There is no Glide with this release. I think it pre-dates 3DFX as it came out in 1994, but I think the first 3DFX card showed up in 1996. This said, the ini does have an option for hardware or software rendering, so what the SHLINK part of the the Enhanced Edition is doing to get it to use graphics hardware I don't know.

At the bottom of the screen in the middle is a multi-function display with tabs at the bottom. Click these tabs to change views. One of them is weapon inventory, another is general inventory. You can then click on the items there and use them. Items that show up red I think are just non-functional junk items, so just vaporize them or drop them.

I think I see them now. It's strange they were listed in the weapons tab! :P

Thanks for the help!

There's actually two kinds of healing items. There's a "medi patch", which shows up on the Weapons tab, and it does a slow, partial heal. (about 20%, I think, over about thirty seconds.) Then there's a First Aid Kit, on the third tab (Items, I think?) which does a total, instant heal. But you don't get very many of those in the game, so you don't want to waste them.

For that matter, don't waste medi patches, either. Go back to the healing station if it's a reasonable option.

Just finished the game (first time player), and it's a great one!

There are some things which are a bit meh (all already mentionned I think - interface, quick ending, cyberspace is a bit blank and too easy when you get the hang of it, some weapons are too powerful in difficulty 2... maybe the antagonist(s) are a bit too monolithic in tone too, but for the time and even now the story and details are really good and well thought-out).

However, it's just an overall success in pretty much all aspects!
Atmosphere, general gameplay, themes, background, exploration, confidence in the player, the feeling of being lost which gives way to a kind of moderate empowerment as you free areas and gather new equipements (which made me feel as if as was slowly turning into a cyborg myself, which was approriate)... I finished Deus Ex this summer, which now ranks as one of the best games I've played, and while SS1 isn't in the same league for me, it definitely holds its own!

The music was a bit hard to get right though, I ended up using the SGM 2.01 soundfont, which worked very well for all tracks and variations.

Another SS 1 first timer here. Apart from the screechy music that sounds like Barry Gibb with his nut sack in a vice, I'm loving this game. I think it's fantastic. So much depth and atmosphere.

The music makes a good chunk of the game for me. :D

For me, the music is bizarre. It somehow manages to be good, but awful at the same time. At first, I liked it, but because progress can be slow for newcomers, once it loops back around for the 80th time, it gets to be a bit much. I'm experimenting with sound fonts at the minute to see if I can improve the quality a bit.
*edit* Love the intro music though :)

There are now several threads with the same observation.

I played the game from start to finish using the EE. For the most part the music sounded nice, but in between there was always something that sounded off. I thought that it was just a soundfont issue, but I tried many different soundfonts and it didn't really change the basic problem. Since the save games are at least partially compatible, I compared EE to Classic (configured to music through Soundblaster 16 emulation, as it is per default) at places and it does play better.

I hadn't played the game nor heard its music until the day that GOG released it, so it's not just expectations of familiarity. It's also the first game that I have encountered where I rather pick Soundblaster 16 than General Midi for its music option. Perhaps the game was composed with the OPL synth in mind, and the General Midi option was an afterthought that didn't receive enough attention.

It didn't bother me all that much, but if one finds that the music in this game is a big deal I would now recommend patching mouselook to the Classic edition and playing that instead of the EE.

New SS1 player [and never played SS2].

I can see why it was such an incredible game back then. Some stuff really aged well :

- Level design is very good, there is a real feeling of exploration [due to the number of items and the fact that the design is "logical" and announced, though the level design is not perfect either as there are few interesting combat encounters in the game.
- The "objective based" part where you need to find on your own what to do is truely unique, so of course it aged well. The only comparable FPS in this regards is in my opinion STALKER.
- Art remains solid and readable, with is the most you can expect for a game that old. I usually don't care much for art anyway.
- Storyline is solid and you have this "one extra room" feeling [it ties with exploration and objectives of course]..

Some parts did not age well though :

- Cyberspace, of course. Horrible horrible
- UI is terrible and makes me not use so of the most interesting items/features [like the Target Device], happily enough the level design [so far - level 6 almost complete] does not request you to use the goodies like speed or jump.
- The "FPS" part is really not great too, with many unbalances :
Most [range]enemies having almost immediate reaction and an hitscan attack that is also super accurate, which means you are likely to be hit [and hit badly] every combat. And since for the reasons and due to battery cost you don't move around with the shield up you die quickly... but death is cheap with the healing chambers.
On the other hand, ammos are plentiful, and since some weapons are really clearly better than others [tho I appreciate the riot gun troll weapon], you don't have a challenge on ammo conservation either.

Overall, combat are quick - either you did or they die. They are few challenging encounter once you know where the enemy is, and no tactic involved. As it is a large part of the game, I have to retract points.


So yes, good game - unique in some aspects - but if it was not for the historical aspect of the game [it is a game one has to have played] I may have not picked it on.

I gave the first level a whirl a week or two ago. Game seems remarkably ahead of it's time, though even with the Enhanced Edition's mouselook mode, I still found the interface woeful compared to that of System Shock 2.

I found the level design very interesting. It's all very boxy looking at first, but then I realized that much of it is laid out like a functional space where people could've possibly worked in. But then there was the whole area with the radioactive floor that felt more like an abstract space. It's in something of strange middle ground between those two styles of level designs - reminding me a bit of Tom Hall's levels in the first Doom, which are among my favorites.

Finished it. The end is super solid, EXCEPT the boss fight. What a bore.