Rock, Paper, Shotgun

File under What Could Have Been. Robert Olson was Art Director at FASA, and after Crimson Skies started work on… well, Shadowrun. As fond as I am (i.e. Slightly) of the eventual Shadowrun multiplayer FPS, the game which was cancelled before it. The original plan? “They wanted a new Shadowrun, one that was real in the way Peter Jackson made the “Lord of the Rings” universe real. They wanted an IP that would satisfy the hard core Shadowrun fans but appeal to a new and younger audience,” explains Olson. There’s a few more thoughts on what was presumably called Shadowrun: Awakening – because that’s what the URL says – over at the page, plus shots from an early demo. No ‘elf packs are visible.

Fans of large metal things stepping on smaller things will be disappointed to hear that FASA Studios have shut their doors. Reportedly half of the team are being moved into the rest of Microsoft Studios. The other half move to the pub, nursing pints and considering what they plan to do next. We wish them luck with whatever it is. FASA, even in their modern post-MS buyout form of Studios, rather than their older Interactive, made some pretty neat games.

While best known for the Mechwarrior games, their swansong was the future-trivia-answer Shadowrun (the question being: Which was the first game which allowed the PC to play against XBox 360 owners?” Tricky people will phrase the question “console owners” instead, where the answer will shift to Quake 3 on the Dreamcast and you’ll lose). I reviewed it for Eurogamer on release and gave it 6/10. It’s also one of my favourite multiplayer games of the year so far. There’s no contradiction there. As appealing as it often was, the mark reflects the ridiculous price attached to the game. If you see it cheap, and fancy raising a digital glass to the folk of FASA, you won’t regret it.