I always knew something was off about this place!, wrote Stacy to a colleague.
We are just rats in a maze.
What Hammer calls stress and anxiety, I would callSystem Shock’s tension and atmosphere.
What Hammer probably didnt predict is how much fun it would all be.
That Id love my new life lived in the gaps between radioactive storage facilities and robot repair rooms.
Stick that in your dataset and print it, corporate evil.
It still takes a simultaneous hop and swing to reach one of SHODANs watching cameras with a lead pipe.
No, this is not a remake in the loose,Final FantasyorResident Evilsense of the term.
The original System Shock is not merely a jumping-off point here, nor a prompt for some grand reimagining.
Its an old-fashioned sort of power fantasy that requires few fireworks to impress.
Yet this new System Shock is also unmistakably modern.
In the wrong hands, this station would be a garish mish-mash.
Instead - with the input of returning artist Robb Waters - its less lurid than vivid.
When visiting, I cant help but fire the screenshot key more often than my own weapons.
Then there are the elements that have been lifted from the games Looking Glass inspired.
More readily loveable is the stations array of automated appliances.
Combat is fought in the mind as much as with the fingers.
Instead, leaning around corners remains important - as does knowing when to stand still and take aim.
Everywhere and at all times, System Shock is a resource game.
The result has proved them right.
It transpires that our creepy, manipulative robot mother knows best.
