You may have noticed from my occasional comments that I’m sort of a fan of the Shadowrun series. I took it into my head that my vitriolic comments might be of interest to others, and so inquired with the folks at 1up. I found that they were interested … and then proceeded to write the most unprofessional drivel that’s ever escaped my fingers.

Thankfully, time and editing heals all wounds. The article Running From Shadows: Why Shadowrun Made Fans Cry went up on 1up.com today, and I think it turned out not too badly.

This year’s release of FASA Studio’s Shadowrun FPS left a lot of people scratching their heads. Design and control decisions left fans on both sides of the PC/360 fence feeling cold. Tabletop players wondered why it wasn’t an RPG. And, of course, there were a lot of gamers who just wanted to see a new version of Crimson Skies. Surprisingly, the deepest disappointment seemed to stem from the game’s use of the Shadowrun license. As a tabletop role-playing game it never reached such high profile as the fantasy juggernaut, Dungeons & Dragons. Why then was the complaining and kvetching so loud? Why all the bad blood over what amounts to a relatively obscure franchise?

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