In this ongoing look at significant moments in the history of video game design, we have already taken a look at Bungie’s Halo & Halo 2, Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls series, Nintendo’s Metroid and several others. The goal of this series is to go beyond simple gaming magazines and iPhone App Reviews reviews, and take a closer look at what defines memorability and quality in game design. In this twenty-third part of the series we will examine some more of those classic moments where video game designers undoubtedly got it right and delivered a memorable, enduring and progressive gaming experience.

Shadowrun (Genesis) – Developed by BlueSky Software and released on the Sega Genesis in 1994, Shadowrun is very often confused with its SNES counterpart that was released a year prior. Despite the fact that both game are action role-playing-games and share the Shadowrun license, the two games have very little in common. While the SNES version saw better success due to the larger install base of the SNES console, most gamers agree that the Genesis version of the game provided the superior gameplay experience.

Shadowrun takes place in what is known as a ‘cyberpunk’ setting. This genre, which was fairly new to video games at the time, involves the mixing of high technology with low quality of life…a near ideal setting for a video game. The game consists of the main character, Joshua, a shadowrunner (mercenary) performing tasks (runs) that range from infiltrating buildings and stealing goods, to hacking into computer systems, to performing enemy assassinations. The beauty of the game is that the player is free to accomplish tasks in any manner in which they see fit. This freedom of choice is something that very few games offered at the time, but has proven to be a feature that many players are quite fond of to this day. If the player is given a task of retrieving data from a secured building, they could choose to either sneak in the building and try to avoid detection as they commit the theft, go in guns blazing and take it by force, talk their way in by using their negotiation skills, use magic to control the minds and bodies of the security forces, or simply hack into the computer system from the outside and steal the data electronically. Games offering this many options simply did not exist at the time that Shadowrun was released. What is most surprising, however, is not the fact that so many options were present in the game, but that each type of player character was so thoroughly fleshed out and balanced. There was no ‘magic bullet’ character option in Shadowrun. Each choice provided the same level of challenge and commitment on behalf of the player, and each came with its own unique rewards and individual accomplishments, missions, items and skill sets.

Impressive even by today’s standards of game design, Shadowrun is a game that must be experienced by all gamers. It was a progressive and courageous game that was executed with absolute finesse, and for its incredibly varied gameplay and depth of options, Shadowrun earns its place in our ongoing series of unforgettable video game design moments.

Video from the ipad special event 27/01/2010 NOVA from Gameloft and X Games Snocross from 2XL