-person-shooter which uses the franchise's settings of humans versus dwarves versus trolls, but offering little to differentiate it from the dozens of similar games in the market.
This version of Shadowrun is basically a shooting game between two opposing forces, each with members possessing varying skills and abilities.
Trolls for example, are powerful but slow, while humans are more adept with gadgets.
What all characters have in common is the ability to buy magic, upgrades, weapons and skills to further differentiate players from one another.
You can choose the ability to teleport, fly or heal and, use each skill to its fullest potential during a battle.
But getting to that battle is a journey in itself.
With so many abilities, skills and weapons, the tutorial itself is broken down into several parts. It can be quite taxing trying to remember all the controls, which in turn affects the gaming experience.
And even after mastering the game controls, the fact remains that your best weapon is still the good old shotgun or machine gun to take out your opponents.
Somewhere along the line, the developers forgot that shooters like Halo and Rainbow Six are great, not for their complex controls, but for their simple yet effective gameplay.
Overall, the challenge, if one were to look for one, is in mixing skills with your equipment and to be the last one standing.
Shadowrun is Microsoft's first game that allows Xbox Live users to play online with their PC Vista counterparts and the objective of the game is to play eight-on-eight team matches to clear a round.
So, while it may be fun in the beginning to play with seven other console-controlled teammates against eight computer-controlled soldiers, you would need to go online and find yourself 15 other like-minded individuals to enjoy the strengths of this game.
Despite its apparent shortfalls, Shadowrun is still playable.
However, it offers nothing new.
And one cannot help but wonder how the various skill sets and techniques introduced here might have worked in a single-player, standalone game.
