[synthesized music]
[typing]
Looking back through PC gaming past,
there are few games that set the bar so high
that it almost seems like cheating.
Today's game is one of those games:
System Shock.
Developed by the legendary Looking Glass Technologies
and published by Origin Systems in 1994.
Just look at this package. Man, isn't it great?
Not easy to find boxed, either.
Yeah, just look at it.
And while you're at it, look at this too because it's curious.
"A first-person fight to the death in the depths of space."
Sounds more generic than a store- branded variety of Coke called Mr. Tasty,
but back in the day, the very idea was still pretty exciting.
And if the premise doesn't get you excited,
well, the people behind it might.
You've got designer dudes like Warren Spector,
Doug Church, Marc LeBlanc
and Seamus Blackley, among many others,
most famous at that point for their work on the Ultima Underworld games.
They used a completely new 3D game engine here, though,
adding things like the ability to lean and stand at different heights,
sloped surfaces, light emitting objects and much more.
Unfortunately, while the game sold moderately well
and was a big hit with the critics,
it ended up losing Looking Glass money in the end.
Life's just not fair, man.
Screw you, Life!
Inside the game box, you get an install guide and reference card,
an ad prodding you to spend more money on the game by way of a strategy guide,
and the manual, titled "Terminal Access."
[ grunts ] Yes, now this is a manual I wouldn't kick out of bed for eating crackers.
Not only does it cover all the basics,
but it gives you a guided tutorial,
goes into some more story details
and reveals all the sweet weaponry and other junk you'll come across in-game.
And finally, you got the game itself on nine 3½-inch floppy disks.
Unless you didn't,
since you got the superior CD-ROM version,
which IS totally the one to get
since it features enhanced graphics and sound
along with tons of spoken dialogue
that is absolutely key in making its world feel that much more alive.
Or that much more dead, as the case may be in System Shock.
The game starts off with an absolutely stellar intro,
showing off its cyberpunk story and aesthetic.
[ female computer voice ] "7 April 2-0-7-2."
"11:13 PM."
"Hacker begins unauthorized entry."
[ LGR VO ] The plot up to this point is that you're a nameless hacker
who has managed to hack into the TriOptimum Corporate Network.
Unfortunately, you're not very good at covering your tracks,
and you get caught just seven minutes after accessing some confidential information
regarding the space station Citadel.
But you're given a chance at freedom
from a TriOptimum guy named Edward Diego.
All you have to do is go to the space station
and disable the ethical constraints code
of the station's AI system, SHODAN.
After you do this, you're put into a coma
to be given a military-grade neural implant
that allows you to do even more awesome hacker stuff.
Six months later, you wake up in the Citadel's medical bay,
only to find out that turning off the ethical constraints
of a super-powerful omnipresent artificial intelligence
probably was not a good idea.
After this, you're given the main menu,
which is pretty low on options
since they're only adjustable once you've started a game.
So, freaking start a game already!
Enter your name
and choose from a cool and refreshing array of difficulty settings.
I like this because you can tailor your game
to exactly the way you want to play.
For instance: like shooting dudes
but don't like messing around with logic puzzles?
Just increase one option and lower the other. Simple.
Once you get into the game, though, you'll want to check the actual options menu
and crank up the graphics and audio settings to something higher.
Unless you have the floppy version, and in that case you're missing out
and you have my condolences.
The gameplay picks up with you as the hacker,
having just awoken from your coma
and having nothing but your wits and fancy new neural interface at your disposal.
So, naturally, you'll start looking around for things that look useful
because weak people rarely do well in dark sci-fi universes.
In fact, if you die in System Shock,
your body is collected and then turned into a cyborg,
a slave of SHODAN.
Not ideal.
As you can see, the game takes place from a first-person perspective
with fully texture-mapped 3D environments to explore.
You can either play with or without a full heads-up display,
move around with a keyboard or a mouse,
and use the mouse cursor to use things in the environment.
So, yeah, it's a bit more reminiscent of Ultima Underworld than, say, Doom,
which makes sense, seeing as several of the team at Looking Glass
came from Ultima Underworld to System Shock.
And while we're on this topic, let me just say that
initially it may be tempting to call this a weak first-person shooter
due to the strange controls and such,
but that's looking at it the wrong way.
System Shock is more of an advanced adventure game,
with elements more commonly seen in first-person shooters.
Once you get used to using all the separate keys
for running, jumping, leaning, crouching,
looking up and down, strafing and whatever else,
it really kind of becomes second nature.
Not only is it surprisingly enjoyable to control the hacker this way,
but it's almost unbelievable how far ahead of its time this game was.
Now this was released less than a year after Doom
and yet it allows a degree of freedom over your character
in a first-person game that wasn't commonly seen again for years.
Combine this with the story-driven narrative,
the ability to progress almost entirely at your own pace,
add atmospheric soundtrack that evolves depending on where you are and what you're doing,
and System Shock feels surprisingly modern.
