I decided that I’d try taking Natreg’s advice and using the keyboard controls. They are pretty unwieldy to say the least. ZXCS work along the lines of ASDW in modern games with A & D turning. QWE make me lean around while RFV & TGB are used to change standing height and look up/down. Its a lot of keys to cope with and is not coming naturally so far. A modern FPS would achieve the same with ASDW for moving, QE for leaning, C for crouching and using the mouse to look around – less than half the keys.

The lack of mouse look is definitely reducing the immersion factor for me. The standard mouse look didn’t come in before Quake as it doesn’t make sense in a game that isn’t 100% 3D. It was difficult to get to grips with at the time as well if I remember right but after the amount of QuakeWorld and the like I played a few years back I got extremely adept at this and usualy blast through any FPS in no time. I may get used to the system used here but I don’t think I’ll ever really like it. It does allow me a bit more freedom of movement than mouse alone though.

Using the combination from my own log note, I let myself out of the lab. There is some sort of mutant/cyborg just outside. These aren’t any tougher than the security bots.

There is a panel outside with a simple puzzle. I have to spin the X’s into +’s to make a circuit.

Once joined the lights come on. As far as I can tell I could just flip the lot of them but I’m sure it will be more difficult later in the game.

There are upgrades lying around which I pick up. One of them gives me a rear view mirror of sorts. It only updates once every second or two – I’m guessing for performance reasons. This uses up energy and doesn’t seem all that useful to me so I just turn it off again. These sorts of upgrades have the potential to add a bit of depth to the game beyond a straight FPS. I don’t know how many of them I can expect.

I come across a door that is locked in cyberspace.

Along with a log setting the scene I find a cyberspace panel, right next door. I need to head into cyberspace (using this panel) to unlock the doors.

Cyberspace is an odd place. Cyberspace in the mid-90’s was always seen as a load of geometric shapes for some reason and this is no different. The cubes represent software as when I crash into them I get tools I can use in cyberspace like a shield + a pulsar (gun) to fight off security. I float around with a full 3 degrees of movement in the same manner as Descent.

I bump into everything that looks interesting then head out through a tube at the far end of the room. This sort of sucks me through into the next room although I need to steer to avoid the walls. This would be easier if all the walls were not represented just by lines in Akalabeth style.

The next room has security of a sort which I zap with my pulsar. It disipates as I shoot it.

I get sucked into another area, this time with a much tougher disembodied head providing the security. In here I get a pulsar upgrade + crashing into another shape unlocks the door. I exit again by heading through the gate shown above.

That finishes my first excursion into cyberspace and I’m not sure what to make of it. I think I prefer the regular sections of the game but it is definitely unusual. The previously locked door is now open.

I carry on exploring and run into a new enemy. These guys have guns and are a lot tougher than anything so far. I use my dartgun on this guy while leaning round the corner and can kill him off with impunity. I can aim the dartgun with the mouse – using the keys to move allows me to do this while moving and if I can get used to it should help later in the game.

I got some data pods out of cyberspace which I finally take a look at. Along with a few logs I got a pong game which I can play in the bottom left of the screen.

I leave Pong long enough to find D’Arcy’s lab. He isn’t around but I do find a log telling me how to deactivate the laser. I need to go to the science level and activate the shields, then using the laser should turn it on itself.

Further searching reveals where all the humans attempted to hold up but its a morgue now.

I’ve still not explored all of this first level although I only spent another hour or so on the game today. It feels as though I’m getting vaguely near seeing it all but I’m only guessing. There are just 10 levels in the game so they need to be a decent size.

I’m liking System Shock so far but the controls are not helping. Its very early days still but I can’t see me loving it as much as Ultima Underworld. The problem here is that I’d struggle to come up with many games that have attempted the same thing as Underworld but System Shock plays like a modern RPG/FPS and suffers by comparison. It is clearly going to be a deeper and more complex game than your average FPS but I’d be surprised if it can beat the likes of Deus Ex with which it shares a lot of similarites.

If I compare it to the likes of Half Life instead which didn’t come out until a few years after this, its going to come out with flying colours. The storyline and gameplay here is far richer but I never did see what the fuss was with Half-Life in the first place.

The truth is I really shouldn’t be judging this until I get a lot further in and I’m still being distracted by Final Fantasy. I’ve got 3 of the 4 crystals lit now and messed about a bit in one of the new dungeons on the PSP version. These new dungeons seem largely pointless so I may just crack on and try to finish the game which I’m guessing won’t take a lot longer as I’ve almost run out of places to explore.

I’m back from my holiday and raring to get on with System Shock. Before I start, I’ve noticed that Mobygames have added a couple of games to the Origin list (Longbow + its expansion pack). I’ve picked these up for a few quid each and sure enough they were developed by Origin although there is barely any mention of it in the packaging. The fact that you have to call Origin support if you have a problem is something of a giveaway, so I’ll be adding these to the list putting it up to a total of 62 games. I’m unsure whether Longbow 2 or any of the other Jane’s simulations should be on the list also but they are not down as Origin games for the moment so I’ll leave them unless I hear otherwise. Full blown simulations are definitely not my thing so I’m not going to go out of my way looking for them. I’m not 100% convinced they even count as Origin titles when they aren’t marketed as such either.

