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Wednesday, January 15, 2025 6:42:58 PM

System Shock Review (apollo)

The game places you in a space station with a rogue AI system that is hell bent in world domination, your role is to ultimately defeat it.
I have a love \ hate relationship with this game though it did manage to keep me interested to complete so overall it was a enjoyable experience, which gets let down due to some clumsy design decisions and poorly implemented combat mechanics which I expect were due to the game trying too hard to copy its predecessor that was originally released in the late 1990’s.

Likes \ Dislikes
Likes
+ Graphics have been modernised, though not to the standards of today’s super realistic environment but stylised enough to make them appear aesthetically pleasing and fit well as an update to the original 90’s version.
+ Soundscapes for both the background music and sound effects work well giving each level a unique atmospheric presence.
+ It has RPG style elements. Such as simple inventory management and upgrades that can be applied to both your suit and weaponry.
+ It has good use of level map design making the game interesting to navigate around showing some very unique looking levels with a variety of enemies.
+ Has some challenging Door locking and power puzzles to complete
+ Discovery works well with this game through listening of audio logs and text messages both which give you hints to what has been going on and from where you can sort of work out what you need to.
+ Has an interesting mini-hacking game which once I understood what it was for was fairly enjoyable to play
Dislikes
- There are literally no instructions on how to play this game from and little information on the mini puzzle and hacking games.
This is a little ridiculous as I had no idea what I was to do with puzzles or hacking objectives. I know the game is one of discovery but this was taking things too far and ended up looking up how to play them (though not how to complete).
Each level is fairly complex (like a maze) and each has a unique layout so the games mini map is essential as you go about your business. It becomes clear after a time that you’ll need to remember key locations that will need return visits.
- The map does have the ability to Pin (mark) areas but you can’t write a note in the pin, as the difficulty increases this pin solution becomes inadequate so in the end I took a screen shot and made my own notes to important locations.
- Game used a credit-based system to purchase weapon upgrades and ammo for weapons.
To get credits you’ll need to recycle objects. It an interesting idea but does gets repetitive very quickly.
The process could have done with a more automation as is in the end this becomes repetitive.
- Needs better implemented game options which can be adjusted during game play
There are not a lot of game-play options available for the game, though the ones that are available can make a very big difference to the play through experience. Unfortunately, these settings can only be set at the beginning of the game which is a bit ridiculous if you haven’t played the game before.

- Boss and multiple enemy combat is a bit hit and miss.
I’ve played a lot of combat games, including online so am no stranger to ferocious battles.
It handles single enemy combat relatively easy in this game, but when it starts throwing multiple enemies at you, especially those which fire homing rockets, you need to change your tactics very quickly to get through it.
I found throwing grenades, replenishing health, switch ammo etc. with a keyboard and mouse extremely clumsy in its setup and in the height of battle this was becoming a real hindrance to my ability to survive let alone launch a counter attack.


Inventory is way too small.
The management of the inventory looks like it has come straight out of Dues- Ex. It’s not a bad implementation (as in the grid) but its really small (and I upgraded it to maximum) and consequently I couldn’t use half of the weapons that I found in the game as I just didn’t have the space and there is no central place where weapons and a lot of other stuff that is needed can be stored for easy retrieval.
The only exception is a special lift which travels between floors but it can’t hold a lot anything making it practically useless, this is game mechanic that has been ported from the original but has no use in a modern title.