System Shock

The Good
The A.I, SHODAN seems to be reading your mind, like if you go to blow something up, after picking up some plastique or stuff, it was all quiet before you left, but then when you go to blow it up, SHODAN send you a little e-mail, with an attachment you probably won't survive.

The weapons, the Railgun especially, (who doesn't like the Railgun? Quake fans love it!), and then there's the physics engine, another "before its time" thing, you can push stuff around, you can blow stuff up causing a chain reaction.

The Bad
The reactor destruct code is randomly selected everytime you start a new game. I mean, c'mon stick to STANDARDS people.

The Bottom Line
If SHODAN suddenly appears on your screen after playing System Shock...be very afraid. Heh heh

The Good
Everything. To put it into perspective, if this game were released tomorrow, in its current state, it would be better than 99% of the games released all year (well, 2001). Even with the archaic graphics. Even with the dated AI technology. The core gameplay is so damn good. In fact, the gameplay is more varied and detailed than today's modern classic, Half-Life.

Another way to put it into perspective: A much more well known game released about the same time as System Shock is Doom. Doom is more widely known, and is more widely praised, as shown by the accolades for Serious Sam, an evolutionary throwback of a game releases recently.

Think of Doom's graphics and gameplay: Both are very, very dated. The gameplay is simple, easy, and dumb as a post. Shoot, run, shoot, run, hit switch to end level. Ad nauseum. Exciting in its day, but modern games (some of them) have evolved past that point. The wonderful thing about System Shock was that its gameplay was already evolved, almost ten years ago.

It has a coherent, interesting story that is integral and important every moment of the game. The story is enriched by audio logs scattered about the station, e-mails, and scraps of information gleaned from the stations computer net. The logs, presented in mostly well-acted audio, do wonders in fleshing out the game world. They tell the stories of hopeless groups of survivors trying to fight the mutant and cyborg onslaught. You hear their hopes for stopping the computer SHODAN, and pick up their fight. All the while, you receive e-mails from your contact on earth, instructing you and guiding you through the station. You also receive mail from your nemesis, SHODAN, as she mocks you, threatens you, and occasionally, fears you. She is present throughout the entire game. While approaching a CPU node with mayhem on your mind, she chirps in "Enter that room, hacker, and it will be your grave. You hesitate, but continue. And indeed, when you destroy the nodes, she sends a small army of cyborgs to do you in. She repeatedly ambushes you, taunting you in her computer-psychotic voice. It's unnerving, and the effect has not been repeated in any game I've played, sequel included.

System Shock's interface is also leagues ahead of Doom's. While much more complicated and cumbersome, it allows you to do so much more. You can lean around corners, you can crouch and even crawl on you belly, you can jump across chasms, you can look up and down. Aiming is also more interesting. You use a cursor to aim your guns and fire them. It does take a while to get used to it after years of mouselook, but I do like the more realistic effect of the aiming cursor. In addition, the recoil effects of the weapons is perfect. You feel like you're firing off a powerful machine gun when you rip off a burst from the Skorpion. The view bows back, and as you swing the gun from side to side the recoil swings with it. It's an amazing effect, particularly from such an aged game. It makes using the fully automatic a more visceral experience.

Finally, the gameplay goes FAR beyond the "find key, find door" gameplay that has been so prevalent since the release of Doom. You have a specific, detailed purpose in this game. No ambiguous alien invasions, no purposeless mazes masquerading as "levels." The enemy, SHODAN, is always plotting some insidious fate for earth, and you, as the hacker, go about the various levels attempting to stop her. Never do you wonder "why am I here? What exactly am I doing?" Each level, from the medical deck to the executive deck, serves an obvious logical purpose. Even the mazes are presented within good context. To put the gameplay into perspective, only very recently have FPS games struggled to break the gameplay barriers that Doom presented, while System Shock obliterated them almost TEN years ago!

This game defines what it is to be a classic. It is nearly perfect in every way, and is the epitome of the PC gaming experience. It is my opinion that computer gaming would be much better today if System Shock had been received the same Doom was, as it's a considerably better game that would hold its own today.

The Bad
Very little. The graphics are outdated, obviously, and the sound and AI technology is lacking. Also, the level design is very blocky, by today's standards. However, those are all limitations due to age: considering it by 1994 standards, the game's technological aspects are brilliant.

The Bottom Line
Well, I did so already. I'll just add that it is a VERY good game. It's not for sale, but certain websites on the internet have the complete CD version for download. I don't think Mobygames would appreciate it if I posted the link. Sorry!

The Good
System Shock was revolutionary for its time. Few, if any FPSes had tried to tell a story within the game. The object of FPSes was simply to kill everything in sight. System Shock told a story with a beginning, middle and end, with plot twists along the way.

The audio logs give a good idea of what happened on Citadel Station and also some backstory on the station. Even though the voice acting isn't always believable, the designers do an excellent job showing how "ordinary people" would react to an apocalyptic event.

System Shock also introduced "cyberspace", where your character would find himself free-floating within wire-frame rooms and corridors. Essentially computer and programming concepts become visualized as metaphors within this electronic world. In cyberspace you search for and gather "software" and "data", fight enemy programs (visualized as malevolent faces) and avoid traps. It is a welcome change of pace from the usual strafing and dodging.

The use of a computer A.I. as the main villain was not novel at the time, but the game shows very effectively how difficult it would be to overcome such a foe. But the A.I. has a weakness, it must act through other beings (unless you are in cyberspace.) What is even better, the developers decided to give this villain a memorable personality. SHODAN is a megalomaniac, not only does it try to play god but also cheerfully refers to itself as god. Unlike a stock A.I. villain, it clearly shows emotion. I assume that the memorable voice for SHODAN was designed to show that A.I. has become partially insane or demented.

The graphics are a leap ahead of the competition. System Shock was very close to a true-3D engine. You can look up and down, crouch and crawl, and lean left or right. As with Ultima Underworld, Looking Glass once again expanded the horizons, literally, with System Shock's FPS engine. The game also looked to the future in a way by providing better quality textures when using the high resolution modes that didn't play well on the machines available at the game's release.

There are small things about System Shock that just show a welcome attention to detail. There are these little minigames to collect in cyberspace. Most levels have a distinguishing design. The Medical Level is in shades of blue, the Research level is often in red and so on. Powerups have side-effects to them. Certain elements show the banality of Tri-Optimum, the corporation that owns and operates the station.

System Shock was easily the most atmospheric game of its time. It used lighting very well, some areas are brightly lit, others with significant damage have unreliable lighting at best. The monster's sound effects are often creepy and unsettling. The final level can make your skin crawl in more ways than one. Monsters often seem to pop up unannounced around the next corner or just behind you. SHODAN itself is relentless and will often taunt you or spring a trap against the hapless hacker.

The Bad
The game delights in respawning enemies, especially in areas in which you will often traverse. While it helps keep the player on his or her toes, it also leads to many cheap deaths. It is also sobering when you waste precious ammunition on enemies that will be back again in those areas.

The interface and controls are somewhat cumbersome and do not boast the streamlining of modern FPSes. The game was unfortunately designed with the 320x200 resolution in mind. This limits the amount of screen real estate devoted to gauges and subscreens. Also, the Multi-Function Displays interfere with interacting with the viewscreen. Fourtnately, the controls can be mastered.

While the game can be played in resolutions higher than 320x200, at the time this wasn't really feasible because because the 486 processors of the day could not produce playable framerates. The 640 graphics modes look much nicer but run on a far smaller class of systems.

The Bottom Line
One of the seminal FPSes, System Shock is a true classic that no DOS Gamer should ignore.