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Style
Overall it is done in a very presentable format. It is an easy read with clean fonts and a nice layout. Some folks don't care for the "minty green borders" but I have to say I kind of like them. They don't detract from the overall appearence at all and give the book a unique feel.
The fiction was good and the rules are concise and easy to understand. The writing style made it an easy read from cover to cover, something not always accomplished in RPG rules books.
My complaints in the style department are the art and the charatcer sheet provided.
I don't care for the cover art at all. The interior art is hit or miss. There are some really great pieces, and some really awful ones as well.
As for the charatcer sheet? It is a pet peeve of mine, but I like classy and well done sheets. The one provided is neither.
Overall I really liked the look and readability of the book, but the art and character sheet made me drop the rating to a 4 instead of 5. Still not too bad though.
Substance
Setting: The book really shines here. It give a good intro into what it entails to be a Shadowrunner and an overview of the world in "A History Lesson for the Reality Impaired". The setting is something I have always loved about Shadowrun. They manage to mix the fantasy and cyberpunk genres in a way that doesn't leave you thinking "what the hell?".
My only complaint here is I would have liked to have seen perhaps a few pages dedicated to detailing some of Seattle, and the changes it has seen leading up to 2070.
Character Creation: This is a monster and perhaps the primary fault I found in the new edition. I liked the old priority method, it worked great. The 4th edition however gives you a 400 point character build.
It gives you alot of room to create a character that you want, but at the expense of time. Alot of time. I have a full time job, a wife and two kids. My players have the same and it is sometimes a hassle to schedule our gaming sessions around our other commitments. Because of that, I hate having to use up one of our entire sessions on character creation.
Rules: The game mechanics were altered greatly from the 2nd edition ones I was familiar with. In alot of respects they remind me alot of White Wolf's mechanics, just using d6's instead. I thought that was a bit on the lame side but it doesn't draw too big of a complaint from me. The mechanics work, that's all I really need.
At first I thought this was going to be a large hassle because of the sometimes very large amount of dice you will be rolling for a single action. It hasn't slowed down the pace of our gaming so I guess that was a false alarm on my part.
One area I was pleased with was the matrix. To me this was a vast improvement over previous editions. Deckers (oops, sorry. I mean hackers) are now viable characters without providing the GM with an undue amount of extra work. For the first time I've actually had players WANTING to play one as well. So that is cool.
I like the changes to the magic traditions as well. It allows for some pretty good customization on tradition types without having to dramatically alter any of the mechanics.
We haven't had to do much troubleshooting in our game play. The rules function pretty well as is. We've done a few houserule modifications for personal taste and to help things go a bit smoother (like any other system we play). So, I'd say it is a pretty solid system even though there are a few areas I could make some jabs at.
Conclusion
Overall I'd say both me and my group are quite pleased with the current edition. It is playable and has one of the best settings of any RPG out there. We've done some pretty good gaming with it and plan on continuing to do so. As a fan of earlier editions, there are a few things I miss but I've got to say that Shadowrun 4th Edition was a fine purchase and I look forward to seeing future products in the line.
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