System Shock: Enhanced Edition

Beware of the 5 star reviews; they are from people who grew up with these games. I only tried this game recently, and the interface is very clunky and hard to get used to for someone who has no prior knowledge of this game. I know the game is dated, but the controls and the interface negatively affected my enjoyment of the game. If you can look past that, you may find something of value. 3/5

What can I say about System Shock that hasn't been said over the years? Whilst yes, the 2023 remake might play better, the original version (included in this package) does have some appeal today despite the antiquated control scheme (you'll get used to it after the first mission) since every action takes time, you don't instantly crouch, leaning takes time and leaves you vulnerable if you poke out too long, and reloading your weapons often isn't as fast as changing weapons from your inventory. What this does is encourages the player to take a methodical approach till they unlock the opportunity to respawn in the stage, decide on what weapons you should carry/what ammo to use, and how fast you should do something (my advice is play the game at 2222 for start then try your hand at 3333); essentially the groundwork for almost all immersive sim games. To finish up this 'review', play System Shock before you play the remake, you'll find it difficult at first but underneath the clunky controls sits a well-rounded sci-fi story which you, to a limited capacity, shape each playthrough. (FYI for Mac or Linux users, Shockolate source port will work with the files in the /res folder of the classic install if you can't get your system to run Enhanced Edition)

The controls and graphics may take some getting used to, but that's not even my issue with this game. First off, the music will give you a headache, it is awful. Ok, I actually enjoyed playing this game for a while after I got used to the controls. The setting is very cool and the main antagonist is evil and creepy in a nice, dystopian, sci-fi kinda way. But I've reached the point in the game where I have to go back to each of the 6 first floors and find one specific room among a maze of other rooms to put together a 6 digit code to progress, so this is where I tap out. I know lots of retro gamers like to talk about the dumbing down of modern games, and I feel that too, but playing this game is such a slog with these obscure objectives. Not to mention, if you are not saving before each corner you turn and searching every nook and cranny for new gear, then you will not get very far. The cyberspace minigame is even worse than the music. I guess it's a product of its time, and it was probably influential, but I would not recommend this game to anyone but the most dedicated of oldschooll gamers. I enjoy other 90s games, but this game has become extremely frustrating to me and it has so many flaws that just suck any enjoyment out of it for me.

System Shock is in an odd place. I want to call it overrated because of the praise its fans give it, but it occupies such cult status to begin with that I can't really call it overrated. I'm a big fan of many 90s shooters. This game came out around the same time as Doom; for that era, I think the graphics and engine look excellent. Walking around the space station feels like being in one of the sets of Star Trek: TNG or DS9. There's a cool intro cutscene with promising plot and intriguing setting, and the techno music is catchy. However, Doom, this game is not. In fact it has more in common with the Ultima style than Doom. Part of Doom's success is the intuitive simplicity of controls and ease of movement. SS is utterly unwieldy and cumbersome in its heavily dated control scheme that just has not aged well at all. Basic things like walking, leaning, crouching are a stupendous chore. The game is just not my cup of tea. I got it on sale years ago but could never really get into it past the first few rooms. There's a reason why the sequel is usually better remembered as the seminal inspiration for many future (and better) series. I can appreciate the inklings of the sci-fi/horror mashup, and I know that at the time, this game would've been well-regarded for the experiments it tried. But it just does not hold up well imo, and I say that as someone who loves most of the big 90s FPS hits. I don't think it was necessarily a bad game in its day, but it's not something easy to get into nowadays at all.

This game aged really bad. Not only the controls and graphics are outdated but also the level design. Most of enemies don't make any sound so the only way to detect them is whenever you receive damage. And the fact that after you killed a certain number the star spawning again making it a very tedious experience.The maps are a big series of halls that are hard to distigush so navegate them is a hell (and you have to do a lot of backtracking between levels). You don't get feedback about objectives and goals so if you don't find the log explaining what you got to do then you are lost. I'm sure this game was very important at its time and inspired a lot of grate games but for me turn to be unplayebal. Not recomended.