So I just got my hands on the Shadowrun Beta, and I’ll do my best to give you a run-down on how the game plays and what we can all expect. First off, the game looks and feels like alot of other FPS games out there, which is both a positive and a negative. The positive side being it was very easy to acclimate myself to the game’s mechanics and style. The negative side being that you get the sneaking suspicion that you’ve been down this road before.

The game really sets itself apart through the use of the magic and tech upgrades, as well as the different character races. This is by far the bread and butter of the game, and the point that makes it most worth your attention. I’ve gone through the detailed walkthrough about how to use a good chunk of these abilities, and they’re varied enough to really set this game apart from the usual team-based shooter. In this post I’ll focus mostly on the magic you’re taught during the walkthroughs.

The first two abilities you’re taught, glide and teleport, are easily the most fun to play around with. Once you get used to using them in conjunction you quickly begin to realize that the game is alot more complex than other first person shooters. Once I had the buttons down pat I was able to launch myself in the air, start firing on an enemy and then quickly teleport behind him to finish him off. Of course this is again AI bots but you can see how people will eventually be skilled enough to pull off some crazy moves like this using only these initial abilities. Me? I was just having a blast teleporting myself through walls and ceilings.

I was quick to assume that those were the base abilities and other “sub” abilities would be built on top of that as I worked through the tutorials, but that’s not the case. Each person will be able to tailor their magic and tech to what suits them best. And there’s a good amount to choose from here. So far I’ve been introduced to “gust” (think force push), the ability to summon a Minion for defensive help or as an attack dog, an enhanced vision capability that let’s you see through walls, and more. And I can see all these abilities being used depending on the types of people you’re playing with.

There’s a very cool element to resurrecting your dead teammates. Each character has an essense gauge, that is used up from casting spells. It’s made up of about 8 orbs, and different spells require a different amount of orbs to cast. When you resurrect someone, 3 of your orbs are inaccessible to you while that person is alive, you’re in effect using your essense to keep them alive. Pretty cool, but it gets better. If the person who resurrected you dies, you’ll being to lose health until someone brings them back to life. It’s an awesome element, the idea that this person was keeping you alive was killed so you’re also paying the price.

Of course you’ll be able to heal yourself by using the “Tree of Life”. It’s a spell that basicially causes a glowing tree to appear out of the ground. Anyone in the aura of the tree will be healed, teamate or not. So once you’re created a tree, it becoms a tactical point to try and maintain, less your enemy take over the area and use the healing power of the tree for themselves. It makes for a more interesting match than just casting “heal” and moving on.

As mentioned earlier, it’s possible to have the ability to summon a minion to help you out on the battlefield. They’re as strong as all get-out, but they have their weaknesses. You can summon them to be defensive or to attack enemy units. It’ll listen to what it’s told to do unless it sees another minion. If that happens it basicially drops everything and attacks the other minion, whether it’s friend or foe. So you gotta be careful when you’re casting it. It can also be killed by draining it’s essense, which is easy for a dwarf since they automaticially drain the essence from any unit close to them. So if you manage to get your dwarf close to a minion without getting youself killed, you can take it down.

Next time I’ll get into the different races and their abilities. But I’ll say this, the races are very different from one another. They pushed it way past the usual speed and strength differences. Each character will have to be played in a very different way to be effective.