I completely adore the System Shock remake from Nightdive Studios. When it launched on the PS5 final 12 months, this reimagining of Trying Glass’ 1994 basic was nearly all I might take into consideration for weeks on finish because of its immersive gameplay, oppressive ambiance, and beautiful visuals that mix pixel-art textures with superior lighting know-how.
I do not, nonetheless, adore System Shock on the Swap 2. The truth is, the sport’s efficiency on Nintendo’s console is so poor at launch, I’d suggest giving it a large berth in the meanwhile.
Let’s begin with the positives. When it comes to content material, every part from the PC and console launch is retained right here on the Swap 2 port. It is a strictly single-player narrative expertise with three issue choices out there throughout 4 separate classes: Fight, Mission, Cyber, and Puzzle – heaps to tinker with to fit your tastes, then.
Your mission is to outlive the horrors inside Citadel Station and convey down the rogue AI, SHODAN. The station itself is separated into distinct flooring, beginning with Medical. You’ll must discover every flooring completely, accumulating audio logs, gear, and weapons, whereas combating a plethora of cybernetic monstrosities. Though System Shock 2 is broadly thought to be the non secular predecessor to BioShock, you’ll be able to nonetheless see the latter’s DNA within the unique sport, and Nightdive’s remake showcases it splendidly. The audio logs, particularly, actually assist to supply key narrative context.
System Shock’s FPS gameplay is gradual and methodical; you’ll inch your means across the station to get the drop in your enemies, whereas the in-game stock will want frequent TLC to make sure you’re solely carrying the necessities. Fortunately, any junk you do decide up on the way in which might be vaporised into scrap through the stock display screen. This will then be taken to designated areas within the station and swapped for money.
You’re inspired, then, to choose up as a lot stuff as you’ll be able to and vaporise what you don’t really want. This will likely show tedious for some, however for me it was paying homage to the attache case from Resident Evil 4, with bigger gadgets taking over extra stock slots. I benefit from the rhythmic upkeep required to maintain it in tip-top form.
Weapons procured alongside the way in which do job at keeping off enemies, and there’s a wholesome mixture of melee and projectile at your disposal. Ammo is sort of scarce, so that you’ll usually discover that utilizing the wrench or pipe is an effective choice for among the weaker foes, whereas stronger enemies would require beefier weaponry. Like most trendy Nightdive video games, gyro aiming is included for fine-tuning, however you too can tinker with its sensitivity within the choices menu if you’d like a larger vary of movement.
At numerous factors throughout your keep at Citadel Station, you’ll additionally hack into Our on-line world terminals to entry locked doorways all through every flooring. The Our on-line world is a digital maze by which you fly round in first-person and shoot down vibrant enemies. It’s a reasonably psychedelic expertise; one which Jeff Minter can be pleased with, and the visuals on show are really spectacular.
What’s even higher is that these areas don’t outstay their welcome; the majority of your time will likely be spent exploring the station, so when the Our on-line world sections do often present up, they add a welcome dose of selection. In the meantime, different puzzles on every flooring are maybe a bit nearer to BioShock of their presentation, requiring you to rewire circuits to direct the circulation of electrical energy and unlock new passageways. These are enjoyable, if a bit throwaway.
I’d love to finish the evaluation there and urge you to purchase System Shock on Swap 2; essentially, it’s a fantastic remake that continues to be devoted to the unique whereas introducing a bunch of enhancements for contemporary audiences. Sadly, the body fee is completely all over and it ruins the expertise.
Nightdive is gunning for 60fps right here, however it nearly by no means reaches its objective, and the unlocked body fee ends in some frequent, heavy drops whereas exploring. It makes primary aiming really feel off on a regular basis, and though gyro helps stabilise it considerably, it’s nonetheless nowhere close to as clean accurately.
It’s particularly irritating when you think about that System Shock can be the proper showcase for mouse controls on the Swap 2. You’ll be able to toggle this feature for each regular exploration and the Our on-line world sections, and in principle it really works very well. There’s very minimal enter lag which, in comparison with the disastrous Skyrim port not too long ago, could be very welcome, whereas opening up the stock display screen instantly brings up an on-screen cursor to make administration a lot simpler.
Once more, nonetheless, even with the mouse controls, the body fee suffers from frequent hitches that make it near-impossible to purpose precisely. You’ll pan the digital camera round to get an enemy in your sights, however when the sport tries to handle all of the background visible data, it immediately judders, inflicting you to fully overshoot your mark. It’s extraordinarily irritating.
Curiously, the Our on-line world sections run completely – a stable 60fps with no noticeable drops. That is nice, however as I discussed earlier, these jaunts are few and much between, so the overwhelming majority of System Shock is, sadly, affected by poor efficiency. To be doubly positive that it wasn’t one thing iffy with my Swap 2, I transferred the sport from the SD Specific Card to the onboard reminiscence – sadly, the problems remained unchanged, and a pre-release patch seemingly did nothing to clean issues out.
Coming from Nightdive, a staff that prides itself on delivering slick gameplay experiences, this can be a disappointing port, to say the least.
Conclusion
System Shock is, on paper, a superb remake that thoughtfully updates the 1994 unique for contemporary methods, introducing each gyro aiming and mouse assist together with a bunch of graphical upgrades. Sadly, the transfer over to the Swap 2 has tanked the efficiency, leading to a sport that by no means feels satisfying sufficient to play.
Ought to this get mounted sooner or later, it might be value investigating, however for now, you will be higher off enjoying it on one other platform.
