Visualshock! Soundshock! System Shock! Wait... Wait no, that doesn't sound quite right...
I have no idea why I like System Shock. It's so unflatteringly of its time, so oppressively obtuse, so nakedly cruel that I should have been repulsed as soon as I awoke on Citadel Station. Instead, I was hooked from the moment I finished watching the intro sequence, which is quite possibly one of my favorite opening cinematics in gaming. Easily in the top ten.
Before I get too deep into my review, I'm going to suggest you ditch it entirely and instead watch MandaloreGaming's excellent dive into System Shock: Enhanced Edition. I share a lot of the same opinions on the game but couldn't possibly express them as eloquently as he does. One point of his that I keep coming back to is how the original System Shock controls like it's played on a graphing calculator, and I will admit that if I had to navigate the game using whatever weird pully and lever system it had in place, I probably would have bounced off it pretty quickly. Thankfully, the Enhanced Edition lets you play System Shock like a proper video game, and that makes fighting through SHODAN's bowels more manageable, but no less dangerous than it was in 1994. In fact, the Enhanced Edition of the game provides a ton of options to tweak System Shock to your liking. You can shut a ton of pointless HUD elements off if you want, though I couldn't bring myself to do that. Chi Waves don't really mean anything mechanically, but it's dumb and weird and perfectly suits the whole hackerman aesthetic the game embodies. I couldn't bring myself to mutilate the HUD despite compromising on how the game controls, nor could I scale back on the story, or difficulty. This is all to say that I feel I still had a pretty authentic experience with the game despite the more modern control scheme.
When not being aggressively archaic, System Shock is aggressively... aggressive. Citadel Station is an incredibly hostile environment, as it should be since you're essentially running through the physical form of the game's villain, SHODAN. Originally the station's AI, SHODAN had her ethical constraints removed and is now trying to become a God, one who happens to enjoy dabbling in unethical science experiments and who would like to drill a hole in the Earth. She might even get a little help with that if you're not being careful. You pose the only threat to SHODAN and her plans, and in response she's turned all of Citadel Station against you. Its security systems, its mutated inhabitants, even its network... There is no single part of the station that isn't hostile towards you. System Shock can be downright mean, it's almost like the game doesn't want you to beat it, and SHODAN's constant mocking of your efforts really helps sell you on the sense that it's you versus the game. I shouldn't love something so hellbent on making me have a bad time, but the oppressive difficulty of System Shock also comes with a profound sense of gratification when you overcome it, even if many of these victories are minor and far between. Maybe it also helps that I like when SHODAN calls me an insect, but I'm a sad loser and you all knew that about me already.
I also adore the audio logs in this game. The acting is not great, but that makes for a fun contrast with Terri Brosius' performance as SHODAN. There's also a lot of inconsistencies with what is being spoken and what appears in text, which helps create this sense of creeping madness as you can't fully trust what you hear and what you see. Of course it's also (extremely) possible this is just the result of some miscommunication during development, or there being different scripts that went out to programmers and voice talent. It's all part of the charm regardless.
Every single part of System Shock is weird, pointless, clumsy, obtuse, or downright unfair. It probably shouldn't all come together as well as it does, and it definitely shouldn't appeal to me. I'm sure I have a few dozen reviews out there complaining about mechanics or design flaws that are present here, and yet... I kinda love System Shock. I love how it beats me down, how it puts its heel on my neck, calls me a worm, and deafens me with its "music". Maybe I'm just a sucker for abuse, because the only reason this isn't a perfect 5/5 is because it didn't hurt me enough. SHODAN should've bricked my hard drive after sending my browser history to my friends and family, only then would System Shock be considered a true masterpiece, but I still think it's an incredible game regardless. It is also hard for me to recommend playing it, but if you're half the masochist I am, you should definitely stick to the Enhanced Edition or wait for Nightdive's remake to drop, assuming that's still happening.
I have no idea why I like System Shock. It's so unflatteringly of its time, so oppressively obtuse, so nakedly cruel that I should have been repulsed as soon as I awoke on Citadel Station. Instead, I was hooked from the moment I finished watching the intro sequence, which is quite possibly one of my favorite opening cinematics in gaming. Easily in the top ten.
