Talk about a tough act to follow.

We were happy enough when we heard that the System Shock legacy would live on in Irrational's BioShock. Sure it didn’t use the System Shock name and the setting would be different but the team would draw on a lot of that Looking Glass talent that helped make the original Shocks tingle with such lasting effect. Maybe the new name and setting was just the series evolving. So yeah, we were happy.

Of course, the name change also probably came from the fact that EA owns the rights to the System Shock name and trademark (which it renewed in January). The question you have wonder about is this? Would Irrational have changed settings if they could have done the space ship again? I think the answer would be yes. It’s the paranoid pressure cooker atmosphere that is the required component and the undersea city replicates the trapped confines while letting them take setting somewhere fresh and new.

This leaves EA in an interesting position, for its run at System Shock 3, which a certain UK games mag has said is likely according to its sources in the company. Let’s say it’s true, even if it’s just for the sake of discussion. Where do you take the licence? Do you try to make a System Shock that is more System Shock than the first two? Will people appreciate you staying true to the spirit or will they think you’re rehashing the space dungeon that we outgrew five years ago.