Posted on: August 31, 2016

Kitarraman

Games: 301 Reviews: 2

This was 1994

Let's face it, it's not 1994 anymore so don't expect this game to be immediate and easy as some modern generic FPS could be. Even Warren Spector is having a really hard time replaying this game, at least that's what he said himself. The pros of this game are: the narrative, which was ahead of its time back in 1994; the levels, a space station shaped as a mazy hive; the basic survival mechanics (here too he was ahead of its time); the audio logs. The cons are: the hud, I needed 2 months to get used to it, after that it became second nature but I was struggling at first; the MIDI soundtrack, for God's sake some tracks are pretty good and you'll eventually start singing along, but after 10 minutes spent listening to the same piece of music with those horrible MIDI sounds, you are seriously risking to push a bit too much you mental sanity; sometimes you'll eventually end having not even the slightest clue of what you're supposed to do. I have a cool mantra for this game: when you're impressed by something in particular, you should remember this came out in 1994; when you are having a hard time with its wonky game mechanics, just remember this came out in 1994 and is 22 years old. Still, it could easily beat the crap out of some modern FPS available nowadays. IMHO

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Posted on: October 31, 2018

pachubatinath

Verified owner

Games: 188 Reviews: 6

A landmark game

An excellent update of one of the best PC games ever. More than an FPS, System Shock induces you to think constantly, manage your resources cautiously and keeps you on the edge of your seat. The atmosphere, tension and storyline that unfolds through logs, emails and other scraps of information help build a terrifically immersive world. You tend to 'visit' Citadel Station rather than play the game. Once you get over the unique controls, (switching between mouselook for aiming and the mouse for managing your equipment etc) and that this is NOT a run-n-gun Doom-clone, you really begin to inhabit the station and the storyline. Exploring and progressing while mutants continually spawn behind keeps the tension high but the balance of challenge and reward is just right throughout. I actually played this as a kid but was too terrified to progress very far and it was only after finishing the (actually much scarier) sequel I decided to revisit the original and -oh my -it still retains its terror and charm. Thoroughly and unreservedly recommended.

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Posted on: July 30, 2020

ronwmabil

Games: 329 Reviews: 41

An Updated Classic

If you don't own a copy of this game, buy it. The original version was about as difficult to play as Ultima Underworld, thanks to the atrocious controls. The addition of mouse look and key remapping really fixed the game without altering the intended experience. Yes, it's quite dated compared to modern games, but it still has both cerebral and visceral impact. And SHODAN remains one of the most terrifying antagonists of all time.

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Posted on: August 27, 2020

LATESTACORONATA

Verified owner

Games: 741 Reviews: 231

The revolution of the FPS genre

System Shock has, without a doubt, revolutionized the FPS genre and how it will be designed and felt throughout the decade. Although the second entry is more famous ( as the other pretenders such as the Bio or Deus ex saga), the first one sets the stone that will lay foundation to a completely new way of thinking about FPS and how cyberpunk games HAVE to be conceptualized, This is one the few cases that I'll not write anything about the game ( about its mind-blowing core mechanics, masterful level design nor its magnificent way to narrate the plot) but I'll say just this : if you are aficionado of the FPS genre, a retrò gamer or just one that enjoys gaming in general, System Shock is THE masterpiece to play, period. It time to explore, hack, survive, destroy and escape the clutches of a crazy IA and to extrapolate from its difficult and complicated exterior the literal art that this game was, is and probably will be.

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Posted on: September 18, 2020

evilsensei

Verified owner

Games: 240 Reviews: 19

Great fun, will hack again

I only ever played the enhanced edition of System Shock, so I don't know what the original was like. Judging from other reviews it had pretty wonky controls and I don't feel masochistic enough to try wrestling with that. In any case, the enhanced version of the game is plain fun, incredibly immersive and addictive. Even the linear story doesn't take away from that, because there are a number of ways of finding crucial piece of information or solving certain tasks. In many ways the game reminds me of Deus Ex, which is one of my favourite games ever. I'm pretty sure I haven't even explored everything on the first try, so I have a few mysteries left for the next run. The game is really well designed and I love the fact that for most of the game you don't have to care much if you die because you don't lose any progress--once you disable cyborg conversion you just get revived automatically upon death. Frequently used elevators between the levels are strategically placed to avoid too much pointless wandering back and forth, and sometimes there's even a teleport available. Charging stations are also usually conveniently placed so you don't have to trek too far when you just quickly need to recharge and move on. The only issue I had was some kind of bug with the maps, when sometimes my notes in the maps disappeared, or I wasn't able to add notes at all, making it a bit harder to navigate. It was supposedly fixed with a patch, but I ran the game for the first time AFTER the patch was introduced, and even after a few re-installations the bug persisted to some extent.

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