This is the setting for Shadowrun, Microsoft's new first-person shooter and the first in which Xbox 360 gamers can compete against their Windows Vista counterparts.

The game itself is inspired by the old FASA pen-and-paper role-playing game. As with the original, players take on the role of mercenary "shadowrunners" battling one another on behalf of their corporate or arcane masters.

Shadowrun plays like a traditional first-person shooter, with the addition of a Counterstrike-like buy-in stage that allows players to purchase weapons, tech and magic. The weapons are a typical mix of light and heavy, such as pistols, mini-guns and rocket launchers, while tech mixes things up by including wired reflexes so quick that players can dodge sniper bullets, a glider that let them fly around the battlefield and smartlink, which gives any gun a zoom ability and prevents friendly fire.

Magic transforms the battlefield, allowing players to snare enemies in entangling fields of crystals, plant trees of life to regenerate damage and cast spells to resurrect fallen companions. Arcane power also allows players to teleport through obstructions and turn to smoke to avoid enemies.

Players can choose to be humans, dwarves, elves or trolls, with each race having its own strengths and weaknesses. Elves are fast and regenerate health but are physically weak. Trolls can take tremendous amounts of damage but are ponderously slow, while dwarves have less arcane power but can drain magic from those near them.

Unlike many of its FPS kin, Shadowrun has no single-player campaign mode. All of its action takes place in multiplayer mode, be it offline against computer-controlled bots or online against Xbox and Windows players over Xbox Live.

Running into a dead end

Shadowrun had a lot of potential. The setting is different enough to support a truly different single-player campaign, and the entire "shadowrun" idea cries out for 2-to-4-player cooperative play. Its cyber-magical pedigree could have provided inspiration for all manner of different game modes and environments. It could have been many things, but what it ended up as is a disappointment.

It's not that the game isn't fun. The gimmicks are great, and make for wildly different games depending on which combination of tech and magic the two competing factions decide to use. Anyone who ever wished they could teleport through a wall or glide over the battlefield will love these enhancements. The game's visuals can be stunning, particularly on the fantasy-inspired maps, and the integration with Windows Vista appears seamless.

The problem is the game's lack of depth, even at what it's supposed to be best at: multiplayer. There are only three game types, two capture-the-flag variants and a team deathmatch. That might be enough for a game with a solid single-player game behind it, but a multiplayer-only game like Shadowrun—particularly with the mission-based pedigree of its RPG namesake—demands more objective-based games. Something like Unreal Tournament's assault and onslaught modes would have been perfect. Being able to split combatants into more than two teams would also have been helpful, particularly when combined with multiple-flag or "king of the hill" zone control game modes.

The game offers only the thinnest of stories for players to hang their imaginations on, pitting the security division of the RNA Corporation against the mystical Lineage gang. Fans of the role-playing game expecting more will be sorely disappointed.

Shadowrun certainly has its moments, and with the right group of online friends, it can be a blast. It's just not one that will likely last past the arrival of Halo 3.