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System Shock
Developer(s)	Looking Glass Studios
Publisher(s)	Origin Systems, Electronic Arts
Designer(s)	Doug Church
Engine	Enhanced Ultima Underworld engine
Release date(s)	March 26, 1994[1]
Genre(s)	Multiple
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: M
Platform(s)	PC (DOS), Mac
Media	CD-ROM, Floppy disks
Input	Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick

System Shock is a first-person computer game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. Released on March 26, 1994,^[1] the game is set in a Cyberpunk envisioning of 2072, aboard the fictional Citadel Station. Assuming the role of a nameless hacker, the player attempts to hinder the plans of a malevolent artificial intelligence.

Unlike other first-person games of the time, System Shock features true 3D environments, allowing the player to look up and down, climb, duck, jump, and lean to the side.^[2] The game received critical praise,^[3][4] later being hailed as a major innovator in its genre,^[5] and placing on multiple hall of fame lists.^[5][6][7] Despite its technological feats and critical praise, System Shock was outsold by its contemporaries.^[5] A sequel, System Shock 2, was released by Looking Glass Studios and off-shoot developer Irrational Games in 1999.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Gameplay 3 Development 4 Reception 4.1 Legacy 5 References 6 External links

Prior to the game's beginning, the protagonist, a nameless hacker, is caught attempting to remotely access files concerning Citadel Station, a space station owned by TriOptimum Corporation. The hacker is taken to Citadel Station and brought before Edward Diego, a TriOptimum executive who offers to drop all charges against the hacker in exchange for a confidential hacking of SHODAN, the artificial intelligence that controls the station. To make the deal more enticing, the hacker is promised a valuable military grade neural implant, paid for by Diego.^[8]

After hacking SHODAN, removing the AI's ethical constraints, and handing control over to Diego, the protagonist is prepared for the promised surgery. Following the operation, the hacker is put into a six-month long controlled healing coma. The game begins as the player character awakens from his coma, finding that the station has been taken over by the now insane SHODAN, with all robots aboard the station reprogrammed for hostility, and the crew turned into cyborgs and mutants, the latter by a cultivated virus.

Fighting for survival against SHODAN's minions, the player is contacted by Rebecca Lansing, a TriOptimum counter-terrorism consultant, who claims that Citadel Station's mining laser is being charged for a strike against Earth. Telling him that, if he is successful, the record of his dealings with Diego will be cleared, Rebecca informs the hacker that a man named Nathan D'arcy should know how to deactivate the laser.^[9] SHODAN, planning to use the laser to destroy all major cities on the planet, eventually reveals its wish to become a kind of god.^[10] Using information gained from D'arcy's log discs, the player causes the laser to destroy itself by firing it into the station's own shields. Foiled in its first attempt, SHODAN begins preparations to use the mutant virus against earth.^[11] The player once again defeats the AI, this time by jettisoning the chambers used to cultivate the virus.

In retaliation to these two defeats, SHODAN begins to download itself into earth's computer networks.^[12] Following Rebecca's advice, the player destroys the four antennae being used by SHODAN in this effort, preventing the AI from fulfilling its scheme.^[13] Following this, Rebecca contacts the player with information that clearance has been given to destroy the station, giving details on how to do so.^[14] After following her instructions and obtaining the necessary codes, the player begins the station's self-destruction sequence, and makes an escape to the life pods.

After defeating Diego, who had been transformed into a powerful cyborg by SHODAN, and was being used to guard the life pods, the player attempts to escape the station with a life pod. However, SHODAN stops the life pod from launching, attempting to force the player to remain on the station while its bridge, on which SHODAN resides, jettisons.^[15] Rebecca again contacts the hacker, telling him that he can still survive if he makes it to the bridge, but SHODAN intercepts the transmission, and attempts to prevent the player from receiving any more.^[16] The player escapes to the bridge before it jettisons, leaving the rest of the station to detonate. Following this, the player is informed by a technician, who managed to circumvent SHODAN's jamming signal, that the only way to defeat SHODAN is in cyberspace, due to the computers possessing shielding powerful enough to withstand all but the bridge's entire destruction.^[17] Using a terminal near SHODAN's mainframe, the player enters cyberspace and destroys SHODAN. After being rescued from the station, the hacker is offered a job at TriOptimum, but declines the offer in favor of continuing a career in hacking.

System Shock uses an interface similar to that of Ultima Underworld,^[18] with a free moving mouse cursor for aiming, manipulating objects, and using the heads-up display (HUD) interface.^[18][19] This interface is also used for leaning left or right, looking up and down, crouching, and crawling. An inventory on the HUD is used for storing and employing items and weapons.^[19]

The game contains various dermal patches, each with certain effects, and occasionally negative after-effects; a "Medipatch" gradually restores some of the player character's health, while a "Berserk" patch increases the power of the player character's melee attacks, but causes hallucinations.^[19]

Throughout System Shock, players find attachable hardware for the player character's neural implant, including head-mounted laterns, motion boosting and targeting systems.^[19] One piece of hardware plays the log discs of crew members, which provide the player with hints on how to proceed, in addition to advancing the story. Increasingly advanced versions of hardware are found as the game continues. While active, hardware gradually drains energy from a main reserve, necessitating economization.^[19]

Using specific terminals in the game, the player may temporarily enter Cyberspace.^[19] While in Cyberspace, the player is able to move weightlessly through a 3d environment, collecting data and fighting security programs. Actions in Cyberspace sometimes generate events in the real world; some locked doors may only be opened in Cyberspace.^[19]

