System Shock Remake

Bioshock was a prancing candy-colored carnival ride. What it was NOT, unlike its supposed spiritual predecessors, was an immersive sim. Bioshock was an unashamed just-a-game through and through, that happily dispensed with logic and consistency whenever it suited the designers.

So if Otherside takes any lesson from Bioshock, it should be, “Don’t be like Bioshock.”

Man, I can’t agree with those statements more. Rapture was a set. Citadel was a place.

lolz…didn’t mean for that bullseye to be quite so big ;)

You value those intangibles, which is fine-- this is obviously a battle of opinions. IMO, Bioshock was a much better game– the ultimate evolution of one branch of the Underworld tree, which focused on faster-paced shooter gameplay and story rather than world simulation and immersion.

Uh, which branch of Ultima Underworld was fast-paced shooting?

Besides, even amongst its fans, most concede that Bioshock’s shooting was adequate at best (on the rare occasions players are forced to venture beyond “one-two punch!”). Mostly cramped corridors, small selection of samey weapons vs small selection of samey enemies.

And the plot? “The best way I can think of to return my mind-controlled assassin to Rapture is to have him <i>crash his plane into the ocean</i>.” PS-- Objectivists are jerks, have you hugged a Little Sister today? Blargh.

Uh, which branch of Ultima Underworld was fast-paced shooting?

Besides, even amongst its fans, most concede that Bioshock’s shooting was adequate at best (on the rare occasions players are forced to venture beyond “one-two punch!”). Mostly cramped corridors, small selection of samey weapons vs small selection of samey enemies.

And the plot? “The best way I can think of to return my mind-controlled assassin to Rapture is to have him crash his plane into the ocean.” PS-- Objectivists are jerks, have you hugged a Little Sister today? Blargh.

Bioshock evolved from underworld in one way and system shock another. And Thief yet another.

I Enjoyed both but have more fond memories of SS, probably because BioShock had stuff that reminded me of SS and not the other way.

For me, Bioshock was lacking in the gameplay area quite a bit. In theory, they had systems in place to let you be imaginative with the tools they have you. Use fuel/oil + fire powers to burn your enemies, use water + lightning powers to shock your enemies. But the level design made it hard to sort of mix and match those systems and be creative, since each area was setup in a particular way, it felt more like set piece after set piece. That was still okay for me, since their set pieces were very enjoyable. But I think they fell short of actually having a good systems-based approach that they were partially aiming for.

Plus, this might seem like a minor point, but it had a big impact: Bioshock played really fast. The enemy animations and movement speed. It was all happening so fast, compared to something like System Shock 2, that often it was hard to get your bearings and even try to be imaginative about how to destroy your enemies or how to use the systems they created in a cool way. Contrast that with System Shock 2, where the enemies moved a lot slower, the threats announced themselves and you had some time to hack terminals or turrets or set things up before you got into combat.

That’s why my favorite Bioshock game was actually Bioshock 2, the one not done by Irrational. Even though things still happened a little too fast for my tastes, the level design and game structure was reversed. Instead of you going from set piece to set piece as setup by the level designers, you were the one in control on when and where to trigger fights. So you could take your time and setup traps, be aware of where you could play with interacting systems, and use the environments to your advantage. In Bioshock, I didn’t enjoy the combat, I just got through it so that I could see what came next. In Bioshock 2, I actually loved it so much, I played on the hardest difficulty and relished every time I got the opportunity to set up traps and lay in wait for splicers and eventually the fight with the Big Sisters, which gave you less preparation time, and forced you to improvise more.

I know Bioshock 2 wasn’t as popular at Qt3 than the original, but I felt it improved upon it in nearly every way.

I know Bioshock 2 wasn’t as popular at Qt3 than the original, but I felt it improved upon it in nearly every way.

On the other hand, Tom’s one of the big cheerleaders for that game.

Actually, a ton of people here prefer Bioshock2. I definitely don’t, though-- there was just so much repetition, defending a little sister against waves of enemies over and over.

Pre-alpha footage of the remake.

I’m liking the art style. Seems like about the best we could have hoped for regarding bringing the original, somewhat garish, aesthetic into a more modern engine without completing remapping the entire station from scratch. Has a nice pulp SF feel to it.

That actually does not look terrible. I never managed to finish the first one.

Ah, there’s also a Polygon article with an interview.

That looks good, but I hope there’s a mod to increase the brightness level. Maybe turn the darkness into a bluish-gray so we can see better. Or at least a loot highlighting option.

No. Just no.

That looks sweet; I wish the zombie people maybe looked a little more human, though. In my brain, they were humans with strange growths on them begging you to kill them while they were trying to kill you.

Chris Woods

Shh, I’m trolling Zylon!!!

I have the weirdest bone right now

Probably because I am one of dozens of people over the last two decades who tried to rebuild SS.