Let’s Look At: System Shock Pre-Alpha Demo

Disclosure: I have backed this game on Kickstarter to the tune of 30 dollars. I am not paid in any way to talk about this as-yet-unfulfilled-project. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, on to our regularly scheduled programming.

Horror and Sci-Fi go together like sleep deprivation and a new parent. Horror aims to inspire fear, which often springs from a lack of understanding. What’s less understood than an alien, or an emotionless artificial intelligence? Horror games add an extra dimension to this trope by giving you control over somebody in such a situation. System Shock (1994) took HAL 9000 and cranked the terror up to 11, later inspiring games like Bioshock and SOMA. Unfortunately, System Shock hasn’t aged well. The control scheme is maximalist beyond words, with no mouselook. The graphics, music, and enemy sound design maintain a certain spooky charm, but the voice acting sounds more bored than terrified. The folks over at Nightdive Studios decided that enough was enough and that they were going to remake the original cyberpunk horror experience. They recently released a pre-alpha demo, so let’s see where it’s going.

Awwww yissss. Shodan is back to kill humans and control robots, and she's all out of robots.

I’m not sure if they’re keeping the original story, but it bears repeating because it’s awesome. In 2072, you (a hacker wearing a funny shirt) hack into the TriOptimum Corporation database to learn about Citadel Station. You are brought before a TriOptimum executive who promises to clear all charges against you if you hack the Station A.I. SHODAN to give him control over it. He even promises to throw in a valuable (and illegal) military grade neural implant.

Executives these days. You hack a sentient A.I to remove all ethical constraints and next thing you know, everything goes to pot.

You hack SHODAN and hand control over to the executive and they implant some tech in your head, you take a 6 month healing nap. You wake up to find that SHODAN has taken control of the station, reprogrammed all the robots, and killed, mutated, and transformed the human occupants of the station. You quickly learn Citadel Station’s mining laser is charging and that SHODAN is planning to destroy all of Earth’s major cities. Time to go stop a super powerful artificial intelligence with total control of a space station. Off you get.

The demo starts out much like the original, with you waking up in an abandoned station. Right off the bat, the visual style of the remake is beautiful. Nightdive Studios have maintained the original layout of the Citadel Station, but they’ve also created a modern and sensible new look. Gas and bits of fog filter across your vision as neon lights of every shade emanate from the various screens and touchpads.

Colorful, bloody, and full of tech-nonsense. This is how I like my games.

The particle effects are impressive in their own right; lightning jumps out of power stations and jumps around your gloved hand, sparks fly from your weapon impact on a robot, and your electro-gun unleashes bolts of blue electricity that leave glowing orange scorch marks. All together it creates a very cohesive and mysterious cyberpunk feeling. While most things remain the same the remake has made the game a little darker, lighting wise. The original was very bright, even pastel colored at times, which didn’t mesh with the tone.

The movement of your character is appropriately slow, just like the original game, but with a lot more kinetic feeling. When picking up an important item or weapon, your character flips it around in their hands for a minute, looking at it before putting it away or wielding it. It’s a nice bit of real-world curiosity that gives a lot of character to your silent protagonist.

It's important to see if your weapons are free of structural damage. Plus, who doesn't like to get a feel for the heft of a lead pipe?

It makes sense that you’d be curious; you did hack into a super powerful corporation’s files just for shits’n’giggles. Swinging your weapon has the kind of weight that the swing of a real pipe might; impact feels satisfying and blows land with a good thunk. Climbing up and down ladders isn’t instant, like in Half-Life 2, but a process of getting on and off that reinforces the weight your character has. All in all, it feels like movement in a horror game should.

The original System Shock was very text based and the remake brings a little bit of that magic back with frequent on-screen messages. When your character opens a box a line of text will appear, as if somebody was typing it, that scrolls across the middle of your screen: “I wonder what’s inside?”. When you attempt to interact with a computer screen texture, you’ll get a message of “It’s all gibberish.” Intractable items will have an augmented-reality like circle around them, mimicking the look of the original game and modern augmented reality devices.

