After months of waiting I finally got time to try out the new System Shock demo. Sci-Fi action titles are right up my alley. Since I’d missed all the hype surrounding the original back in its heyday I figured now was as good time as any to get on-board the Shodan train.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGwd34w82r8
Things started out well enough, grabbing gear and smashing the Power Ranger bot that assaulted me in the first room. Then, the demo crashed. Undaunted I tried again and met with the same result. Naturally, I assumed it was something I was doing wrong. But even after disabling my recording software and re-downloading the demo, I wasn’t fairing much better.
The worst part? Unlike some demos I’ve had to play, I really wanted to get into System Shock. Even without the benefit of super nostalgia senses, the game looks really promising. Sure, there were lag spikes, especially during combat, but nothing that can’t be sorted out later in development. I managed to make it to just before the demo would have ended before it crashed once again.
As you can see in the video above, I played enough to get the footage I needed, but it was a struggle. Even though the System Shock campaign is already funded and over, Night Dive Studios might consider an update to their demo build. A few optimization patches might be worth their time. After all, not everyone is as eager to love the game as I am.
