14 DAY TRIAL // Shadowrun Returns was one of the few big releases of the week and, considering its very successful crowdfundind campaign on Kickstarter, not to mention the hype surrounding the franchise and its troubled past, it attracted the attention of quite a few gamers.
As we revealed in our own review, the game performs quite admirably, managing to breathe fresh life into the universe created by Jordan Weisman, and re-introducing veterans into the overall genre, as well as those who didn't get a chance to play the classic games or the tabletop pen and paper experience.
Sadly, while the game is quite good, with a great first story and sets up, through its comprehensive editor, the possibility of seeing new campaigns made by actual players, it does stumble in a few key areas, with the biggest fault being the lack of an actual manual save system.
I have to admit that in the case turn-based role-playing games, I can become a bit addicted to the quicksave option as I always want to know that, in case something goes wrong, I can immediately revert back to my previous state and try out another strategy.
Sure, it's not exactly fair but I'm quite attached to my troops and I don't want them dying because of a rushed move or a surprise enemy attack.
In this regard, Shadowrun Returns may be trying to keep it old school but, considering that battles tend to be waged for some time, especially those towards the end of the first campaign, it can become downright aggravating, especially if something comes up and you have to leave the game.
This is where you enter a dilemma, either continue playing and hope that there will be a level transition with an automatic checkpoint, or just exit the game and prepare to start over the whole level.
This may be old school but it's not fun, so I hope that the team at Harebrained Schemes will implement a regular save game system sooner or later.