They just lifted the NDA on the Shadowrun beta, so I am now allowed to share my impressions of the game with you.

It’s really fucking fun.

I was on the fence about the game before I got into the beta. I’d seen it in development, seen it at E3, and it looked interesting. But it’s also not making very good use of the franchise potential. I would have preferred a true next-gen Shadowrun game, and Shadowrun as it is just be called… I don’t know, whatever.

Now that I’ve been playing it, I don’t care as much. It’s fun enough that I can just ignore that they could have done so much more with the Shadowrun franchise, and enjoy the game.

One of my main concerns was that it would either A) be just another shooter or B) try to be so unique and complex that the game broke itself. Well, I’m happy to report that I don’t thing either of these happened.

Shadowrun adds enough to the mix to make it more than just another shooter, but while adding in all these cool gadgets, weapons and powers, still managed to keep things pretty balanced. Everything is fun to use, and powerful in some way, but everything also seems to have a counter, a weak spot.

It makes for some really fun matches. The graphics are fairly pretty too.

I won’t go so far as to say it’s a Halo killer, but that is not for lack of fun or creativity. Halo just has half a decade of brand promotion under its belt. But Shadowrun will be a nice appetizer this summer.