The atmosphere in the game is excellent. Chatter and threats coming from the radio are unique and well voice acted. The setting feels fresh, but also familiar. The characters are occasionally both personable, and hardened as befits the setting. But often, the non player characters are one dimensional. Complaining and quest giving seem to be the major past times of npc in Wasteland. It made the game take on a very ... mmo vibe. Given that largely every encounter devolves into a violent set piece against a barren wasteland, I have to wonder that there wasn't a car chase (perhaps that is later). But I want to state ahead of time that no matter what difficulty you choose to play at your squad members and the civilians are going to die. Which seems appropriate for the setting, but too often feels random and uncontrolled, not even as elegant as a rogue likes brutality. The UI will not help you. It will count off AP for movement, but not items (which may have different AP cost). It will list percentages that are too high, or too low, and only the shotgun will work consistently. The enemies are lack luster, and being hit with a dot and going unconscious ensures characters death, as the use of the unskilled pain killers is glitchy - there were occasions where my typewriter log dictated 10 uses of a painkiller on a downed character before the character died without the painkillers being used - and the economy is designed to punish you for purchasing anything besides Trauma kits, ammunition, and rad suits. There doesn't feel like a way to explore the game through developing anything but your take on Mad Max.
I can't say as I'm amazed. Shadowrun: Dragonfall does most things right. But it's not at all appropriate to list this in the Role-playing category of games. It's very well scripted. The dialog is fresh and keeps you engaged, none of the characters are simplistic in their background or their opinions. The gameplay is, from all I've read, a much better incarnation than the first Shadowrun. Unfortunately for me it was incredibly familiar. There wasn't any big disappointment in the gameplay, except when I tried to build an Adept the first time and made a lot of mistakesin character development. However the game's effort to recreate "The Matrix" as more of the same kind of combat not only made the came take longer than it needed to but it also served to highlight the boring limitations of combat as it was presented in the game. Because the bulk of the gameplay is the combat, this turns most of the campaign into a collection of bottlenecks. Not in difficulty so much as pacing. Dramatic moments are underscored by lengthy fights against unvaried enemies. The only termendous surprise was the (spoiler) in the basement. Still it's the first time in a long time that I've visited the world of Shadowrun and I hope to find my old sourcematerial soon and maybe run the shadows again, and for that, I'm glad for Harebrained Studios. If an interest in Shadow is the reaction more people have than not, that's a success all of it's own.
