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Design, Layout, and Presentation:Like the preceding books from Catalyst Game Labs (CGL), Arsenal is a nice hardbound volume, with greyscale interiors. It clocks in at 200 pages, but the text is fairly small, so there's a good bit of information to be had. Despite the small text, it's easy to read, and the layout is relatively convenient. It's divided into seven chapters, and while artwork is fairly sparse, that which is present is of good quality or serves a valuable purpose. If you've read any of the previous "add-ons" by CGL (Street Magic and Augmentation) the format and presentation is exactly the same. CGL has maintained a very consistent style across their books. "Fluffy" bits are presented at the beginning of the chapter from an in-universe perspective, and "crunchy" bits close it out.
One point I feel worth mentioning, as it's a huge pet peeve of mine when it comes to "tech" or "equipment" books: the vast majority of the weapons and vehicles described in this book is given a illustration. While the pictures are small (they're placed in a "banner" running across the top of the page), usually recycled from other sources (as far back as the original Street Samurai Guide), and vary in overall quality, the fact that the effort was made to provide a nearly complete catalog of illustrations for the weapons, vehicles, and drones within is a major plus for me. Both I and my players like to know what their cool toys look like, and this book does an excellent job of providing that information.
There are a few exceptions to the above "picture provided" rule, and in a couple of instances some editorial hiccups when the item described in the text and the picture above have different names (A case of "we were gonna call it this, but then made it this" I suspect), but the instances are rare, and in the case of the misnamed entries it's not difficult to figure out which picture matches which entry (if nothing else, they have the same manufacturer listed). Most pictures are provided on the same page that they get their full entry, though in a few cases the picture or entry "bleeds over" a page.
All-in-all, what would have likely been a "3" for style gets bumped up a notch due to the effort to illustrate as many of the "toys" in the book as possible.
Fluffy Bits and Crunchy Bits: Arsenal divided into seven chapters: The Underground Economy, Weapons, Running Gear, Chemistry, Vehicles and Drones, Gear and Vehicle Modifications, and More Ways To Die (Advanced Combat Rules). Between this book and the main rulebook, a very large number of the weapons, gear, and vehicles available in previous editions have been upgraded to 4th Edition stats. I haven't done a side-by-side comparison with previous gear books to see what's missing (I'm fairly sure there's still plenty of vehicles not accounted for), but unless you're a huge fan of a specific vehicle, weapon, or drone type from a previous edition that just happened to not make the cut, you should find a suitable substitute among the wide variety of types presented here.
The Gear Modification and Advanced Combat rules appear to be fairly well-balanced to the rest of the game, with modifications and customization of gear being limited by the type of equipment being worked on, and attempts to "overmodify" bringing a strong chance of serious penalties and malfunctions along with it. The advanced combat rules focus primarily on a somewhat more in-depth martial arts system for the game, rules for hazardous environments, and a few miscellaneous optional rules for things like high-strength characters suffering less recoil penalties, and dual-wielding weapons (for example).
The back portion of the book contains several tables providing basic information and statistics on not only every piece of equipment in this book, but also the equipment found in the other 4E books so far (note this applies to non-implanted equipment only...cyberware, bioware, etc is contained within the Augmentation book mentioned earlier). These tables also serve as an index, noting which page of which book each piece of equipment is fully described. It's a very convenient resource for players and GMs alike and a valuable addition to the book.
The Downside: Despite being billed as a "core rulebook" this volume doesn't really provide anything that's absolutely necessary to add to your game. What rules are presented seem decent enough (I haven't playtested them myself yet), and none of the equipment is particularly "game breaking" (particularly since it's always left in the GM's hands as to what his Runners can get ahold of), but at a hefty price it just might struggle to "break even" in terms of value vs. cost. If you're a fan of "new toy" books or gear books in general, or have players or NPCs that love to stay completely "state of the art" you'll likely greatly enjoy this volume. If you're running a magic-heavy campaign where technology and equipment takes a bit more of a back seat, you can safely get by with what's in the main rulebook.
One final note: I don't believe there's any completely new weapons or vehicles/drones presented here. There may be and I just didn't realize it, but it appears to be almost entirely updates of older equipment.
Conclusion: Arsenal professes to be the "Core Gear Rulebook" for Shadowrun, 4th Edition. To my mind, a "core rulebook" is something that ideally should be (or very nearly be) a "must buy" for most players of the game. In my opinion, this book doesn't quite meet that criteria. However, it still manages to be a very worthy sourcebook in its' own right, and might well enhance your games if you choose to include its contents...it's just that I don't feel anyone's campaigns will suffer if they choose not to.
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