News
[Ghosts Of Gaming Past] A Review Of ‘System Shock 2’
Welcome to Ghosts of Gaming Past — here we’ll be reviewing older horror games, classics and non-classics we missed when they were originally released. Have a game you’d like reviewed? Send us an email.
Written by Jason Nawara, @JasonNawara
Playing System Shock 2, I feel like I hopped in a time machine, set the date to 1999 and then somehow landed in the future. You know, the future 1999 that featured flying cars and skyscrapers in the clouds. The kind of society-on-the-fringe Ken Levine writes about in his scripts. System Shock 2 blew the world away nearly fifteen years ago with its forward-thinking game design and storytelling techniques, and I remember the hype well.
Everyone at the time said it was outdoing the exemplary Half-Life that graced PCs about ten months prior, and playing this horror masterpiece over again on this GoG released in 2013, I dare say System Shock 2 makes Bioshock and Bioshock: Inifinite feel like a simpleton little brother mixed with Call of Duty, and it stands the test of time better than Valve’s 1998 masterpiece. Harsh? Maybe. It’s not Shodan-level harsh. But I don’t think I’m in the minority with that opinion.
From 1998 to the fall of 2000, PC Gamers were bombarded by three huge releases pushing forward the first person genre and gaming as a whole: Half-Life, System Shock 2 and Deus Ex. To me these games must forever be intertwined as the high water mark for progressing how we perceived videogame storytelling, and brought gaming narrative to the standard we expect today. System Shock 2, specifically, is like the Grandad of Portal, Dead Space and of course Bioshock and Bioshock: Infinite.
Play the first five minutes of System Shock 2, and it’s obvious that creator Ken Levine has been striving to bring his pure vision to life through his games for years, or decades even. It’s all there: the disembodied voice that you probably shouldn’t trust guiding you through blood-stained corridors with warnings scrawled onto the walls. Haunting audio files, providing exposition and clues that lead directly into forthcoming puzzles. Melee, psyonic powers (plasmids, basically) and gunplay.
There is even a good amount of stealth, possibly leftover from Looking Glass and Irrational’s Thief games, thrown in for good measure. The systems are all there, laid out like a fine blueprint that Mr. Levine would follow to great success for many, many years. Being a huge fan of the Bioshock games, I wonder which game, to him, represents his most pure vision. Because System Shock 2 is a ruthless, painful to play at time Role Playing Game.
Its difficulty is almost legendary, and in this new era of gaming where hand holding is as common as collecting a gold coin, actually searching for clues to find a door code or a certain circuit board seems almost ambitiously cruel, despite being in an old game such as this. But after my fifteen hour journey through System Shock 2, I can confirm that a sadistic difficulty isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, I think it makes the game better.
Let me clarify: Nowadays, even in Ken Levine’s current games, usually your item of interest is highlighted or you have a big fat arrow pointing to it on your mini-map. SS2 is as old-school as it gets. There are so many little instances of absolute joy I have swirling in my head that I want to tell you about, but it would just be unfair to ruin these great “Ureaka!” moments, so let me put it like this: This game reminds me of Metal Gear Solid’s best moments on PS1. You know, the actual searching for clues and reading of e-mails or files to find out the answer to a puzzle.
It’s little things like this that make the game far more immersive than high tech graphics or some fancy physics engine. SS2’s old-school values are a breath of fresh air in today’s gaming climate, where most games in this Horror/FPS/RPG genre of today are little more than interactive movies with shooting galleries every few minutes to keep the thumbs happy. That’s fine, and Bioshock: Infinite, despite its strong and heady story suffers from this. Let me put it this way: It must be mentioned that the best survival horror game of this last generation – Dead Space – was long rumored to have been started in development as System Shock 3.
Okay, to the game. You begin your journey waking up from hypersleep (don’t you always?) on the starship Von Braun. Something, of course, has gone terribly wrong. Alarms are blaring, death fills the halls and something has begun to run rampant. The macabre permeates the recycled air, and the air, and you scramble to safety.
Luckily in the prologue, you took part in some brilliant military training that acted as a tutorial, and it’s time to use that training to survive. Telling you anything beyond this would be an absolute shame to spoil, so just trust me when I say that System Shock 2 has one of the most engrossing plots in a videogame ever. Like I mentioned above, the method in which the story unfolds is familiar to gamers now with the Bioshock games, and the same tactics are used to envelope the player on the Von Braun.
The manner in which the game unfolds is brilliant, as you would expect from the lineage of the Bioshock games, and the history of the Von Braun and how it’s presented to the player feel as fresh as ever playing this in 2013.
The game runs well out of GoG, controls are responsive and once again, I’m left wanting features in SS2 to be put in the current Bioshock games. Leaning around walls, the somewhat arbitrary skill system, it all works perfectly. I love it. I wish you could lean in Bioshock and Infinite (ugh). You can add mods to your game to fix some long-dormant bugs or update the graphics, but even running vanilla settings, System Shock 2 looks fine for a fifteen-year-old horror game.
