I only recall briefly play System Shock - was there a demo released. Really enjoyed it, not sure why I never played it all.
Parts of Bioshock certainly were spooky, but you get that in most games. I just didn't find it that immersive, it just played like a standard FPS, with some 'powers'.
p.s. Shalebridge Cradle is a masterpiece - it's the only time I've seen multi-page reviews dedicated to a single level. Even now, I like googling the name just to read people's accounts of how freaked out they were.
It's an orphanage, which was then converted to an insane asylum with the children moved to a nursery. And then some of the children went missing. Later, it burnt down.
What makes it so good is that for over half the level, you meet no one. There are glimpses and hints of people, and sounds hinting at movement; as you progress though it and slowly learn the story of what went on there. Every time you go down a dark stairwell or around a blind corner, you expect someone to jump out, but they don't. It's the anticipation which makes it so scary.
It would have been funny, if the level finished without the player meeting anyone. All that fear, of nothing for nothing.
When I played it, I finally entered a room in which the lights were flickering - caused by a resident who had experienced severe shock therapy. He was just walking slowly around not paying me any attention, so I approached him. AND HE POUNCED AT ME.
Now, normally in any game if you high-tail it, around bends, up stairs, through doorways, you'll easily lose your assailant and find a "safe spot". Well, I ran and ran and ran until I find a small room where he'd never find me, and turned around and THERE HE WAS STILL!
I actually had a pain in my chest, just jumped up and turned off the console. (I later finished the level - during day-time!!)
It really showed the importance of pacing in a game, and of anticipation. No 'evil' a game designer can ever design can be as scary as the one the gamer invents in their own mind and already fears!
Parts of Bioshock certainly were spooky, but you get that in most games. I just didn't find it that immersive, it just played like a standard FPS, with some 'powers'.
p.s. Shalebridge Cradle is a masterpiece - it's the only time I've seen multi-page reviews dedicated to a single level. Even now, I like googling the name just to read people's accounts of how freaked out they were.
It's an orphanage, which was then converted to an insane asylum with the children moved to a nursery. And then some of the children went missing. Later, it burnt down.
What makes it so good is that for over half the level, you meet no one. There are glimpses and hints of people, and sounds hinting at movement; as you progress though it and slowly learn the story of what went on there. Every time you go down a dark stairwell or around a blind corner, you expect someone to jump out, but they don't. It's the anticipation which makes it so scary.
It would have been funny, if the level finished without the player meeting anyone. All that fear, of nothing for nothing.
When I played it, I finally entered a room in which the lights were flickering - caused by a resident who had experienced severe shock therapy. He was just walking slowly around not paying me any attention, so I approached him. AND HE POUNCED AT ME.
Now, normally in any game if you high-tail it, around bends, up stairs, through doorways, you'll easily lose your assailant and find a "safe spot". Well, I ran and ran and ran until I find a small room where he'd never find me, and turned around and THERE HE WAS STILL!
I actually had a pain in my chest, just jumped up and turned off the console. (I later finished the level - during day-time!!)
It really showed the importance of pacing in a game, and of anticipation. No 'evil' a game designer can ever design can be as scary as the one the gamer invents in their own mind and already fears!
I almost wrote the game completely off, but decided to just go for it and bought the enhanced SVGA CD version when it was released a month or so later -- it was Looking Glass, so I knew it had to be good at some point.
