Every gamer has those few handpicked games that are as heliocentric to their own world as the sun is to our solar system. Those few games that we take personally. And I don’t mean “your momma” seriously, I’m talking “back…the…fuck…off…” seriously. Slapping a PS Vita out of a 10 year old hands’ seriously. For me, Shadowrun for SNES was one of those games.
First off, just watch the intro to the game.”The megacorps are powerful in a time where power means information…” and “…computer information flowing flowing in a global network…” Seriously – they couldn’t have predicted this any better if they tried and they weren’t even trying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy-bSsnsTrg
As for gameplay, rock solid. Remember, this was early SNES, so we’re not talking voiceovers and cutscenes. But what was so challenging (at the time) was that the game progressed through dialog, meaning that in order to advance, you always had to ask the next npc a specific word or phrase that could only be learned by talking to another npc. So, it wasn’t a game that entailed shooting everything that moved (which it was at times), but rather a game that required intellect and a certain amount of problem-solving.
Not to mention the music. The sweet, summer-rain style looping 20 second build of chords that annoyed the living hell out of my mother. But what did I care? I was living in a cyber-punk world. Not the cool, de-facto steampunk world either. Cyber-punk. Essentially, we were Neo before Neo was Neo.
The Sequel
Will be released through Steam on July 25, 2013. Expect a sizable variance from the original, but enough original DNA to make it worthwhile.