I completely adore the System Shock remake from Nightdive Studios. When it launched on the PS5 final 12 months, this reimagining of Wanting Glass’ 1994 traditional was nearly all I may take into consideration for weeks on finish due to its immersive gameplay, oppressive environment, and gorgeous visuals that mix pixel-art textures with superior lighting know-how.
I do not, nevertheless, adore System Shock on the Swap 2. In actual fact, the sport’s efficiency on Nintendo’s console is so poor at launch, I’d advocate giving it a large berth in the interim.
Let’s begin with the positives. By way of content material, all the pieces 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 problem choices accessible 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 have to discover every ground completely, gathering audio logs, tools, and weapons, whereas combating a plethora of cybernetic monstrosities. Though System Shock 2 is broadly considered the non secular predecessor to BioShock, you possibly can nonetheless see the latter’s DNA within the unique sport, and Nightdive’s remake showcases it splendidly. The audio logs, particularly, actually assist to offer 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 choose up on the best way may be vaporised into scrap through the stock display. This may then be taken to designated places within the station and swapped for money.
You’re inspired, then, to choose up as a lot stuff as you possibly can and vaporise what you don’t really want. This may occasionally show tedious for some, however for me it was harking back 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 best way do an excellent job at heading off enemies, and there’s a wholesome mixture of melee and projectile at your disposal. Ammo is kind of scarce, so that you’ll usually discover that utilizing the wrench or pipe is an efficient possibility for a few of the weaker foes, whereas stronger enemies would require beefier weaponry. Like most fashionable Nightdive video games, gyro aiming is included for fine-tuning, however you can too tinker with its sensitivity within the choices menu if you would like a higher vary of movement.
At varied factors throughout your keep at Citadel Station, you’ll additionally hack into Our on-line world terminals to entry locked doorways all through every ground. The Our on-line world is a digital maze through which you fly round in first-person and shoot down vibrant enemies. It’s a fairly psychedelic expertise; one which Jeff Minter can be pleased with, and the visuals on show are actually spectacular.
What’s even higher is that these areas don’t outstay their welcome; the majority of your time can be spent exploring the station, so when the Our on-line world sections do sometimes present up, they add a welcome dose of selection. In the meantime, different puzzles on every ground 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 evaluate there and urge you to purchase System Shock on Swap 2; essentially, it’s an awesome remake that is still trustworthy to the unique whereas introducing a number of enhancements for contemporary audiences. Sadly, the body price is completely in all places and it ruins the expertise.
Nightdive is gunning for 60fps right here, however it virtually by no means reaches its purpose, and the unlocked body price ends in some frequent, heavy drops whereas exploring. It makes fundamental aiming really feel off on a regular basis, and though gyro helps stabilise it considerably, it’s nonetheless nowhere close to as clean correctly.
It’s particularly irritating when you think about that System Shock can be the proper showcase for mouse controls on the Swap 2. You possibly can 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 lately, could be very welcome, whereas opening up the stock display instantly brings up an on-screen cursor to make administration a lot simpler.
Once more, nevertheless, even with the mouse controls, the body price 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 info, it immediately judders, inflicting you to utterly overshoot your mark. It’s extraordinarily irritating.
Curiously, the Our on-line world sections run completely – a strong 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, stricken 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 group 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 techniques, introducing each gyro aiming and mouse assist together with a number 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 fastened sooner or later, it could be price investigating, however for now, you will be higher off enjoying it on one other platform.
