This is the System Shock Demo - fully playable demo of the first level. System Shock is a futuristic RPG game taking place in the year 2072. Downloaded off Origin's BBS and uploaded here for you all! Requires 486DX-33 and 4MB minimum. Of course, pentium is recommended :-) This Demo version requires about 7 megabytes hard disk space. (Actual game requires 30 megabytes hard disk space.) Note for those who keep comparing System Shock to DOOM: System Shock is not meant to be DOOM. System Shock is a RPG game for one player only, just like Ultima Underworld, not a multiplayer action game like DOOM. ------------------------- PRESS RELEASE FOLLOWS -------------------------- System Shock Playtesters' Notes Created by: System Shock was developed 'out of house' for ORIGIN by Looking Glass Technologies and Doug Church, the lead programmer behind Underworld I & II. The project is being tested by ORIGIN QA, and produced by Warren Spector, the producer of Ultima VII, Part Two: Serpent Isle. Interface: The game sports a full-screen, smooth-scrolling, first-person perspective view, an innovative on-line help feature, and an extremely realistic, true 3-D physics environment. The player can crouch to enter small passages, leap across trenches, strategically lean around corners to fire at opponents, look straight up and down, and even climb walls. And these movement features are not just superfluous fluff; they are an integral part of successfully completing the game. Unlike most first person perspective games, System Shock is filled with 'physical' objects, which can be picked up, thrown, manipulated, or destroyed. Objects within the game are affected by physical impact and explosions--lob a grenade into a room, and not only will the blast affect any creatures in the room, but monitors and control stations will be torn apart as well. Thrown items bounce off enemies, the non-orthogonal walls and floors, and other 'solid' surfaces. Interface support includes mouse, keyboard, joystick, and Logitech's Cyberman. Game premise: System Shock's cyberpunk story line will pull you in and keep you enthralled throughout the game. A great deal of design effort has gone into detailing the game's subplots, background characters, and fictional setting. The designers wanted to focus as much on the story elements as on the phenomenal technical aspects of the game. Each area has an atmosphere which feels functional and lived-in. Exploration and problem solving carry as much importance as combat and survival. The intro starts by depicting the player-character attempting to hack into the TriOptimum Corporation's computer system in hopes of pilfering valuable corporate data. TriOptimum's security proves too tough, however, and he is caught in the act. But before the hacker is jailed for his high-tech crimes, one of TriOptimum's executives offers him a secretive deal, promising freedom and a cutting-edge neural interface jack in exchange for some unauthorized, cyberspace-related work on Citadel Station. The station is an orbital genetic research station owned by the corporation, and is the game's primary setting. The executive has the player-character shuttled to Citadel to begin work. His sole task involves freeing SHODAN, Citadel's security AI, from its ethical constraints. His job successfully completed, the player-character goes into TriOptimum's top-of-the-line neurosurgery ward for the promised interface jack. A six month healing coma follows the operation. Game play actually begins when the player awakens from his long recuperation, and finds that Citadel has been thrown into a state of chaos as a result of SHODAN's emergent sentience. Key features: System Shock allows the player a great degree of game customization. The player may choose settings from 0 to 3 in four categories, including Combat (the strength and quantity of enemies), Mission (the complexity of the plot), Puzzle (the difficulty of the puzzles), and Cyber (the degree of challenge while maneuvering through cyberspace). Additional customization includes: full-screen or reduced-window mode, right- or left-handed mouse controls, on-line brightness controls, terse or normal length text for e-mail transmissions from the game's secondary characters, and user defined on-screen inventory controls. The game has a detailed auto-mapping feature that allows the player to leave notes in important places. The automap (and just about everything else in the game) can be called up with hot keys. Throughout the game, the player gains power by locating and using a wide array of neurograft hardware attachments. Included in the list of cyberware available to the player are: a personal energy shield, infrared optic lenses, a targeting system, jump-jets, and others. Citadel Station has a number of cyberspace nodes in which information is collected. The player can use the cyberspace terminals scattered through the station to jack into the information web in order to open security-locked doors, collect combat software for use against autonomous cyberspace defense programs, and download information useful in surviving the mutants, robots, and cyborgs roaming the station. Playtesters' comments: "This game picks up where the Underworld games left off, taking the first person-perspective engine to much greater heights. The more I play the game, the more I appreciate things like the simulated environment, the enemy AI, and the cool array of high-tech weapons and cyberware." "The sense of immersion in System Shock is better than any I've ever seen. I feel like I've been living in Citadel Station. I actually dream about it. Underworld fans--that is, gamers who like exploration and problem solving from a first person perspective--will love this game."