While she provided an unnerving and implacable villain throughout the first System Shock, many fans point to SHODANs revival in System Shock 2 as being her finest performance. A megalomaniacal AI capable of taking over entire ships or star bases, SHODANs presence in the sequel is initially hidden from the player, although it might have come as more of a surprise had her face not been on the box.SHODAN has two distinguishing features: her evident superiority complex, which peppers her human interactions with phrases like insect and speck, and her marvellously discordant voice. Despite having no physical existence beyond the technology she can usurp, shes always on hand to berate and mock the player, as well as orchestrating many of the games events.The notion of a rogue computer with delusions of grandeur is hardly new to either science fiction or video games, but SHODANs popularity has endured. This is largely thanks to some remarkable writing coupled with excellent sound design that uses sudden shifts in pitch or sing-song timing to make even familiar sentences engaging. Even if you dont share SHODANs belief in her own divinity, its easy to miss not having her around.
