When most gamers hear the words System Shock they think, "Oh yeah, Origin's Doom clone." That's about as accurate as saying that wine is just beer with grapes in it.  I had the distinct pleasure of taking a trip to LookingGlass Technologies, the developers of the game, and playing it for an unhealthy amount of time.  I stumbled out of their office not long before dawn, and I consider myself lucky to have escaped at all.  System Shock is due out in about a month, and if I were you I'd start stockpiling groceries (raw meat, caffeine derivative and vitamin C, preferably) and informing people that they won't see you for a couple of weeks.

	In System Shock you play a hacker with a reputation for acquiring secrets.  Then you get busted.  You catch a break (you think) when you get thrown an offer - all charges against you will be dropped if you hack into a certain space station's security system and monkey around with an AI called SHODAN.  You do it, and are rewarded with a neural implant that lets you interface directly with computer systems.  What's the catch, you say?  The surgery requires 6 months of healing in a cryochamber.  When you awaken, you discover that SHODAN has killed all the humans aboard the space station, except those he turned into disgusting mutants and deadly cyborgs, and now the corridors are crawling with mutated robotic badasses that view you as their prime source of entertainment.  Your job is to waste them by any means possible and defeat SHODAN before he turns the earth into a large chunk of toast.  It won't be easy, but it sure as hell ain't gonna be boring.

	System Shock doesn't really play much like Doom.  Yes, it is a first-person perspective game in which you walk around and shoot things, but shooting isn't your primary task.  Exploration and acquisition is the name of this game, which makes the game feel more like an ultimately souped-up Underworld.  Hmmm, I wonder why that is?  (Same developers, different name.)  The interface feels a lot like Underworld's, but it has undergone enough facelifts to make Tammy Faye Bakker look like Meg Ryan.  All actions can be performed with the mouse, but I preferred to use the keyboard to navigate and the mouse to open doors, pick up items, and blast evil cretins into their component substances.  Two small panels above the main view screen control your eyes and body posture.  Clicking on specific parts of these panels allow you to look up and down, crouch, and even lean left and right, allowing you to peek around corners or look down into a vertigo-inducing chasm.  These functions are also controllable from the keyboard.  Two multi-function displays (MFDs) allow you access to important information such as maps and weapon status without hiding the main screen.  The MFDs also let you view the log entries scattered around the station documenting the scientists' gruesome final hours.  I found the interface to be remarkably easy to use, and it only promises to improve in the coming weeks.

	The graphics in System Shock are truly beautiful, and go a long way toward establishing the game's creepy hi-tech atmosphere.  Light sourcing is used very effectively, and explosions light the surrounding area briefly with a powerful flash.  There are lots of dark corners and back-lit hallways to explore here.  The first time you wheel around to see a previously unnoticed assassin firing at you from the shadows is a true test of your fight-or-flight instincts.  I didn't get to hear much of the music and sound, but what I did hear really pushed the boundaries of the Sound Blaster's abilities.  

	Once you get a glimpse of the design of System Shock's levels you'll be glad that the people at LookingGlass have degrees in computer science instead of architecture.  The space station is a supremely freaky game setting.  Banked walls, hidden doors, impossibly high ceilings, light bridges, and deep chasms make this a funky place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.  As if the normal levels weren't enough, you can also jack into cyberspace to gain access to information and open doors that stymie your progress in the natural world.  Cyberspace is a series of wireframe rooms and corridors, and of course, it features defenses of its own.  You can't spend too much time in cyberspace before SHODAN notices you and boots you out; if you get disconnected before you make it to an exit terminal your physical body will suffer.

	The creatures themselves are just as impressive as their environs.  All the nasties are rendered in 3D Studio, resulting in opponents that have depth instead of appearing as a flat picture to aim at.  The artists at Looking Glass really get to strut their stuff with System Shock, and the game looks so impressive I frequently forgot that I was looking at a 320x200 res game.

	I could have stayed at Looking Glass and played all night without sleeping, but I had to leave before I got too tired to make the three hour drive back home.  Now I'll have to wait for a while to play the game again.  I don't want to.  I want to play NOW.  Just give me a protein IV and a couple cases of Snapple and leave me alone for a few weeks.  I can't do that, though.  Instead, I have to wait around with all the other slobs until System Shock makes its way into the stores in mid-June.  The difference between me and them is that I'm already addicted, so my wait will be twice as agonizing.

	Knowledge is hell.