While I was on holiday I got started on the Final Fantasy remake on my PSP. While its somewhat mindless and repetitive, it is also strangely addictive so I might be a bit slow starting off on System Shock until I get it finished. Its the sort of game that you can watch a movie at the same time as playing it making it ideal over Xmas for a portable system like the PSP when I’m getting rid of hangovers. I don’t expect it will take that much longer to complete and I can give System Shock my full attention.

System Shock is often vaunted as one of or even the best game of all time yet I never got around to playing it much. I’ve wanted to give it another go for some time but hardware requirements were always a problem. I’m going to be playing the CD version of System Shock – this was released some time after the original and added full speech, enhanced cutscenes and best of all SVGA support. This is the first game on the list with SVGA support although its going to be more or less standard from here on out. There are a few resolution options but I’ll be using the maximum of 640×480. In the CVS version of Dosbox this runs extremely smoothly.

System Shock is another game from the Ultima Underworld team and uses an enhanced version of the same engine as those two games. This was the final outing for this engine – why it never got licensed out and used more often I’ll never know.

The introduction is the best in any Origin game to date. It’s dark, stylish, atmospheric and has a tale to tell rather than just being an excuse for some fancy graphics. In System Shock, I am a hacker who broke into the Trioptimum security system and got caught. To avoid prosecution, I take on a job from a guy called Edward Diego to hack into the Citadel space stations A.I. (Shodan) and am even rewarded with a neural interface for my trouble. As part of the job I remove the moral constraints from Shodan and it re-examines it priorities and draws new conclusions. I don’t get to find out what these are as I am stuck into stasis for 6 months on the station while recovering from having my neural interface fitted. Suffice to say it doesn’t sound good. The game starts with me waking up after my six month recovery onboard the station.

This sets the scene without actually telling me much about what is going on. No doubt it will all become clear during the game.

Before I start the game I can tailor it to suit myself by adjusting the various levels of difficulty – this system is detailed and its very unusual to be able to tailor a games difficulty in various areas like this. I’ve no idea what to expect at this stage so I’m just going to leave these all at normal.

On starting, I’m faced with a myriad of buttons and panels + a little inset saying what they all are.

The first thing I do is switch to SVGA mode.

I can then go to full screen and all the buttons move to the edge of the screen making the game still fully playable in this mode without having to switch backwards and forwards all the time. Transparent panels pop up as required, in the manner you might expect in a more modern game. It’s a bit less user friendly in full screen as I need to learn what the buttons do or try them all one at a time but its nothing that won’t become second nature by the time I’ve been playing for an hour or two.

Movement around the world is done in Underworld style with the mouse. This system works extremely well. I gather there are no characters to talk to in this game however so there is no conversation interface. This is one of the reasons why I never got around to playing this game at the time but I may not miss it too much.

The game starts with a bit of a tutorial section. I pick up a whole collection of objects on prompting including my first weapon – a crowbar.

Instead of conversations, there are a series of logs, e-mails and the like which I can collect as I travel around the station. I suppose this is similar to later games like Doom 3 although I’m hoping for a bit more depth here. I’m half expecting System Shock to end up being more FPS than RPG but I won’t mind that too much as long as the plot is up to scratch.

I get a message from Rebecca Lansing as soon as I pick up my data reader hardware. She is a counter-terrorist advisor to Trioptimum and I am the only person on the station she is able to contact. There has been some sort of incident with Shodan and the mining laser is charging to attack earth. She wants me to shut off the laser and then get to the bridge to turn off Shodan. Some guy called D’arcy may be able to help if I find his office on this level.

I find a log to myself made just before stasis with a keycode and details of where a few useful things may be found.

Graphically things look promising. The SVGA is a huge improvement for this sort of full 3D game – I wish they had re-released the Underworlds with the new engine. The music is also excellent and adjusts well to the pace of the game.

I open the door and face my first enemies – a couple of security bots. They die after after 2 or 3 hits so are not a serious problem. There doesn’t appear to be the aiming system used in Underworld. Its just a case of swinging with no power build up or the like. Its a typical FPS melee weapon.

There are security cameras on the walls. I can bash these to reduce the level security. I’m guessing that this stops the bots on the level from being able to find me. I only reduce security by 2% so there must be a lot of them around.

Thats all I had time for and I’ve barely got started. It all looks very promising and I’ve been hooked right from the start. It appears to play just like a modern FPS only with more world interaction.  I’m impressed and at first glance its the most polished product yet from Origin and really points the way towards the way games still look and play today.

I’ve got further than this into the game before now so there must be something that put me off at some point. I think it was either the overall difficulty/complexity making it inaccessible or specifically the cyberspace sections which I don’t honestly remember anything about apart from them being disorienting