The lighting effects set the mood and atmosphere, the voice actors are top-notch, especially considering this era in gaming. Granted, this could be a nod to the fantastic writing by Ken Levine and company, but still, all credit due to the voice acting. Lightshafts cut through the darkness and the general uneasiness of navigating your way through the Von Braun is punctuated every so often by a gutted scream, or vision of the dead. Good stuff.
As far as how the game handles, a certain, evil AI my say you move like an insect and think like an insect, but I would beg to differ. I did need to fiddle with some presets on the controls to move keys to a more ‘2013’ setting (no one wants S as the button to crouch), but outside of the key presets, the game feels like it could’ve been made yesterday. You can approach battles head on, with stealth or by using your psychic powers, I mean plasmids, er, whatever. There is a hacking minigame, which is a must-have to the “Shock” lineage, and like many great survival horror games – it’s all about resource management. You will run out of bullets. You will be searching desperately, panting and sweating, running though the corridors looking for items to fill your finite inventory space, and the choices you make with your inventory can mean life or death.
I played through System Shock 2 twice, and I will say that I enjoyed myself much more the second time through. Each playthrough took about fifteen hours, and it was met with some decent frustration at times. The game is hard, ridiculously hard, but the game can also become very easy when you pick up a few specifications and know how to start out your adventure. Once again, I don’t want to give anything away, because feeling the horror growing in your stomach as you realize you’re not getting your pathetic flesh and bones off the Von Braun, well, that’s the beauty of the game.
I will say this though: save your ammo. Melee as many early enemies as you can, and enjoy the ride. Listen to logs, and pay attention to the moments when your systems pick up energy and interprets them as light and sound (heh). You have to keep moving, as enemy respawns are old-school and maybe even cheap, and play the game on easy your first time through if you want to. In my opinion there is no shame in that, especially with this game. The story is just so fantastic.
This re-release on GoG gives us 2-player online co-op, which I wasn’t able to run, as well as some extras such as an old Ken Levine interview from the late 90’s, some artwork and the original pitch document. So for $9.99, you’re getting some cool historic content along with a stellar game.
Like any good game, System Shock 2 leaves me wanting more. Namely, a sequel or at least a visitation from a certain universe-jumping female from another “Shock” game in some future DLC *cough cough*. Excuse the pun, but it’s rather shocking how great this game is this many years later. Much like Half-Life and Deus Ex, System Shock 2 stands the harsh test of time that seems to age some videogames faster than dog years. What we have here, nearly fifteen years later, is a tight, interesting and horrifying survival horror RPG that is still better than most releases today. Yes, that includes its brethren under the ocean and in the clouds.
The Final Word: Get over the inventory system, punishing difficulty and and somewhat wonky controls, and you have one of the best $9.99 purchases in a long, long time. Just remember: Beware the Machine Mother.
We are now one full month into Spring 2024, which kicked off on Tuesday, March 19 and comes to an end with the start of Summer on Thursday, June 20. This year’s summer movie season has a whole bunch of exciting horror highlights, including A Quiet Place: Day One, MaXXXine, and Alien: Romulus, but let’s hold that particular thought until June rolls around.
We’re here today to talk about Spring 2024 and the many horrors we still have left before the weather gets warmer and we find ourselves in the heat of one hell of a spooky summer.
Here are 12 horror movies you don’t want to miss in Spring 2024!
STING – April 12
Two words: SPIDER HORROR. Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner (Wyrmwood) hopes to induce eight-legged terror with his brand new horror movie Sting, only in theaters April 12.
Of particular note, Sting features practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award Winner Weta Workshop, with the spider in this one inspired by H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph!
In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider. The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.
“But as Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable.”
BLACKOUT – APRIL 12
Indie darling Larry Fessenden is back with new horror movie Blackout this Spring, Fessenden’s third movie – following Habit and Depraved – to put his own spin on classic monsters.
While Habit was centered on vampires and Depraved was a fresh take on Frankenstein’s Monster, Larry Fessenden’s Blackout is the filmmaker’s contribution to werewolf cinema.
The film follows Charley, an artist whose drinking binges blur with his sneaking suspicion that he might be a werewolf. He distances himself from those he loves and sinks deeper into solitude, his flashes of memory of his nighttime grisly acts manifested through his artwork.
ARCADIAN – APRIL 12
If Nicolas Cage is covered in blood, you better believe we’re going to be watching. Cage gets his own A Quiet Place with Arcadian, a new creature feature coming to theaters April 12.
In Arcadian, which also comes to Shudder later this year, “After a catastrophic event depopulates the world, a father (Nicolas Cage) and his two sons must survive their dystopian environment while being threatened by mysterious creatures that emerge at night.”
Jaeden Martell (IT 2017) also stars in the post apocalyptic monster movie.