Modern AR devices do a very similar sort of thing with important objects, so I thought this was a really clever touch.

Given that this is a demo designed to get people to invest in a game that doesn’t exist yet, Nightdive studios is trying to put their best foot forward. With any such attempt, you’re bound to stumble a bit. Some of the issues I have with this demo can definitely be fixed, but we’ll see what happens. First of all, it’s hard to tell if an enemy is close enough to hit you. I think this is an issue related to your field of view and the difficult nature of melee combat in first person, but it’s a bit annoying. I always end up backing up and charging toward enemies like some kind of indecisive Roomba.

One of your weapons, which I’m calling the Electrogun (because I don’t know it’s name), has several power modes which you can switch between. Each level corresponds to a different amount of electricity you use per shot and damage you do. Each time you change the level, an animation plays where your character raises the gun in front of their/your face and turns the little knob on the side of the gun that changes the power.

As much as I love neon (and believe me I love neon) I really can't tell what I've just turned my gun to.

Thing is, it’s really hard to see which level you’ve just turned to and there’s no indication anywhere else on the screen. There’s little markings next to the different settings on the gun, but other parts of the gun and your hands obscure the markings when you’re turning the knob. If other weapons have this style of alteration, I hope Nightdive adds an indication somewhere else on the screen to let you know which power level you’re on.

System Shock had a wonderful and atmospheric soundtrack that added a lot to the eerie feelings that the game evoked. The demo doesn’t seem to have a soundtrack, aside from a short orchestral number as you look out a window. While I’m not sure if the original 90s cyberpunk soundtrack would fit with the darker visual choices Nightdive has made, I think a reimagining of the original soundtrack would be a good idea. From what I’ve seen, a full soundtrack is planned, but I hope they go with something with an outrun style bent. I think the Neo-80’s sound would work well with the more neon visual style.

Worth Playing/Worth Backing?

Yes/Maybe

This demo is definitely fun, visually well designed, and atmospheric. There are some issues around sound, enemy attacks, and unclear mechanics, but the whole package is a great throwback to a different era of game. However, if you were not a fan of the original game’s tone, atmosphere, or speed, you might not want to back this one. This game is not Bioshock, or even System Shock 2. It’s slower and not and RPG, though that could change with one of the kickstarter’s stretch goals. If you liked the original, then I would suggest backing this one.

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Let’s Look at Bioshock Infinite

The Shock series of games are lauded like few others. Each game crafted a unique, memorable, and horrifying world to explore. System Shock and System Shock 2 focused on the terror of space, while Bioshock and Bioshock 2 dropped you 20,000 leagues under the sea. Then along came Bioshock Infinite. In many ways, it’s the odd one out. The game world is colorful and vibrant, there aren’t any grotesque or disturbing enemies, and there’s no impactful moral choices to make. Bioshock Infinite is a game that deserves a second look, so let’s get to it.

I'm a huge fan of the Shock games, so I was really excited for this one. I was surprised by how much they changed the formula.

And coming in first place for the "Most Generic Protagonist Ever" we have Booker DeWitt!

In Bioshock Infinite you play as Booker Dewitt, a former US cavalryman and Pinkerton strikebreaker. A mysterious client agrees to pay off your massive debts if you bring back a girl from the floating city of Columbia. You quickly figure out that finding Elizabeth and bringing her to New York will be harder than you imagined. Before you know it, you and Elizabeth are fighting your way through all of Columbia, warping reality, and clashing with the highest powers in the city.

The combat in Bioshock Infinite might be the best in the series. It certainly beats the combat in the two System Shock games, as well as Bioshock. Shooting feels punchy and smooth and the enemies are well designed. Your movement speed is quick enough that navigating the large spaces you find yourself in is easy and rewarding. The weapons in BI remind me of the weapons in Black for the PS2; you can use any of the weapons throughout the whole game, rather than upgrading, ala Mass Effect 2.  You have a variety of Vigors (Infinite’s version of Plasmids), which are powered by Salts that you can find throughout the game. 

i feel like shooting somebody clad in crazy metal armor and wielding fireballs might not be best gameplan, but hey, what do I know?

