Recent reviews by Mariodysseus

System Shock is cryptic, labyrinthine, and oppressive. You will be forced to backtrack to the Medical Bay so many times that your entire conception of the map layout is purely based on "How do I get back to the Medical Bay from here?". The combat feedback is non-existent, and the enemy sound design is mediocre at best. That all sounds pretty harsh, I know, but with all that said, I actually loved this game.

8.5/10

I think the reason I loved it so much was almost entirely due to the atmosphere. Its one of those games in which the overall experience felt unique and memorable. I was willing to look past the short comings because I was so absorbed in understanding what was happening, figuring out how to stop it, and exploring the space station. Shodan is an amazing villain, and Citadel Station is a great setting. This is one of those games I wish I could experience for the first time again.

Most people will get stuck at certain parts, not knowing how to progress, and might have to look up a guide, I certainly did, but I don't think the game should be less cryptic because of that. Everything is solvable within the game. The amount of time someone is willing to spend trying to figure something out is entirely up to them. If you are stumped but want to progress, then look up how to progress. If you are stumped but want to figure it out without a guide, then it might take reading all of the logs again and searching the entire map for something you missed.

As for the combat; I thought it was serviceable.

Satisfyingly difficult puzzles. It looks nice, too.

The pace of the combat in this one is absolutely off the rails. It feels like every mechanic straight-up breaks the game, and once you find your rhythm, it is incredibly addictive. After 11 hours it still feels like i haven't even scratched the surface of whats possible when it comes to play-styles and level routing.

8/10

Here's where the disclaimer comes in. The physics are not for everyone. Even some that liked DOOM 2016/Eternal might find them difficult to get a handle on. The sheer speed you have right from the beginning can be overwhelming. I could see people not making it through the first 5 hours due to the difficulty the speed alone creates. The last disclaimer is more of a nit pick, but every level seems to last too long (except the first couple). If they were 2/3 the length that would be perfect for me.

Over all its a great game if you are itching for a new fast-paced shooter, but be prepared to acclimate to the speed and play-styles you'll need to get good.

Just a side not, i wasn't sure if I would get used to this style of retro graphics, but they grew on me pretty quickly.

SRW30 is extremely repetitive and strategically shallow. If your main draw to this game isn't checking out all of the attack animations and seeing characters from a bunch of mecha animes interact with each other, than this game isn't for you. Luckily, that's exactly why I bought it.

7.5/10

My biggest gripes are that the enemy designs and animations leave much to be desired, some of the ally attack animations seem half-baked (although there are enough cool ones to make up for this), and the writing is pretty terrible. It could just be translation issues, but i doubt it. I think the main issue with the writing is that there's just way too much of it. Almost every interaction seems to last way longer than it should. It reminds me of how One Piece episodes can be 20 mins long but only have 5 mins of content; same vibe.

All in all, its a good game for a very specific audience, but with a few shortcomings.