Shadowrun Hong Kong - Extended Edition

I had some fun playing this game, but mostly it was a tedious adventure. How so? Well from my experience with the previous titles, I expected a mixture of RPG-Strategy with an atmospheric storytelling adventure. But I was rather disappointed. The fights I had so far, after playing about 10 missions, were rather boring. To much luck was involved and the fights were either a bit to difficult to win, or much to easy. And if they were difficult, this was not so much solved by a good strategy (which would be nice), rather than by saving and loading and having luck. I feel, that this was different in the preceding to titles. I could say more about it, but that's it essentially. Also You have the choice to avoid most fights. Some runs may go completely without fighting, except if You really choose to. This is theoretically a nice trait, but it removes the strategy element from the game, or makes it optional. And since I naturally like to avoid fights, it takes some fun out of it for me. But anyways, as described, fights are mostly boring. The adventure element on the other hand isn't so good either. The main story, up to the point I played the game, is rather boring (my opinion!). There are some details about it and I could point at each and say why it bores me. But how to sum it up? Maybe like this: It's a story consisting of many small details, which are all rather boring by themselves and don't really add up to something bigger than it's parts.

If you want a mix of turn based combat and reading then buy this game. Unique setting, great writting, music and visuals. I've enjoyed it a lot. Also, get Dragonfall DC if you want more.

I was a little nervous at first. The intro chapter takes a bit of time, following more of a "read the story text" mode as the intro plot begins to take shape. Of course, you soon find out that this whole sequence is necessary - and it IS awesome! I was just worried that there was going to be too much hand-holding compared to the previous two Shadowrun titles byHBS, which are EXCELLENT! Get them all! Hong Kong has been given several upgrades to the previous titles. Hair-Brained-Schemes certainly has been hard at work, sculpting out there latest. The new crew is excellent, the new game system enhancements are cool... but I think that I might prefer the more elegant Dragonfall interface. Still, they do have a wonderful sense of know-how when it comes to making games for folks exactly like me! :) Their first installment: Shadowrun Returns - Must Have! Their second installment: Shadowrun Dragonfall Director's Cut - Must Have Even MORE!!! Their third installment: Shadowrun Hong Kong - If you like the above, this is a Must Have, Too!!!

This season has a lot of Asian reference; from China to Japan extending to Malaysia and Indonesia. Unless you are a fan of travelling or watching anime, you might find the reference a bit boring and unfamiliar. Matrix become better and fun but I hope they add more than just memorizing number game; a lot variety of puzzle can be made (involving number of course. Addition and substraction can be fun sometimes) Totally recommended.

While SR: Dragonfall was a huge improvement over Shadowrun Returns the third game by Harebrained Schemes is essentially just more of the same. Storytelling and mission design are not as great as they are in Dragonfall but still good most of the time. Hong Kong with it's asian flair is a nice change in scenery and although the new hacking mini games felt a little out of place to me, I enjoyed the game as a whole quite a lot. Recommended for every Shadowrun fan and anyone who likes text heavy RPGs.