The environments in Infinite are beautifully designed. From the minute you land in Columbia, you see a vibrant, colorful, and beautiful city full of well-designed little details. People mill about on the grass have picnics, others run little shops here and there, and everybody looks like they walked right out of a 1910’s painting.

Ugh, Jesus, this game is too damn pretty. The art style, lighting, and atmosphere are top notch. The sound design is well done and it complements the atmosphere very well.. There's amazing covers of God Only Knows and Fortunate Son as well.

The cohesiveness in the art direction, sound design, and environments is really impressive for a modern game.  The “levels” of the game are designed to encourage exploration, with hidden items scattered about, as well as a sense of verticality that’s new to the series. Columbia is full of “skylines”, metal rail lines that you can hop on and off in the middle of combat or just to explore the world. This helps you think of the game world as a 3D space, rather than just a 2D shooting gallery.

Bioshock Infinite does a fantastic job painting the elegant outside of 1910’s America, but it doesn’t shy away from the rotten core. The racism and classism that you experience in Columbia is shocking and omnipresent, but not more so than it needed to be.

So much racist history to think about, so little time. Bioshock Infinite puts you in a beautiful and sobering world, especially given modern politics.

Some people have criticized the violence in the game, saying that it’s excessive and that it doesn’t mesh with the beautiful, colorful world of Columbia, but I disagree. American history is a history of warfare. As of 2015, out of the 239 years America has been a recognized nation, 222 of them have involved armed conflict of some kind. The beginning of America as a nation was the Revolutionary War and American expansion was marked by the slaughter of the indigenous peoples. Violence is what we do, and Bioshock Infinite doesn’t let you forget that.

As Penny Arcade pointed out, she's basically a Disney Princess. She certainly has more character than a few of them.

All of the above is impressive, but not unique. There’s one part of Infinite that stands above all other games, and that’s Elizabeth. Elizabeth feels real in the way that incredibly few characters do, let alone game characters. She is blessed (or perhaps cursed) with the ability to interact with “Tears”, holes in the fabric of reality that can be found all over Columbia. She can bring things in from other dimensions as well as pass into them. This power of hers is remarkable by itself, but the game designers also did a fantastic job giving her both thematic and gameplay impact. Her strange abilities are the reason why she was locked in Columbia her whole life. You can see her use this power several times to advance the plot, but you can also use them in the middle of combat. She’s one of the few escort quests that never feels annoying, partly because she can’t be damaged in combat and partly because she’s just enjoyable to be around. Creating characters that aren’t one dimensional and have a story impact is difficult in media, but the designers of Infinite struck gold with Elizabeth.

While the actual shooting mechanics are well designed, a lot of the mechanics surrounding combat are not so well thought out. Unlike previous Shock games, Infinite only allows you to carry two weapons at any time. You can upgrade weapons throughout the game, but you’ll find yourself running out of ammo for your upgraded weapons a lot, especially on harder difficulties. Interestingly enough, you have access to all of your Vigors at all times and most of them (six of eight possible Vigors) have only direct combat uses. Maybe the developers wanted you to use the Vigors more than guns, but there aren’t enough Salts to use them for every situation. I think you could have removed the Vigors from the game, and you wouldn’t lose much. The level of possible customization also decreased in this game compared to the previous games in the series. In the Bioshock games you could equip a variety of Gene Tonics, which offered passive bonuses like increased melee damage, or fire resistance, etc. In Infinite you can find a variety of Gear, clothes which offer some bonuses, but you can only equip four at any given time. Lastly, the increased difficulty settings for this game are the worst kind: the kind where all enemies become bullet sponges while you become paper-thin. Challenge is more than just weighing the scale against the player.

Worth Playing?

Yes.

Bioshock Infinite is an odd duck, especially when compared to the rest of the series. It stumbles a fair number of times, but in the end, its charm, fast paced combat, and Elizabeth make it worth playing for sure. I really can’t say how impressive Elizabeth is as an NPC in a game. She sets the bar and I’ve yet to find an NPC as engaging, useful, or so well tied to both and gameplay.