Before I get too deep into my review, I'm going to suggest you ditch it entirely and instead watch MandaloreGaming's excellent dive into System Shock: Enhanced Edition. I share a lot of the same opinions on the game but couldn't possibly express them as eloquently as he does. One point of his that I keep coming back to is how the original System Shock controls like it's played on a graphing calculator, and I will admit that if I had to navigate the game using whatever weird pully and lever system it had in place, I probably would have bounced off it pretty quickly. Thankfully, the Enhanced Edition lets you play System Shock like a proper video game, and that makes fighting through SHODAN's bowels more manageable, but no less dangerous than it was in 1994. In fact, the Enhanced Edition of the game provides a ton of options to tweak System Shock to your liking. You can shut a ton of pointless HUD elements off if you want, though I couldn't bring myself to do that. Chi Waves don't really mean anything mechanically, but it's dumb and weird and perfectly suits the whole hackerman aesthetic the game embodies. I couldn't bring myself to mutilate the HUD despite compromising on how the game controls, nor could I scale back on the story, or difficulty. This is all to say that I feel I still had a pretty authentic experience with the game despite the more modern control scheme.
When not being aggressively archaic, System Shock is aggressively... aggressive. Citadel Station is an incredibly hostile environment, as it should be since you're essentially running through the physical form of the game's villain, SHODAN. Originally the station's AI, SHODAN had her ethical constraints removed and is now trying to become a God, one who happens to enjoy dabbling in unethical science experiments and who would like to drill a hole in the Earth. She might even get a little help with that if you're not being careful. You pose the only threat to SHODAN and her plans, and in response she's turned all of Citadel Station against you. Its security systems, its mutated inhabitants, even its network... There is no single part of the station that isn't hostile towards you. System Shock can be downright mean, it's almost like the game doesn't want you to beat it, and SHODAN's constant mocking of your efforts really helps sell you on the sense that it's you versus the game. I shouldn't love something so hellbent on making me have a bad time, but the oppressive difficulty of System Shock also comes with a profound sense of gratification when you overcome it, even if many of these victories are minor and far between. Maybe it also helps that I like when SHODAN calls me an insect, but I'm a sad loser and you all knew that about me already.
I also adore the audio logs in this game. The acting is not great, but that makes for a fun contrast with Terri Brosius' performance as SHODAN. There's also a lot of inconsistencies with what is being spoken and what appears in text, which helps create this sense of creeping madness as you can't fully trust what you hear and what you see. Of course it's also (extremely) possible this is just the result of some miscommunication during development, or there being different scripts that went out to programmers and voice talent. It's all part of the charm regardless.
Every single part of System Shock is weird, pointless, clumsy, obtuse, or downright unfair. It probably shouldn't all come together as well as it does, and it definitely shouldn't appeal to me. I'm sure I have a few dozen reviews out there complaining about mechanics or design flaws that are present here, and yet... I kinda love System Shock. I love how it beats me down, how it puts its heel on my neck, calls me a worm, and deafens me with its "music". Maybe I'm just a sucker for abuse, because the only reason this isn't a perfect 5/5 is because it didn't hurt me enough. SHODAN should've bricked my hard drive after sending my browser history to my friends and family, only then would System Shock be considered a true masterpiece, but I still think it's an incredible game regardless. It is also hard for me to recommend playing it, but if you're half the masochist I am, you should definitely stick to the Enhanced Edition or wait for Nightdive's remake to drop, assuming that's still happening.
3 Comments
Oh, that's interesting! Makes a lot of sense too. Personally I wouldn't mod that out of the game, I actually like the discrepancy and think it adds some charm to the game. Thank you for the insight though, I wasn't aware there was actually an answer out there.
Yeah, this game is fascinating, the original pitches were so weird. There was a brief point in time when it took place in the modern day (changed due to game design reasons) and a brief period where it was a Wing Commander spinoff.
CretinWorkshop
1 year ago