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I think the remake paints the original game in a worse light than it deserves. NightDive has stayed true to things about the original game that ought to have been redesigned (boxy mazelike level design, simplistic enemy AI, free respawning, no objective tracking) while also obscuring or forgetting things about the original that made it great (clean and vibrant visual design that made areas look distinct, upbeat electronic music, snappy short puzzles, freeform movement), and also adding superfluous stuff like the recycling system which is super undercooked from a UI/UX standpoint and a balance standpoint as you already can find more resources than you need without it.There are things about the original that worked that no longer work in the remake, but they're subtle things that you wouldn't know unless you played the original, so the flaws of the remake seem to stem from faithfulness to the original when this is not exactly the case.For example, figuring out where to go and what to do was EASIER in the original game despite the lack of objective tracking, as there was much less visual clutter and you could instantly scan a room to see what was there to pick up -- it's the same reason the RE4 Remake had to cover every important prop in yellow paint. This also made it easier to pick out landmarks as the level geometry wasn't obscured by busy details and high-contrast lighting. I'd also argue the audio logs were quicker and more to the point, and it was easier to look over their text while playing, vs. in the remake you have to stay in the media tab to read the text.These map details also get in the way of the player physics, which was a big innovative element in the original game, letting you jump and bounce with simulated momentum, whereas the remake is much stiffer with your running and jumping. You could mantle a lot of surfaces in the original, where now you have to find a ladder which locks you into a restrictive climbing animation. You can find a set of rocket skates in System Shock, which were a joy to use in the original to speed around the map at turbo speed because it was designed as a 3D skatepark playground with straightaways and ramps, but the remake puts railings and posts all over for realism which further cramps your once expressive degree of player control. Prey's jetpack actually has its roots in System Shock's rocket skates and jet boots which also played into a Metroidvania element for unlocking new areas, but you wouldn't really get that feeling playing the remake.The original game had even worse enemy AI, but the combat was actually more fun for a few key reasons. Firstly, blood from mutants and sparks from robots together with punchy sound effects made for really effective hit feedback -- a missed lead pipe swing would audibly whiff through the air while a hit on a mutant would let out a squelchy crunch vs. a metallic clang on a hard surface. In the remake you barely get the sense that you're damaging enemies, they hardly stagger, and the sounds are pitiful. What's more, the simplistic AI of the original didn't hurt the tension of combat, because you had to manually manage your weapons and character state much more explicitly. There were two states of crouch and an analog lean which had to be mastered alongside the basic movement (the original game didn't support mouselook) to effectively use cover. There were no hotkeys to reload or swap ammo types; you had to open your weapon interface panel, press the button to unload your current magazine, and then choose an ammo type to load. If you were already empty, then you'd have to remember to only click once as you were already unloaded, simulating tactical vs speed reloads. The reload was instant save for the time to mouse over to the weapon interface panel, so you could actually get faster at reloading as a player, and have the panel queued up in the same way a prepared combatant would have their reserve magazines at the ready. The same weapon interface panel was used to tune the energy settings of your laser weapons. Was it clunky at first? Yes, but mastering it was key to the depth and challenge of the combat. No one expected NightDive to keep this manual degree of control in the remake, but I had hoped they would have beefed up the other aspects of the challenge to make up for the streamlined interface and modern controls, particularly in the enemy behaviors. They're a little more sophisticated, but only just barely, and the combat isn't satisfying enough to make up for it.The respawn chambers seem nonsensical and consequence-free in the remake. They weren't perfect in the original, but i think they were more defensible. For one, enemy respawning was much more aggressive. Though not on a random timer like in SS2, certain populations of enemies would respawn in large numbers when enough of them were killed, making it very likely that you had to deal with more enemies as you retraced your steps on dying and respawning. The respawing system truly shined in repeat playthroughs on the maximum Mission difficulty, which placed a global 7 hour timer on your run. Dying and respawning (as well as cheese strats like running to the healing bed and exploiting enemy AI around corners with low power ammo) was a big waste of time, which was crucial to optimize as you gathered resources and tackled objectives. The remake still features this mission timer difficulty setting, but few players will want to attempt it considering how much slower the gameplay is; your movement is more restricted, the cyberspace and puzzles take twice as long (the original puzzle mechanics were much better), and navigating the station and searching for items is that much more mentally taxing.Obviously, the original game is dated and flawed, and it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But I think it actually has greater appeal and more solid design than the remake, which is faithful in content but not really in spirit. It pains me that people are attributing the flaws of the remake to the original, when in reality the latter had a more coherent vision.Also there's no flechette machine gun in the remake, LAME
You could mantle a lot of surfaces in the original
Most people really do have shockingly (har har) low standards, don't they.I shouldn't be surprised, considering that Looking Glass and Arkane games never burned up the sales charts.
A flawed game with some stupid tacked on recycling mechanics and some questionable graphics design, but a solid core, will still be a massive improvement to whatever toxic sludge passes for gaming these days. Of course most people like it. I'm glad they do. Instead of the "super low standards", I hope this will actually raise people's standards a bit because it's WAY better than pretty much everything else on the market right now (and probably for the last 5 years or so). I consider most games, especially most AAA games, released in the last decade to be completely unplayable.If even ONE person on the entire planet goes "wait, this is actually really good. I was told that what Bioshock replaces was unplayable and overly complicated, but this is fine, I might go check out more games like this", then I will consider it hugely worth it.
Who are these diehard Shock fans who hate Prey?
Prey is also pretty flawed, especially the second half, but all the people that hate it now are diehard System Shock fans and "oldschool gamers" who say it's basically "dumbed down trash for babies", everyone else seems to think it's pretty alright. It also didn't sell very well, although that's for a multitude of reasons.
the enemies don't come across as threatening
the security guards in the original Half-Life have more life and personality,
the game has little randomization (a real killer of replayability)
My biggest issue with Prey is that the pistol doesn't even point to the center of the screen! It's such a GLARING and easy fix why didn't they just spend 5 minutes rotating it?
And yes the game wasn't scary, like at all. Just look at the spacesuits
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