Posted on: May 14, 2021

Kreisel

Games: 307 Reviews: 6

A Great Old One

System Shock is an older game that has aged like a fine game. The gameplay has features, that might take some time to get used to, but after a while it feels almost natural, like you're having a dream of playing a game: it feels odd, but familiar, and you have to focus really hard or everything falls apart. It gets easier little by little, but playing System Shock still feels a bit off, like the character you're playing as (the Hacker) is a bit drunk (although he has just woken up from a 6 month long healing coma and has had nothing to drink or eat after that, so maybe he's just tired). The writing is good, sometimes great. I liked the story, it was rather simple and linear, but well constructed and the pacing was good. Voice acting ranged from intern-level to god-like. Shodan is propably the best sci-fi villain in any human media. Shodan is always up to something and is not shy about it. Shodan hates you and wants you to know it. I need that Shodan energy more in my life. What a great character and a great adversary. Citadel station is full of interesting details and cool design. It feels like a very functional place. Voice messages, notes and environmental clues makes it feel lived in. The grapichs are a bit rough sometimes, but that shouldn't be a problem, if you have a working imagination. Some thing are nastier when they exist mostly in your mind. Cyberspace had some cool music (as well as the rest of the game), but I felt like it was the least enjoyable part of the game. The ending was quite abrupt, but I guess it made sense storywise. Now I'm just sad the game is over. I've been having dreams about this game lately, so it propably won't let me go. I'm an insect caught in Shodan's web. I'm not sure, if I want to escape.

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Posted on: September 26, 2015

vafant

Verified owner

Games: 178 Reviews: 2

Excellent edition of an excellent game

One of my all time favorite games, which redefined the way we started to look at 3d action adventure games. Great-grandfather of Thief, Deus Ex and Bioshock series. True masterpiece, intelligent, atmospheric and technically advanced jewell. Total must-have for every gamer. Enhanced edition fixes a bit clumsy controls and adds widescreen support which is still well playable on 27''+ monitors.

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Posted on: November 21, 2017

np_smash

Verified owner

Games: 108 Reviews: 2

Still great in 2017, and a true classic.

I've played many games carrying the System Shock DNA - games like Deus Ex, System Shock 2, and newer games following the 'immersive sim' design ethos. Even having a good idea of what to expect from SS1 and having played newer games that for many improved upon the design of SS1, I still had a blast with this game in 2017. The Enhanced Edition makes it just accessible enough so that even with a few minor annoyances, after a couple sessions of play I was used to the interface/controls. I'll just say what impressed and surprised me most about this game, being a first time player in 2017 (I was too enamored with Doom in the early 90s to notice this System Shock's release). Here is a game that does not insult your intelligence - there are no objective markers except the ones you leave for yourself in your maps. There are not even explicit "objectives", there is a game world with problems that you can choose to solve as you uncover the information and the tools to do so. And somehow you get just enough of each as you progress, so that your progression feels natural, but also earned, since you are afforded such freedom without being directly guided. I can see how this could frustrate a lot of players, but for the game-literate, this is a design dream come true, a near perfect marriage of designer direction and player freedom in the semi-linear game space. No one would be brave (or stupid?) enough to do something like this now, and it WORKS. Of course, there are flaws. Some activities like combat on revisited floors become annoying in the later game, and the interface isn't bad because it's old, it's just not a good design. Some voice acting is very amateur. The environments are unique but also fairly ugly and often don't reflect their in-world purpose clearly. All that said, System Shock is an 8/10 game. In 2017! The fact it came out in 1994 really makes it a miracle. Don't miss it if you are looking for a textbook "classic". (no significant stability issues on Win7)

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Posted on: March 26, 2020

iratetuna

Verified owner

Games: 484 Reviews: 1

Classic with a successful modern port

I just finished this game for the first time this year, so no real nostalgia goggles here. Sure I'd tried it before, but like for so many other people the UI put me off 15 minutes in. I did play System Shock 2 when it was new though, and I'm reasonably comfortable with early 90s games. Others may have a harder time getting adjusted. System Shock is intense and atmospheric still in 2020, and I came to it after finishing Prey (2017). The game that started the "immersive sim" genre can still stand on its own merits, if anything newer titles are still drawing from it. There were some annoyances sure, but I found the hype mostly justified. Instead of a longer review I'll just share some setup tips and other things I'd wish I'd known before playing. I also suggest you read the mini FAQ on the GOG forums. - To really enjoy the soundtrack, replace the lousy default Windows MIDI soundfont. Google "system shock virtualmidisynth" and you should find a Steam guide with instructions to replace the soundfont. - This game really takes some time to get used to thanks to the infamous UI and control scheme, so don't get discouraged too quickly. Enhanced Edition really helps and runs natively on modern systems (DOSBox is there for the original edition), but mouselook still has to be toggled all the time as you can't do many UI interactions with it on. The default controls for EE are pretty good but can always be customized. - You've probably heard this before, but remember to save often. No auto save here! There is a very forgiving resurrection mechanic though, but that has to be found and activated on each level. Also, saves are not dated or sorted so get in a habit of saving in slot 1 before quitting, or naming saves descriptively.

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Posted on: September 22, 2015

plumsinus

Verified owner

Games: 297 Reviews: 2

Great game, now more accessible

Despite what the requirements say, it seems to run fine on my ancient 2 GHz single-core machine with WinXP. Try it at your own risk though. I've always liked the 3D LGS games (System Shock and Ultima Underworld 1&2) but felt the controls didn't age well, making them hard to revisit. This release of SS seems much more playable.

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