Let's face it - September is the month that everyone seems to be waiting for, and until the big Halo 3 drops later this year, giving X-Box Live players around the world a reason to rejoice, people are looking for something fresh to fill the void. If you're looking for a solid and fun multiplayer game to keep your itchy trigger finger happy, then Shadowrun is the game for you.

The major complaint about Shadowrun, let's get it out of the way... There is no campaign or story mode to speak of. You can do the tutorials and fight against some bots in an offline mode to practice, but X-Box Live is what it's all about. Plus, it's the first game allowing X-Box 360 players to compete against their Windows Vista brethren, so you can decide who the superior gamer is: PC gamers or 360 players!

The multiplayer is a great lot of fun, and if you like it, will keep you happy for a long time. As the match starts out, you are divided into teams and are given the option to pick your race - Humans are capable of doing everything fairly well, while Dwarves are smaller and harder to hit. They're able to absorb 'Essence' from other players, giving them more power to use attacks of their own. Elves are the fastest of the four and regenerate their health, whilst Trolls are the biggest of the four, growing spikes on their body as they're being shot, raising their defense and making them harder to kill - a fair trade considering they are the slowest of the four races.

After picking your race and upon the match beginning, you are first taken to the 'buy' screen, which is where decisions will have to be made about how you're going to play the game. Every magic spell, tech and weapon (apart from the basic pistol) costs a bit of money, some being worth more than others. Magic and tech will stay with you after the round even if you die, whilst dieing on the battlefield means you will have to lose any weapons you were carrying, forcing you to re-buy them. If you're lacking in funds, team-mates can generously donate some money to your cause, assuming they're friendly enough.

The combinations of different magic and tech to get the victory are almost endless, which means that every game you play is going to be a different experience. Being able to wave your hand to literally blow another person off the edge of a building, only to have them fly up into the sky with their Glider before being nailed with a head-shot by a fellow team-mate watching with a sniper from the distance is certainly a lot of fun, and there are plenty of moments where you'll be grinning at the screen because of how utterly perfect those scenarios can turn out.

There are three modes of play to choose from, including Attrition (your usual team death match), Extraction (think capture the flag) and Raid (one team defends an artifact while the other team tries to take it). Considering this game is being sold as a multiplayer only experience, it would have been nice to see a few more game modes. The basics are definitely there though and are tried-and-true successes in all multiplayer games of this type.

Visually, the game really has it's own art style, looking somewhat like a cartoon. The magic effects look awesome and explosions look effective as they should, with maps all supporting their own different visual style, each creating their own unique atmosphere. The frame-rate runs nice and smooth throughout, rarely interrupting gameplay. Sound is acceptable with the appropriate bangs and booms that a shooter should have.

A game like Shadowrun is an obvious risk, focusing on the multi-player and not offering any sort of serious offline modes. Thankfully, here in Australia, the game is almost half the RRP of your usual new release 360 games! So although on the surface you are given some shallow options to play with, the fact that it's so much cheaper from the outset makes the flaws easy to forgive considering how addictive and utterly crazy the gameplay is. Shadowrun is a damn good deal, and should be given a try by anyone who likes to frag others online. For any gamer getting tired of the usual FPS formula, put Shadowrun into your X-Box 360 and change the rules of engagement!