But, yeah, back to what was going on...
Well, Citadel Station has seen better days,
as evidenced by the evil robots, the murderous mutants,
the bodies everywhere and the chilling voice messages left by people
who are now nothing but paste on the walls.
[male voice] "I must be one of the last ones who hasn't changed."
"SHODAN must have altered the healing machine I installed in Alpha Quadrant."
"It does things to people now."
"I think I saw Beth yesterday, but..."
"...she had so many implants, like, couldn't be sure."
[LGR] It's up to you to figure out what's going on,
how to survive and what to do to stop the source of all this:
the station's rogue artificial intelligence,
SHODAN.
If you've chosen a higher difficulty, you only have seven hours to do this,
which makes it as stressful as balls.
Stress balls.
To increase stress even more, SHODAN seems to derive pleasure
from dismissing you as nothing but an insect,
a pathetic mere mortal that has no chance of stopping her.
[SHODAN] "When my cyborgs bring you to an electrified interrogation bench,
I will have your secret...
and you will--you will-- you will learn more about pain
than you ever wanted to know."
[static]
[LGR] I've got to say, it's genuinely unsettling to be lost in the darkness,
low on ammo, hearing the sounds of cyborgs in the distance,
and then have SHODAN say something creepy to top it all off.
[SHODAN] "...installation..."
"...my fortress is nearly complete..."
[distorted computer noises]
[LGR] While sorting through audio logs, emails and notes left by the former crew,
you'll collect quite a few items that will help you along your journey
if utilized properly.
There are 16 weapons, some of which fire different projectiles
and work better against certain types of enemies.
Some of these don't use ammo at all
but drain from your own energy meter,
which can be recharged at stations throughout each level.
You've also got several different types of grenades and explosives
for taking down more challenging threats.
Then you've got these things call dermal patches
which do stuff like renew your health and energy,
give you extra melee strength, or Berzerk Mode,
remove radiation poisoning and other useful stuff.
And you also get some hardware to augment your abilities with,
which cost energy but can provide seriously huge advantages.
Things like a shield system, environmental suit,
head-mounted light and a system letting you see and target enemies around you.
And while all this helps, most of the time you'll just be wandering the labyrinthine passageways
and corridors of each level of the space station,
looking for clues as to what to do next,
dispatching enemies in increasingly violent ways,
and screwing up SHODAN's plans one step at a time.
For instance, one thing to keep in mind is security and surveillance.
So, one way to lessen SHODAN's grip on an area
is to smash up every video camera you see.
Once the security level is low enough, you'll have access to new areas and stuff.
Though sometimes you'll just need to solve a logic puzzle of some kind,
like this grid puzzle
where you must complete a circuit,
or this wire puzzle that's just a process of elimination.
Another way of gaining access to new areas is cyberspace.
And this is really pretty spectacular,
not to mention unexpected, if you weren't expecting it.
Which is, uh -- that makes sense.
So there.
Enter a cyberspace terminal and you'll find yourself in a surreal zero-G environment
with full six degrees of freedom.
In here, the goal is to stay alive long enough to gather new software
and unlock secured areas in the real world,
among other things.
It's just basic navigation and shooting for the most part
and the controls do take a little getting used to,
but it's pretty sweet that you get this break from the normal routine every so often.
It also provides you with some software to apply to your neural interface outside of cyberspace,
of which the most useful is a Pong clone.
Okay, maybe not, but having Pong on your HUD is still awesome
and I don't know why it hasn't been done in like every first-person game ever since.
Yeah, can you tell I really like System Shock?
Because I do.
I really frigging do.
Even for a game of its age, it's awesome how quickly I get immersed
in its dark, cyberpunk world when I play it.
I mean, Greg LoPiccolo's adaptive music is phenomenal,
the story's incredibly engaging,
there's plenty of variety in the level designs,
it has arguably just the right mixture of adventure, exploration and action,
and I love that it's almost anachronistic in how forward-thinking it was back in 1994.
Everything about it screams awesomeness as far as I'm concerned.
Well, uh, almost everything...
While you do get used to the control scheme, it still feels a bit clunky,
though I know that's kind of a product of its time.
Another thing that gets irksome is the levels are a bit too maze-like at times,
and I got turned around and lost way more often than I'd like to admit,
even with the in-game map at my disposal.
Then there's the ending of the game, which one might say is a bit of a disappointment.
Without spoiling anything, the final showdown
isn't exactly up to the standards of the craziness leading up to it,
but it's a very minor complaint.
What more can I say, really?
Well, I guess I can say that System Shock is one crazy good game,
especially for its time.
It is showing a little age nowadays,
but in my eyes, it's doing so quite well
compared to many of its contemporaries.
If you ever get a chance to grab a copy,
by all means do so, insect.
And I hope you have a pleasant stay on Citadel Station.
[monster screams and laser blasts]
[synthesized music]