Now that the NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) has been lifted on the Shadowrun Beta participants, I can tell you a bit about what I’ve experienced so far.  If you have any questions about the game, feel free to post them or discuss them on the message boards.

 

My Thoughts

First and foremost let me just say that I won’t make mention of any of the graphics in the game because as a beta, they stink.  Keep in mind that a beta is an unfinished product and it doesn’t represent what you’ll see in the finished game.  So although I may post some screenshots of what I’m playing, you should visit the Shadowrun screenshots for a more accurate detail of what the final game might be.

The game is going to be interesting to say the least.  There are different races to play with along with different powers to use.  You set your powers before each online battle and assign them to your controller’s triggers or shoulder buttons.  I liked the Glide Magic and a few of the Tech improvements.  They each cost points that you obtain during the course of a battle.  Some of the Tech improvements give your weapon better aiming while some will allow you more speed.  Magic ranged from a Tree of Life which refilled your life bar as long as you stood next to it, to a Regenerate ability that allowed you to bring a fallen teammate back to life.  The interesting thing about Regenerate is that when a friend elects to cast this on you, you’ll have to watch that friend becasue if he/she dies, you die.  That will be interesting.

If I had to choose some favorites right now, I’d choose the Glide and Teleport.  Glide lets you glide in the air to reach higher areas or just shoot your enemies while they run around on the ground.  Teleport allows you to teleport through walls and such.  So at some points when it seemed like I was about to be killed for sure, I’d just run straight through a wall and get away. 

A cool thing about one of the races in the game, the Trolls, is that when you shoot them, their skin just hardens.  Shooting them only makes them stronger.  You’ll still kill them but it was interesting seeing how their skin would harden when shot. 

There was no PC testing unfortunately.  I’ll have more on the game coming up but I wanted to give a quick look at the game for those interested.  If you have any questions, you know where to go.