What is up, everyone! Welcome to RetrOS, as we explore old PC classics, which came out before the rise of traditional GUI operating systems. This time, I review the remake of the DOS Era's most beloved FPS/RPG hybrid. Can Greig hack the computer, or will he serve our AI overlord as a cyborg?
Let's find out!
The year is 1994, travel between the UK, and continental Europe became a little easier as the Channel Tunnel, and the Eurostar service was officially completed, and open to the public.1994 was also a very sad year for metal music, as Nirvana lead singer, Kurt Cobain took his own life while battling drug addiction, and depression, aged only 27.
1994 was also a significant year of the film industry as Quentin Tarantino's second film, pulp fiction was released to the public. Pulp Fiction was the acting debut of Samuel L Jackson. The film raked in a massive $213.9 million at the box office. To put things into perspective, Ridley Scott's first film, Alien box office earnings was $104.93 million. By my calculations, pulp fiction had almost double the profits of that highly successful, revolutionary horror movie.
In the world of PC gaming, 3-D maze shooters became all the rage, thanks to id software's revolutionary first-person shooter, Doom released one year prior. It can be said that the game turned gaming, in general on its head. As I have said numerous times before, in the gaming industry, when one game becomes highly successful, or influential, copycats will sure to follow. I could create an entire video expanding, and demonstrating on this point but I won't.
Anyway, back to System Shock. This game is a total remaster of the original 1994 cult classic game, which is a hybrid of three, distinctive genres. First-person shooters, such as the aforementioned Doom, survival horror, such as Resident Evil, and RPGs, for example, Chrono Trigger
The game takes place in the year 2072. You play as a hacker who stuck his nose into somewhere he shouldn't. In this case, protected files in the Trioptimum corporation's network, concerning Citadel station, orbiting Saturn.
FUN FACT: did you know that Saturn has no surface? The planet is in fact a gas giant. Saturn also has the highest amount of moons in orbit than any other planet in our solar system, 124 of them in fact! The largest of which, Titan is actually larger than Mercury!
Unfortunately, your intrusion attempt got detected, and Trioptimumsecurity forces arrest you. You're then whisked away to the station itself, and then ordered to modify the AI wedge controls most of the station, the Sentiment Hyper Optimised Data Access Network (SHODAN). As a reward, you are fitted with a military-grade neural interface.
During the six-month-long healing coma, the station security cyborgs were reprogrammed for hostility. The crew on board the station is other killed by security cyborgs, or mutated due to biological contamination. To make matters worse, SHODAN is using the station's mining laser for a possible strike against Earth.
It is up to you to navigate the station floor by floor, while SHODAN is always watching you, and is trying to stop you in any way it can.
The Access ability scores are as follows –
Visibility 8.5
Let's start with the positives, there are numerous colour schemes which can be applied to the game's interface on the fly. Each and every colour scheme and extremely friendly to a colourblind person.
However, due to the game's cyberpunk theme, this game has screen flashes. However, these screen flashes are very few and far between, therefore not nearly as intense as Cyberpunk 2077's brain dance sequences, which are a feminist for causing seizures. So, if you are going to play this game, and are an epilepsy sufferer please ensure you are playing this game in a well-lit environment.
I have been playing the demo of this game throughout the game's 8-year-long development cycle, and I have yet to experience a single seizure due to playing his game.
So, apart from the possible problem one playing this game while suffering from epilepsy, you'll be able to play this game with no issues.
Audibility 7
There are in-game subtitles which can be enabled, and disabled via the game's options menu. These subtitles are present in audio logs, explaining to you what you need to do to progress through the various floors in the game.
However, as par for the course for horror games, you are reliant on your sense of hearing to determine whether or not you are close to an enemy, and where the enemy is.
Also, there is no way of customising font sizes and subtitles, menus, and the in-game interface. Which can pose a serious issue in a text-heavy game, like System Shock.
So, players with hearing impairments might want to give this give the free demo a try, or wait until the game launches on PC game pass (that's what it's for!) Before committing any money for the full version.
Mobility 9
This game feels like a step in the right direction. The keyboard and mouse controls can be fully customised, allowing you to customise the controls to suit your impairments.
Even better, this game has controller support right out of the box., Which functions in a co-pilot fashion The bottom layouts can also be customised when using a controller. However, there are no alternate stick layouts available, this issue might cascade to the console version when it releases later on in the year.
So, a player with a mobility impairment tribute to play this game with no issues, however, work should be done in adding alternate stick layouts should be done before this game releases on console.
Gameplay 11
This game's development cycle has been quite the turbulent one. The game's successful Kickstarter campaign ended seven years ago. After numerous delays and missed release dates. Today, the game is finally out! I have been following the game's development since the demo's release, years ago and I would have to say I am extremely impressed. The team at NightDive has done a phenomenal job remastering the classic game, which I used to play a lot in my childhood days. They have kept the majority of the classic game's assets intact while adding if you want to make this game relevant in today's market. The game's use of Unreal Engine 4 makes the graphics look stunning.
The cyberspace sections also transitioned very well from the original, and feel very fluent while exploring.
In summary, System Shock is yet another, example of a remake of a classic game done right. The atmosphere created by the overall presentation while wandering around the corridors of Citadel station is excellent, the graphics of the game holds up extremely well by today's standards, while remaining faithful to the original game. in terms of system requirements, the game is quite low-spec friendly. If your PC can run Destiny 2, you should be able to run this game just fine, on fairly decent settings.
Yes, this game is a little pricey for a remake of a 1994 game, the experience will be worth every penny. This game is highly recommended!
OVERALL SCORE 88.75%
See you guys in the next review! SpartanCommander1990 out!
Roll out, Spartan Century!
No comments:
Post a Comment