System Shock 2

Rating:
Summary: A convincing 22nd century experience
Review: I remember the first time I heard the name System Shock 2 from a friend. Well to be honest I said to myself "he must be exaggerating, how good can it be? Probably just another FPS." I am glad that I am dead wrong.

The atmosphere is what makes the game unique. The character graphics are not quite good, even at the time the game was released, but there are free graphical enhancing mods which offset this drawback. The surroundings is exteremely realistic. You feel that you are in a REAL spaceship, where more than 100 people live, with food, drinks and cigarettes around, the magazines they have read before their demise, the theater they watched movies, the sports lounges, the dining rooms.....every single detail completes the feeling that the ship was once a crowded spaceship.

The music and sounds are AWESOME. I can still (after 3 years) remember exactly how those chimpanzees screamed, the electronic voice of the sentinel droids, and the terrifying noise of the cyber assasins. Those sounds are ENGRAVED, CHISELED, IMPRINTED in my memory, probably never to be forgotten.

The storyline is so absorbing that I remember playing for hours just to learn what will happen when I reach my destination. And every NPC had a character of its own which causes you to have feelings towards them, they are far more than mere names.

On top of all this creepy atmosphere, the game is harder than an average FPS. You may find yourself huddled in a dark corner, out of bullets and psionic energy, praying that the hybrid will not notice you before you run to it and smash it to ground with your wrench. EVERY SINGLE BULLET COUNTS, you cannot just go into a killing spree and rain bullets or cryogenic bolts at your opponents.

Some people find the respawning of the monsters annoying but I beleive without that the game would lose much from the atmosphere. There are NO safe spots. There are no places where you say "Oh, I have cleared this place before, I am safe until I go up from the elevator leading to next level" which increases the adrenaline level of the game. Well if you still do not want that much stress, you can download the patch which enables you to turn off monster respawning and fast weapon degrading.

All in all, I haven't yet played a better FPS after SS2 in those 3 years. I hopeful that Half Life 2 turns outto be better since Half Life 1 was surely the second best FPS. If you have patiently read the review until this point, what are you waiting for? Go and buy it, especially at this reasonable price. You will NOT regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Scary good fun!
Review: My favorite thing about SSII is that it tells a coherent story that makes sense. Every action you take in SSII is motivated by a desire to accomplish a clearly-stated objective. Goals are not assigned arbitrarily, either, and are extremely well-explained by the superb voice acting. When you accomplish a mission, you are rewarded with access to more areas of the ship and new missions to accomplish.

Another great aspect of this game is the way it flows. There are no levels, other than levels/decks within the ship you are trying to escape from, and accomplishing certain objectives means traversing multiple decks.

There are times when this game is extremely scary. It's designed to frighten you, and at times it accomplishes this goal very well. The music is mostly techno, but it's scary techno. That might not make sense to you, but trust me, it can be very intimidating at times.

If you haven't played the original System Shock read up on its plot before you play this game. The background information you gain will help you out a lot.

Overall, this is on my top ten all-time.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: I started playing System Shock II in a dark room late at night. In about five minutes the lights were on and I was contemplating waiting until morning! Never has a game so effectively created an atmosphere as immersive as this one does.

Besides atmosphere, this game has a really good story, with twists, turns and upsets that you just did not expect. This is no cookie-cutter; the plot keeps you guessing until the end.

I also liked the setup of the game. There are different development paths your character can follow and, depending on which you choose, this game can be very different. However, it is never easy. There is no way to start out as a butt-kicking character; you must claw, bludgeon and think your way up the butt-kicking ladder.

I highly suggest this game to those who like first-person shooters with a great story, immersive action and staying up late!

Rating:
Summary: I thought I was prepared
Review: I bought System Shock 2 just before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving 2001. I still haven't gotten one-third through the game. I've played Doom, and plenty of other *scare the crap out of you* games, but this one is the real deal. By immersing you in a horrific world, and letting you figure out how to survive, this game has done damage to my psyche. Once you hear "your song is not ours," you'll never let anyone say that phrase without a quick punch to the mouth.

