I started off as a mage with only one spell--healing. Had to use a pickaxe to fight, and an old bow. Took about five hours before I learned my first offensive spell, but worth the wait. Better graphics than Oblivion, with water shaders, item reflections--trees, actors, et al. Played on my Samsung with an HDMI cable, but game crashes too often. First crash since no external monitor--more than five hours. Screen tearing with a monitor. Inventory scrolls left to right, but not up and down--annoying! Using NorthernUI for joystick controls, a bit rough, but that's not the game's fault. Fast travel doesn't work, but teleportation does, with teleport stones--acceptable, I'm cloning them anyway. Beautiful music! All actors are German, but text is in English. No cheesing the level system, so be it, enjoying the game regardless.
After 15 years of playing Supreme Commander 2 on the Xbox 360, I didn't think I'd like any other version. I was wrong. All the units I enjoy, and new ones too. Still can't build walls, but that's a minor issue,--I rarely used them in Supreme Commander / Forged Alliance.
-Shadowrun Returns is a blend of better graphics and gameplay, but only if you have played the ancient console versions. -SR is presented in tile-based 2D backgrounds and objects, with 3D animated PCs and NPCs. The 2D tiles are beautifully and cleanly drawn. The 3D characters are chunky, low-poly models, with distinctions for race and gender. -The core game has few weapons and mods, but success rates with gear are far more dependent on characters stats. Mods are not directly applied to a weapon, rather each mod is a new weapon purchased separately, which I found annoying. Also, there is only one 3D model for each weapon, regardless of modifications. -Character customization is where SR truly shines (unless you're a decker)! SR allows characters to be imported into new games, so playing community scenarios will quickly develop your runner into a powerful agent. -SR Matrix runs are underwhelming compared to the Genesis Shadowrun version. SR never changes perspective when entering the Matrix, but building a powerful deck in SR, however, is far less tedious! -Music and sound-effects are adequate, if only just barely. Weapons sound as they should, and the music is up-tempo and techno. Eventually I just turned the music off, finding it more distraction than mood-setter. -SR falters on game saves. Checkpoints don't kill the game, but not being able to save when I leave the game is a sin!
