Shadowrun: Hong Kong - Review @ IGN

HiddenX

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Shadowrun: Hong Kong got a lot of praise already and IGN likes the game, too:

Good soundtracks aren't always good indicators of good games, but it's happily the case with Shadowrun: Hong Kong. The artistry of composer Jon Everist's work reveals itself in the opening titles, and maintains an atmosphere of subdued mystery through character creation and beyond - spilling over into the first conversations and battles effortlessly and memorably. It hints at the other enjoyable things that wait ahead, and though its story struggles to maintain focus at times, Shadowrun: Hong Kong is another great adaptation of the well-loved tabletop universe. [...]

The Verdict
Shadowrun: Hong Kong doesn't change much about the core gameplay experience that developer Harebrained Schemes has given us for three years now, but it makes up for it with a quality tactical RPG that's challenging, well-written, and filled with memorable visuals and audio. What it lacks in new features it makes up for in improving old ones, such as a better experiences in the Matrix as well as improved interface options.

Score: 8.0 - Great

  • (+) Excellent writing
  • (+) Improved Matrix
  • (+) Superb music, visuals
  • (-) Unfocused story
  • (-) Occasional bloat
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Well deserved. I'm currently playing it and I find it very enjoyable. A good variety of different missions, improved inventory & party-management, entertaining characters, and a bunch of new spells, skills 'n stuff.

About the only thing I still feel is lacking, is the absence of voiced characters. I'm not talking a huge voice-over cast with tons of dialogue here, but simply an occasional spoken word/greeting from the "Main Cast" of the game. For me, that would have done a great deal to enhance the life & immersion of the game world.
 
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I like Shadowrun: Hong Kong, but I find there's just too much "rubbish" between missions. And it's not for lack of love for reading, it's just a lot of the reading feels forced and inconsequential. Describing scenes and gestures is great, but making you swallow hours of unimportant, inconsequential reading slowly loses charm until it feels like an ordeal and has you just skipping through walls of text.

I'm veteran enough to have played old text-based RPGs, I'm also a veteran PnP'er and a DM for several RPGs, including online ones, but Shadowrun: Hong Kong just overdoes it in my opinion.


That said, it's a very good game without a doubt that belongs to every RPG lover's collection.
 
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