We find out why System Shock 2 has been one of the most influential games of all time

Picking a single game from a huge back catalogue of titles that stretches so far that it could probably be seen from space isn’t easy. System Shock 2 is one of dozens of high-profile retail PC games from the last 30 years that challenged gaming conventions and came away smelling of roses. For every one that tried and managed that trick successfully, there are another 50 that, at best, faded into obscurity and, at worst, were hauled across the critical coals and lambasted for their crimes against the average gamer’s expectations. Not that we want to detract from the importance of this sequel to PC gaming, but timing and a large degree of luck had a hand in System Shock 2 becoming the game we fondly reminisce about today, whenever we play one of the many new titles that have used the technologies, concepts or the talented staff who worked on the Eidos classic, as a springboard.

The game that spawned this pivotal sequel, System Shock, was developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Origin Systems in 1994, headed by Ultima progenitor Richard Garriot. It was released at the tail end of a financial year overshadowed by Wings Of Glory and Ultima VIII: Pagan, so Origin was hardly pinning the hopes for its fiscal future on this new IP. Besides that, the relatively inexperienced Looking Glass Studios’ previous title, Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth Of Worlds, was a long way from the sci-fi vision of System Shock in more than genre alone. But the team had a few aces up its sleeve.

System Shock was the Half-Life 2 of its time in many ways, advancing and introducing technologies where others were happy to rest on their laurels. It used an enhanced version of the Underworld Engine, allowing the player freedom to move in a true three-dimensional environment, with high-resolution textures and the ability to mouse-look in any direction; this was revolutionary, when the first-person games of its time coupled a limited 2D plane of movement with a rudimentary camera bob, a barrier to immersion by comparison.

Programmer Seamus Blackley developed the advanced physics for the engine that gave many interactive objects mass and velocity, lending tangibility to physical impact and wall climbing. He also implemented the ubiquitous FPS lean, which he used again for shooting around corners in Jurassic Park: Trespasser.

More significantly, System Shock had been endowed with a free-moving cursor mode that gave the player HUD interaction and an inventory similar in concept to point-and-click adventure games. A talented visionary indeed – at least Microsoft thought so, and the company was proved right when it poached him to work on DirectX, and Seamus went on to co-write the initial proposal for the Xbox.

The FPS/RPG hybrid went down well with the critics: PC Gamer, Games Domain and Next Generation Magazine all awarded it upwards of 90%. But, unfortunately, the new IP wasn’t just unfamiliar ground to PC gamers, System Shock was competing with Romero’s killer app and managed sales of around 170,000 – which in no way reflected its quality. Gamespy recently concluded its 2007 Hall Of Fame retrospective by saying, “The best computer game of 1994 came and went while everyone was busy killing each other in Doom II.” A fair observation, but then being upstaged by one of the best shooters in history is surely nothing to be ashamed of?

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