🚀 go-pugleaf

I've been lucky enough to get to play System Shock CD, and--aside from 
all arguments about whether going to a CD only approach is good or 
bad--the one thing I can tell you is this: the move has the *potential* 
to improve the quality of games vastly. As if System Shock weren't 
phenomenal enough (if you're into immersive, high-end games), the CD 
makes the disk version look like nothing. Being an RPG fan (for the most 
part), I didn't think things like full speech in all the e-mails and logs 
would matter much. Boy, was I wrong. The logs are recorded on top of 
background sound effects (like gun shots, distant mutant shrieks, 
mechanical stomping, et cetera). The effect are chilling. Also, the CD 
offers several video modes. Even if you have a low-end machine, you can 
switch from 320x200 (the vga mode the disk version supported) to 320x400, 
and the results a really astonishing. And if you have a faster machine, 
you can take it to 640x480 (or 640x400), or even all the way up to 
1024x768. System Shock was made to be immersive, to capture that 'you are 
there' atmosphere; the CD takes this to new reaches. So, to make a long 
ramble just a little bit longer, I see the move to CD as a good one for 
gamers--more art, more sound, no more space limitations. We win, all the 
way around.