I'm attempting to beat the game, after all these years. Yes, YEARS of fearing this game. It's tantamount to an alcoholic trying to kick booze. Go to [. . .] for more upgrades, mods, and patches for System Shock 2. Look into the High Texture Detail mod, if you want to see how pretty System Shock 2 can be.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliance
Review: System Shock 2 is a brilliant combination of fear, adrenaline, single player extensive customisation and required skill. I hate to see a game to easy and that's a good reason to therefore like this, it aint all bang, bang move to the next corridor; its about thinking and engaging combat with some tactical analysis needed. Ammo is low for a change and u'll b freaked out of your mind. One necessary requirement of the game is to play it alone in a dark room. Atmosphere gives it a lot!

Rating:
Summary: Best computer game ever? Perhaps!
Review: Before 'Thief', before 'Half Life', before 'Deus Ex', even before this, there was the original 'System Shock'. It was perfect. This is better.

Rating:
Summary: Frightening, disturbing, and thrilling
Review: Why can't there be more games like this? System Shock 2 is a one-of-a-kind Sci-Fi/Horror game that is a mix between a stealth action game and an RPG. It defies conventional definitions for games, and that is why I doubt I will ever play another one like it. I have played some creepy games before (e.g. "Thief", "Arx Fatalis"), but I have never played one before that hit me this hard with a combination of atmosphere and storyline. You can have nightmares about this game, thanks to its disturbing imagery, dark storyline, and eerie sounds.

The entire game takes place on a huge spaceship 67 trillion miles from Earth. When I say huge, I mean huge. The ship has gigantic areas for engineering, medical treatment, crew quarters, a command center, and an athletic facility. There is even a virtual sex booth in a shopping mall. You really get the feeling that you are walking around a ship that was once inhabited by thousands of busy crew members. I say "once", because something has gone terribly wrong, and it is up to you to find out what has happened, and escape with your life.

As you play, you uncover pieces of the storyline in voice messages that have been left behind by the ship's crew members. With a few exceptions, the voice acting for the game is terrific. They start off somewhat chilling, and by the end, they get downright scary. You follow storylines for individual crew members many times to their grim demise. I found myself hoping that a character would survive the game, only to find her dead later. Also, an surviving ally guides you through the game with e-mail messages. By listening to the messages, you also get clues for the game's puzzles, which are generally very easy to solve. All the while, you are alone, defending yourself against the hideous force that has hijacked the ship.

"Terrifying" is an appropriate word to use here. "System Shock 2" does not rely on scripted events and cheap tricks to scare you. Instead, it is scary in an Alfred Hitchcock way. You are frightened by what you don't know is there, and by what you can't see. You find the corpses of the ship's crew scattered about, and you never get used to them. Even when there are no enemies in the room, you feel like you are only a split-second from demise. The brilliant use of sound in this game is one reason why the game is so successful at this. When you stand still, you can hear enemies moaning or chattering around the corner, or, perhaps, approaching you from behind.

This game is not just a simple alien bug hunt. Stealth is key, and survival is very hard. The game has an extensive (and sometimes confusing) role-playing system that gives you a variety of ways to develop and equip your character. In addition, there are about a hundred gadgets and goodies to pick up and use for survival. The role-playing system has some faults though. One is that certain skills, like hacking, are too overpowered compared to others, like psionics. You can't survive the game without a good hacking skill. Also, there are contrivances in the game that seem to be there to force you to buy certain skills. For example, weapons are absurdly fragile, so you have to learn the "repair" and "maintain" skills to use them. I like the role-playing aspects, but "Deus Ex" is better in that department.

The graphics for the game have aged very well, with one exception - faces on the characters. They basically look blocky, and polygon counts for enemies are generally low. Other than that, the environments in the game are very convincing and immersive. Rooms are usually dark, but filled with computer consoles and gizmos that flash and beep.

The first half of the game is incredibly hard and frustrating and requires continuous use of the "Quick save" and "Quick reload" keys. This, in fact, is why I didn't finish the game until two years after I bought it. The storyline is what keeps you going during the frustrating times. My recommendation is to buy the game, play it, and stick with it. "System Shock 2" is definitely an acquired taste. Once you get to like it, I think that you will consider it to be one of the best Sci-Fi/horror games ever made.

