MASS EFFECT OF SYSTEM SHOCK , ...Mass Effect, Dead Space, Bioshock, Borderlands, Fallout 3 – if you’ve played any of these modern shooters, you’ve felt the influence of System Shock 2. Now, you can actually play it.
Starting Thursday, GOG.com, a website that specializes in selling old computer games optimized for modern PCs, will sell System Shock 2 for $10. At a time when games are routinely repackaged and re-sold, this might not seem special. But until now, a mess of rights issues have prevented the game from ever coming back after its 1999 debut. Finally, a game that’s widely seen as one of the best will get its chance to stand the test of time.
It’s a topic that’s dear to my heart, as someone who experienced the game’s psychological thrills more than decade ago. Although the original System Shock, released in 1994, paved the way for shooters with role-playing elements, System Shock 2 took it all a step further. It gave you a choice of specializations — guns, hacking or psionics — and let you build upon those skills, which in turn changed the way you played the game. That’s no monumental feat today, but in the age of twitchy shooters like Quake and Unreal, an extra layer of role-playing was practically unheard of.
MASS EFFECT OF SYSTEM SHOCK , ...Mass Effect, Dead Space, Bioshock, Borderlands, Fallout 3 – if you’ve played any of these modern shooters, you’ve felt the influence of System Shock 2. Now, you can actually play it.
ReplyDeleteStarting Thursday, GOG.com, a website that specializes in selling old computer games optimized for modern PCs, will sell System Shock 2 for $10. At a time when games are routinely repackaged and re-sold, this might not seem special. But until now, a mess of rights issues have prevented the game from ever coming back after its 1999 debut. Finally, a game that’s widely seen as one of the best will get its chance to stand the test of time.
It’s a topic that’s dear to my heart, as someone who experienced the game’s psychological thrills more than decade ago. Although the original System Shock, released in 1994, paved the way for shooters with role-playing elements, System Shock 2 took it all a step further. It gave you a choice of specializations — guns, hacking or psionics — and let you build upon those skills, which in turn changed the way you played the game. That’s no monumental feat today, but in the age of twitchy shooters like Quake and Unreal, an extra layer of role-playing was practically unheard of.
Read more: http://techland.time.com/2013/02/13/13-years-later-system-shock-2-lives-again/#ixzz2KpXehD4N