ABIGAIL – APRIL 19
If you’re bummed about Melissa Barrera being fired from the Scream franchise, you’ll definitely want to get out to your local theater this month to support Abigail, the new VAMPIRE BALLERINA horror movie from Scream and Scream VI directors Radio Silence.
Barrera stars alongside fellow horror favorite Kathryn Newton (Freaky) in Abigail, which is actually the latest horror movie in Universal’s relaunched Universal Monsters Universe.
In the film, “After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.”
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL – APRIL 19
One of the most talked about horror movies of Spring 2024 has been the Halloween 1977-set Late Night With the Devil, which has been playing in theaters since its premiere on March 22.
Late Night with the Devil will begin streaming at home on April 19, 2024, less than one month after arriving in theaters. Shudder will be the exclusive streaming home of the movie.
David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) stars as the host of a late-night talk show that descends into a nightmare in Late Night with the Devil, set on Halloween 1977.
In the found footage-style film that captures a period aesthetic, “A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation’s living rooms.”
INFESTED – APRIL 26
Spring 2024 is all about SPIDERS – sorry, arachnophobes! – with the previously mentioned Sting being followed by the French creature feature Infested (Vermines) later this month.
What’s particularly exciting about Infested is that its director, Sébastien Vaniček, has been hired to direct the next installment in the Evil Dead film franchise, so this will be our first taste of what Vaniček is capable of within the genre. And the buzz for this one is strong.
In his review out of Fantastic Fest last year, for starters, Bloody Disgusting’s own critic Trace Thurman raved that Infested is “one of the best spider attack movies in years.”
In the upcoming horror film, “Fascinated by exotic animals, Kaleb finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap.”
HUMANE – APRIL 26
The daughter of horror master David Cronenberg, Caitlin Cronenberg is making her own mark in the genre filmmaking space with IFC Films’ Humane, coming to theaters this month.
The film is described as “a dystopian satire taking place over a single day, months after a global ecological collapse has forced world leaders to reduce the earth’s population.”
The wild premise? 20% of the world’s population must VOLUNTEER TO DIE!
“In a wealthy enclave, a recently retired newsman has invited his grown children to dinner to announce his intentions to enlist in the nation’s new euthanasia program. But when the father’s plan goes horribly awry, tensions flare and chaos erupts among his children.”
I SAW THE TV GLOW – MAY 3
Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters this May.
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for BD, “I Saw the TV Glow offers a layered and authentic portrait of identity, wrapped in ’90s nostalgia and surreal imagery that embeds itself deep into your psyche.” Meagan continues, “Schoenbrun delivers a singular vision of arthouse horror that entrances for its fevered dream style and insanely cool imagery.”
In A24’s latest, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.”
TAROT – MAY 3
Originally titled Horrorscope, a much better title if you’re asking me, Screen Gems returns to the big screen with studio horror movie Tarot this Spring, a Tarot-card themed spookshow.
When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards in the upcoming Screen Gems horror movie Tarot. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.
The hook for this one? Artist Trevor Henderson designed the film’s eight monsters!
THE STRANGERS: CHAPTER 1 – MAY 17
Bryan Bertino’s 2008 home invasion classic The Strangers spawns a brand new reboot trilogy this year, with first film The Strangers: Chapter 1 kicking things off in theaters on May 17.
The Strangers: Chapter 2 is expected to follow in Fall 2024.
Madelaine Petsch is the lead of the new reboot trilogy, playing a character who drives cross-country with her longtime boyfriend to begin a new life in the Pacific Northwest.
When their car breaks down in Venus, Oregon, they’re forced to spend the night in a secluded Airbnb, where they are terrorized from dusk till dawn by three masked strangers.
IN A VIOLENT NATURE – MAY 31
Slasher fans who have been hungry for a new Friday the 13th movie won’t want to miss In a Violent Nature, which plays out like a Friday movie… entirely from Jason’s perspective!
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31.
In the film, “When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.”
Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but the approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”
THE WATCHERS – JUNE 14
M. Night Shyamalan returns with the new thriller Trap this coming August, but the road to that film’s release will be paved by the feature debut of his daughter, Ishana Night Shyamalan.
Ishana Night directed The Watchers, in theaters from WB/New Line on June 14.
The film follows Mina, a 28-year-old artist, who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. When Mina finds shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night.
Which Spring 2024 horror movies are YOU most looking forward to?
4 New Horror Movies Releasing This Week Including ‘Late Night with the Devil’ at Home
Spring 2024 Horror Preview: 12 Horror Movies You Don’t Want to Miss
The ‘Scary Movie’ Spoof Franchise Is Getting a Reboot at Paramount!
‘Ready or Not’: Radio Silence Filmmakers Tease the “Absolute Banger” of a Sequel That’s Taking Shape
“We Built Every Creature” – ‘Alien: Romulus’ Goes Heavy on the Old School Practical Effects!
You must be logged in to post a comment.