Rating:
Summary: no time for love, Dr. Jones..
Review: ...

this is one of the most frustrating, infuriating, mind numbing games i've ever played. the whole thing could have been completely awesome, but there's just too many of those freakin' zombies coming at you all the time. you're given an extensive menu of items, options, and what not, that you constantly have to pay attention to, but you don't have time to pay attention to it because when you bring up your menu screen, the game doesn't pause and you're constantly being attacked. what this means is: forget about using health powerups, forget about changing ammo when you run out.. forget about anything.. if you stop even for a second, you'll die.. you're better off running like heck if you see anything coming at you. i understand that in "the real world", things don't pause when you reach in your pocket for an item you may have stashed there.. so maybe that's what they were going for.. but it was a stupid idea. i don't even care about finishing this game. it's a shame, because the atmosphere has a lot going for it, and i like the action/horror/RPG mix.. but raising my blood pressure or having a heart attack just isn't worth pushing all those keys so damn fast just to reload an imaginary weapon to kill an imaginary zombie. sorry to all you fans, but i just don't think this game is all that great. FUN is the first thing any game should be, and unfortunately, FUN is exactly what this game is lacking.

the two stars are because for its time, the mix of genres and playing styles was probably fairly groundbreaking, but if you're thinking of seeking out this hard to find game, i'd say PASS on it.

...

Rating:
Summary: Still one of the best games I've ever played.
Review: System Shock 2 is hard to categorize, because it blends several genres and styles of games so well. It's a Role-Playing First-Person Shooter Science Fiction Survival/Horror game, with some extra twists here and there. If you wished Half-Life was more like Deus Ex, or you wanted to play the more violent and scary parts of Thief with 22nd century firepower, this is the game you want to play.

Though it's getting a bit dated now, this game was far enough ahead of its time to still be very playable. Where the original System Shock made history as a remarkably immersive story-driven first-person shooter, the sequel goes even further with complex character development elements usually only seen in role-playing games. The graphics scale up smoothly enough to still look impressive on today's faster, higher resolution (and higher polygon count) displays, the sound is of sufficient quality to still be just as effective as most newer, more technically advanced productions, and of course, a great story is never obsolete.

Once you get into a game this immersive, you forget about the technical details that may no longer be as cutting-edge as they once were. Just turn off the lights, plug in your headphones (or surround-sound if you have it), and try to stay alive. If you happen to forget that it's just a game, this one can really scare you. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

The biggest flaw in this game is that the developers just didn't have enough time to fully flesh-out and polish some of the later parts. Certain areas are just less expansive and detailed and finely-tuned than others. The game doesn't significantly suffer from what's missing. It just could have been that much better.

By far the most common complaint about this game is that the weapons break too fast. Personally, I don't consider that a flaw. I like the extra stress factor of having to keep an eye on the condition of my weapons. Unlike most First-Person Shooters, your resources are very limited in this game. Throughout most of the game, you will very rarely have enough ammo to stop worrying about making every shot count. There are a limited number of weapons available, and if you keep firing one until it jams, you have to either expend other resources to fix it or deal with the fact that you have one less gun to work with.

If you really don't like worrying about broken weapons, there is a way to reduce or completely disable weapon deterioration. It's not a menu option you can switch on and off within the game, but the release notes file on the CD explains how to do it, and it's not difficult.

One complaint I've heard about the end of this game is that there are two "final battles" at the end, and the second one is disappointingly easy. I didn't feel that way because I recognized that the first final battle was the climax, and then when there was one more confrontation after that, I thought of it as more of an epilogue than a challenge. This is something gamers just aren't used to, and the only other game I've played that had an "epilogue" after the final confrontation was Half-Life, which has been accused of having the worst ending of any game ever. The ending of System Shock 2 isn't nearly that bad, but it can be disappointing if the relatively short final areas have left you expecting more.

Unfortunately, due to the particular circumstances of the closing of the company that developed the game, Looking Glass Studios, it is very unlikely that there will ever be a third System Shock game.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST 1st person, sci-fi RPG EVER!
Review: This game was absolutely wonderful. To start out, you get to choose what military service you want to be in and what kind of training you want to get. This totally affects how the game proceeds. Very sophisticated weaponry. For example, you can even "steal" stuff by hacking. Hack it wrong and it breaks! Beautiful levels, sophisticated tasks. You will stay busy and amazed by this game. So now you are asking, why didn't I give it 5 stars? I got stuck on the second to the last "battle". Bunch of baddies and I couldn't kill them to progress to the end of the game. Other players will probably have no problem with this. Find this game where ever you can it is worth it.