System Shock - Mouselook Mod

Dhruin

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EvilKoala points us in the direction of a Rock, Paper, Shotgun newsbit about a mod for System Shock that adds mouselook, key configs and other niceties. Many, many years ago, I remember ordering System Shock for my store and (at the time) dismissing it as "stupid" because I struggled to even move around. History shows how wrong I was but it would be hard to underestimate how nice mouselook would be to replay this classic.
Read the RPS article here or head straight for the mod.
More information.
 
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Hallelujah! This is the bestest mod since… since, well… evar!

One of the biggest hurdles on enjoying this great game were indeed the difficult controls. It was cumbersome to wrangle your character where you wanted him to go ("No! Not there, back, a bit left, no... sigh... Yikes! Turn around, turn, aaargh!") and I too initially quit after several hours of frustration. Very glad I later resumed despite the controls. However, now with this mod, nobody should discard this game due to archaic controls and I recommed this game to everyone. Play it!
 
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Having never played the game I wonder,wouldn't playing that game with that mod be like cheating?
 
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Dear Green Place
AFAIR there are a number of difficulty settings. So if the experience becomes too easy because of mouselook, simply play the game on a harder level.

System Shock is a classic. I am not sure how fun it is nowadays, but if you are interested in gaming history, fire it up.
 
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I guess I have extraordinary finger dexterity since I never had control problems
with the game playing it through three times. But its good to hear that others
can finally play it too. Its definetly worth it and much better than for example the new bioshock games. Just make sure you play the cd-version of the game.
 
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Do it for Underworld! Do it for Underworld!

Precisely what I was thinking... Ultima Underworld is one of those few games that I've started countless times, but I always stopped playing because I couldn't get past the controls.
 
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Mouselook, as we know it, might be impossible for the Ultima Underworlds. There is only a limited ability of looking up or down in the games. So mouselook would stick to one plane mostly.
 
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Mouselook, as we know it, might be impossible for the Ultima Underworlds. There is only a limited ability of looking up or down in the games. So mouselook would stick to one plane mostly.

Not really.

Games using the Build engine (like Duke Nukem 3D) implemented a mouselook mode that worked just fine, actually - even though it suffered from the same limited up/down view as most games did back then.

Incidentally, I think System Shock is the first "big" game to use true vertical plane 3D. I could be wrong, though.
 
I thought SS used the same engine and the same tricks to implement 3d.
 
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System Shock is a classic. I am not sure how fun it is nowadays, but if you are interested in gaming history, fire it up.

I think that like so many other things - exactly like Betrayal at Krondor, etc - it is an ancient game but possesses a greatness that is only limited by one thing: the potential gamer.
 
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I try to play SS once a year, that's how great it is!!
 
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I know that I'm probably in the minority here at the watch for saying this but to me there is such a thing as "too old".

Yes, Homer's Iliad is a great story but in it's original form it is gibberish. For any none-native english speaking persons Shakespeare is also a challenge (due to the use of words that haven't been used for ages) without a "proper" translation, subtitles or just an old dictionary and a lot of time.

I'm sure that the original King Kong movie had a profound effect on the audience in the cinemas in 1933 (like Avatar has on movie goers today), but even though I wasn't very old the first time I saw it, it still looked awful compared to what my movie-inexperienced eyes had already witnessed. Today … :puke:

Yes, I was in awe when I played System Shock back in 94 and yes I still remember much of it even though it is now 16 years ago, so if nothing else, then that should give in indication about how great I thought the game was. However, I can't just delete the past 16 years of adaptation to modern graphics, so if I were to try to re-capture the "greatness" of System Shock once again, I'm pretty certain that the result will be the same as when I tried to watch Knight Rider again a few years ago (nostalgia has a way of blotting out all the bad memories, leaving only the fond ones) … Let's just say that it was a lot cooler when I saw it as a kid. Not so much today.

Now if only someone would remake System Shock using a modern day engine … :fingerscrossed::party2::boogie::celebrate:
 
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If you look past the technical aspects of the game being ancient - it holds up INCREDIBLY well even today. Knight Rider would fall apart because it was never that good in the first place.

When people watch Avatar in 15 years - they'll never understand why they ever bought into the hype. That's a promise. Actually, I consider Avatar to be the opposite of System Shock. Visually brilliant - but hollow as an empty portable hole.

System Shock is another matter :)

Some people can get past the visuals and unwieldy UI, others can't. I have trouble dealing with the graphics myself - but I can still become immersed due to the atmosphere and audio logs. The non-linear level design is unmatched to this day, if you ask me. It's a gigantic space station that's pretty open from the get-go, and there's a reason for everything even if the graphics make the rooms look very samey.

That's my opinion, at least.
 
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When people watch Avatar in 15 years - they'll never understand why they ever bought into the hype. That's a promise. Actually, I consider Avatar to be the opposite of System Shock. Visually brilliant - but hollow as an empty portable hole.

I don't think it will take 15 years to be honest ... ;)
 
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