The game features sixteen weapons, of which the player can carry a maximum of eight at once. Projectile weapons often have multiple ammunition types, which the player can select between.^[19] Energy weapons draw power from the player's energy supply, and allow adjustable shot power, proportionally affecting energy consumption. If fired too often, energy weapons will overheat, making them unusable for a short time.^[19] Several types of explosive may also be found, ranging from contact-sensitive grenades, to timed explosives and landmines.^[19]

Attacks made with weapons and types of ammunition have set statistics, and certain enemies are immune to certain damage types.^[20] For example, electromagnetic pulse weapons heavily damage robots, but do not affect mutants. Conversely, gas grenades are effective against mutants, but do not damage robots.^[20] If an enemy is hit by an attack to which it is not immune, the damage is modified by factors including armor absorption, vulnerabilities, critical hits, and a random factor.^[20] These effects are presented in the game with such messages as "Normal damage", displayed near attacked enemies when certain hardware is active.^[20][19]

System Shock was conceived after Looking Glass Technologies had finished Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, the team deciding that they "had done too many dungeon games ... [and] wanted to concentrate on making a really immersive 3-D world that [players] can interact with."^[21] The design team attempted to make the game as realistic as possible, with the engine made to allow inclined surfaces, looking up and down, and leaning. While revolutionary, this proved straining for contemporary computers.^[21][22][2]

Looking Glass Technologies also incorporated an advanced physics system, using an invisible 3d model to govern the player character's physics in real-time. Lead designer Doug Church stated that this system's effects included "the head tilt[ing] forward when you start to run, and jerk[ing] back a bit when you stop", and "when you run into a wall, or are hit by a bullet, or run into by an enemy, your head is knocked in the direction opposite the hit, with proportion to mass and velocity of the objects involved". The physics system also allowed players the ability to climb walls.^[21]

Prior to release, Doug Church stated that "we've always felt that first person games are maximally atmospheric", and "in System Shock we are pushing that in as many ways as we can".^[21] A focus was put on the game's plot, as Looking Glass Technologies believed that, to achieve their desired atmosphere, "things have to look real ... [and] feel real". In addition, the game's log and email messages were designed to be "more than 'you must pull lever N'", with the goal of "[making] them feel as though they came from and are going to someone real."^[21] As no non-player characters appeared in System Shock, log discs and emails were used as the main source of the game's plot. System Shock 2 developer Johnathan Chey later stated that this decision resulted from 1994's computer technology being "simply inadequate to support believable and enjoyable interactions with [non-player characters]".^[22]

System Shock was released on floppy disk in March 1994, with no speech and support for only one display resolution, 320x240. An enhanced CD-ROM version was released months later, with full speech for logs and emails, in addition to multiple display resolutions up to 640x480, and more detailed graphics. This version is often cited as the superior of the two.^[5] The game was also released for the Apple Macintosh.^[23] In an interview with GameSpy, System Shock producer Warren Spector stated, "I wish I could go back and make the decision not to ship the floppy version months before the full-speech CD version. The additional audio added so much it might as well have been a different game. The CD version seemed so much more, well, modern. And the perception of Shock was cemented in the press and in people's minds by the floppy version (the silent movie version!). I really think that cost us sales..."^[24]

Next Generation Magazine stated that System Shock "... is a great blend of strategy and action backed up with all the extras", granting it four out of five stars.^[25] Likewise, GameBytes called it an "atmospheric ... balanced complex-world exploration game with elements of puzzle-solving and combat", running on "the most advanced 3D engine around".^[18]

Computer Gaming World praised the game's physics engine, saying "[it has] one of the most sophisticated physics simulations I have ever seen ... when you throw an object, it arcs through the air, when you run you sense your body's weight, and when you lean around a corner, you can almost feel your weight shifting from one leg to the other", finishing by stating "while the game does have some deficiencies, it provides one hell of an immersion experience", and awarding it 4½ stars out of 5.^[3] PC Gamer claimed that "no matter what kind of game you're looking for, you'll find something in System Shock to delight you", giving it their "Best Adventure Game of 1994" award.^[4] Despite critical praise, System Shock was outsold by its contemporaries,^[5][2] with 170,000 copies sold.^[26]

System Shock has been named a major innovator in the first-person genre. In a Gamasutra feature, Patrick Redding of Ubisoft said "the fact that so many of [System Shock's] features are now virtually de rigor in modern sci-fi shooters is a testament to the influence exerted by this one game".^[27] Similarly, GameSpy has stated that the game "is the progenitor of today's story-based action games, a group with titles as diverse as 'Metal Gear Solid,' 'Resident Evil,' and even 'Half-Life'".^[5] Eurogamer has called the System Shock series "the benchmark for intelligent first-person gaming", saying that "[it] kick-start[ed] the revolution which ... has influenced the design of countless other games".^[28]

Warren Spector has commented that, with Deus Ex, he wanted to "build on the foundation laid by the Looking Glass guys in games like ... System Shock".^[29] Ken Levine has stated that the "spirit of System Shock is player-powered gameplay: the spirit of letting the player drive the game, not the game designer", and at Irrational Games "... that's always the game we ideally want to make".^[30]

In the years following its release, System Shock has been inducted into many "hall of fame" lists, including those by PC Gamer,^[6] GameSpy and Computer Gaming World.^[5][7]

• System Shock at MobyGames
• System Shock at Home of the Underdogs
• System Shock Overview - Adventure Classic Gaming
• System Shock - The Gamespy Hall of Fame
• Through The Looking Glass - Fan-based Looking Glass Studios Tribute Site
• System Shock series Technical FAQ on Through The Looking Glass
• Running System Shock on Windows XP/2000