Like so many games offered today, I find that an older edition is more to my liking than the current edition. I have played more Fifth than any other edition of Shadowrun, but it is Third Edition that seems to be where this game reaches its maturity yet has not started to put on excess weight. By Fifth Edition the "middle age spread" is very evident and Shadowrun Sixth World has a reputation for dementia-like gaps in the rule system as written.
Shadowrun is a different sort of game that is very much a product of its First Edition era - late 1980s. Those of us who lived through that era may recall the promise technology held for our as yet unknown future. Shadowrun riffs off a 1980s view of the future while stirring in a bunch of familiar FRP game tropes like orcs, elves and magic. The result is an interesting setting that is both familiar in that the places bear names like Seattle and Chicago, but blend fantasy elements with a bunch of pseudoscientific technology like network hacking and cybernetics. During the 1980s neon was big, Japanese technology seemed cutting-edge and destined to replace our animal pets with cyber ones. The film Blade Runner and the novel Neuromancer also seem to fit nicely with my imagining of Shadowrun's setting. In Shadowrun lore Magic has returned and along with it, elves, dwarves, orcs and trolls have "evolved" from humans. If your fancy runs more to The Matrix, you can feature that concept in your "stories" (Third Edition uses that very term for the "network"). For the imaginative gamer there is a lot to get excited about in Shadowrun.
Corporations have largely replaced nations as the brokers of power in the Shadowrun near-future (Third Edition refers to the year 2060) setting. Morality can seem "quaint" in a dystopian environment ruled by the faceless corporations which offer better living through cyber drugs and technological implants - for a price - seems there is always a price to be paid. Enter the Shadow-runners, the PCs who do the corporation's dirty work on the down-low so as to maintain "plausible deniability" should anyone try to connect their activities back to the corporation. Add in some active nature spirits (totems), high-tech gadgets galore, and street-gang toughs and there is near endless opportunity for a creative referee/GM.
Shadowrun is a system that mechanically relies on the dice pool - d6s - lots of them! The character system blends class with skills and throws in a significant dose of technology to create its own unique potpourri that at times can feel a bit overwhelming. The upside is that there are a lot of options to go for when building and advancing a character. It also means there is a lot of moving parts for the person running the game to keep track of. I wouldn't exactly call Shadowrun "novice friendly".
If you are into gear as a player, Shadowrun may be your ideal playground. In Shadowrun's technology rich pseudo-future the toys abound and you will never have enough credits to buy all the gadgets and implants on your "wish list". In fact, keeping you hungry for more is part of "the game" and provides a reason for you to take that next risky job from your "Mr. Johnson".
Shadowrun lends itself easily to a modular style of campaign play where connecting a series of missions or "runs" involving a crew of characters seems logical. A typical adventure may involve being contacted by a representative of the corporation who offers you a job. Negotiating with this "Mr. Johnson" is your first task. They never tell you all the details, so investigation and research is often your next task. Scouting may seem logical if you have access to the site of your "run". Planning the job may actually take the most game-time as you and your fellow players divide up the tasks and try to cover all the potential challenges you can imagine. Then there is playing out the task, which may involve hacking, gun-play, a chase scene or any other devious hazard the referee can devise to make you earn your new yen.
I do consider the Third Edition book inferior to Shadowrun's later editions (and also earlier editions) in one respect - the art on the cover is not my favorite. Fortunately I had already been drawn to Shadowrun viewing the cover illustration of First Edition, otherwise I might have passed on what I now consider an excellent game. I find the Third Edition art lacks the "character" of other cover illustrations. Third Edition's cover seems to focus on communicating "action" over everything else. There is little in terms of street "vibe" to help establish the unique nature of the Shadowrun setting - an virtually nothing that screams "cyberpunk". (I also find it a bit lacking in depth and perspective despite an obvious effort at conveying a sense of height.) I think it's just a weak feature of an otherwise excellent RPG product.
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