System Shock 2

Rating:
Summary: This game spooked the *%#@ out of me!
Review: This is a fabulous game. If it were at all possible to give a game a ten star rating, I would. It never sold well for unclear reasons (no multiplayer?, to difficult to grasp a FPS/RPG hybrid?) but that does not mean it wasn't good. Anybody who wants to play a game where they feel absolutely immersed, this is it.

I've played plenty of creepy games in the past including the Resident Evil series, Silent Hill, etc. This is one of only two games (besides Clive Barker's Undying) that I absolutely hated opening doors in, dreading what was on the other side. The ever present SHODAN also added an extra eerie dimension to the game.

Do yourself a huge favor and buy this game. It will go down in gaming history as one of the best and original games of all time.

Enjoy!!!

Rating:
Summary: Quite Possibly the Best Game I Ever Played
Review: I'm not exaggerating this--this game scared me, engrossed me, confounded me, and pulled me in more than anything I've ever played. I'm not even a sci-fi fan, really--my tastes normally lean towards fantasy and role-playing stuff--but this is just amazing. It's an experience that you need to have if you're a gamer, and since it's a little older and will run on comparably slower systems, it's a bargain.

Also, I hadn't had the opportunity to play System Shock 1, but that wasn't a problem for me. There were a few points in the game where, I assume, there was some connection to the plot and possibly the look of the previous game, but this in no way hindered my enjoyment of this one. So don't let that stop you. In fact, don't let anything stop you--buy and play this game!

Just don't do it in the dark.

Rating:
Summary: My new favorite game
Review: I bought this game about a year ago, played it for one day, and for some reason stopped playing it. I guess it just didn't appeal to me that day. I finished Half-Life a few days ago and was looking for something else to entertain me, but I didn't think anything was going to satisfy me as much as Half-Life did. I reinstalled System Shock 2 and decided to give it another try...best thing I ever did. And as a matter of fact this has become one of my all time favorite games I have ever played, and some might call me crazy but I find this game to be FAR better than Half-Life.

The graphics are excellent and the sounds are top notch. You really feel as if you are part of this doomed spacecraft. Things jump out at you and pieces of debris come flying at and down on top of you which has caused me to jump out of my seat a few times.

The interface is very easy to work with and you'll have it mastered in no time.

There are different approaches you can take throughout the game. Some of my favorite things are modifying weapons and hacking into security computers and vending machines.

I could go on and on about this game but theres no need to, just read the other reviews and you know that this game is great! I highly recommend it to anyone!

Rating:
Summary: Scary, cool, but not a whole lot of fun.
Review: Other reviews relate this game to a really scary horror movie. I agree. This game scared the living weasel out of me more than any movie could.

But when I go out to buy a game, I'm not really looking for something that's gonna scare me. I want a game that's fun. And SS2 just didn't cut it.

Awkward play control (especially when fighting), lousy attempt at techno music, bad graphics. It's not enough RPG to be an RPG, and at the same time, not enough of an FPS to be an FPS.

Bottom Line: You wanna be scared witless? Read a good book or watch a horror movie. Wanna have a lot of fun? Buy Unreal.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Review
Review: This game is ok. It overall entertained me for a while, but like any and every other game (except for Diablo 2 of corse )other game got booring after a while.

Rating:
Summary: Why do you resist The Many?
Review: Regardless of what genre you prefer, be it first-person action or roleplaying, you owe it to yourself to experience this game. When I played Half-Life there were at least dozen different times when I thought to myself, "This is the best game I have ever played." System Shock 2 had only one of those moments. I was never crazy about System Shock 2. I have never played the first game, nor have I even heard of it. At that time I was too busy playing Doom, which at that time was what I thought was the best game ever. Oh, if only I could go back and take that box that had the title 'System Shock' out from the bargain bin. I bought System Shock 2 because of two reasons. One being the praise it recieved from the gaming press, another being it was selling for a measly 15 bucks. It was the best deal I ever got. At first, I found SS2 to be a very good game, but I didn't think it was going to beat Half-Life anytime soon. Sure it was scary, and there were times when I was just too frightened to continue. But nothing was going to hold a candle to Half-Life, no way. But then came the time when I went through an unassuming door on the Engineering deck on the Von Braun spaceship,that I had one of memorable experiences I could ever have with my computer.

I don't know about you, but I prefer to use headphones instead of speakers. So imagine how I reacted when I heard a voice, the voice of SHODAN, a self-presumed artificial goddess gone insane, speak to directly to my character. The voice is coming from your head, your mind, and asks you in an almost sad, metallic female voice, why you resist the Many, which then switches to an angry, cold and metallic tone, explaining why you and mankind are inferior to the cosmic influences of the Many. I literally froze, not moving and inch, for fear of facing SHODAN and her minions around the next corner. System Shock 2 is one of those games which deserve more attention. It is truly one of the richest and rewarding experiences you will ever have with your computer. The atmosphere and sound is astonishing, you can actually hear your worst fears, be it the taunting from alien hybrids to run and hide, or the whirring servos of approaching robots coming down a hallway with no other purpose but to seek and destroy. System Shock 2 is not a game like Half-Life, but a journey into your worst fears. Loneliness, and a sense of hopelesess as you run down corridors, desperately looking for a way out while resisting the calls of the Many...

Rating:
Summary: The plot's the best part
Review: Not sure whether to give this a 3 or a 4. This is kind of like a first person shooter like half-life, only you are too weak to really get into big fights. It has some RPG elements, but only barely. The graphics are ugly, but i don't really care about graphics. The respawning monsters (but not respawning ammo) are annoying, and the weapons that break after a couple of shots are MAJORLY ANNOYING! That alone is reason to have the author kicked. But despite all of that, the game is actually fun to play, and the story is somewhat interesting. You could consider Deus Ex to be System Shock 3, since it's extremely similar only with better technology and weapons that don't break as easily (although the ammo is still limited - none of these are Quake kiling sprees). But SS2 is a fun game, you just got to keep your expectations somewhat low, because there are a lot of little, annoying things here

Rating:
Summary: A shooter that's more than a shooter
Review: I really can't say enough good things about this game. Firstly the code is rock-solid. It's probably the only 3D game that's ever played on our clunky home computer without crashing or giving us glitches. It also has an atmosphere that constantly sends prickles down your spine and encourages you to do more than shoot everything in sight.

This game WILL scare you. As you fall into the world you'll start to jump at every bump and hiss around you... and if you hear a monkey chattering you'll probably start trying to shoot evrtything in sight.

Another interesting aspect is that at the start of the game you get to choose if you want to be a straight out soldier, a psychic, or a technical minded fellow. The skills that you choose can allow you to slip through the many traps and dangers in the game.

The plot is that you are a soldier who has just recieved some cybernetic implants. You wake up from cold-sleep not knowing quite who you are or how you got to where you are, and only have a voice on your comm telling you what you need to do. You're given help in the form of cybernetic modules that upgrade your skills and allow you to gain new ones. You pick up weapons from fallen monsters and also gain healing items.

But you do more than just shoot things. You have to operate machinery, you gather up bits of crewmembers' logs to piece together the truth, you perform chemical analysis on alien organs to find out what they are, and you hack into replicator systems to try and get useful items.

There were only two annoyances in this game, firstly weappons degraded after use at a very unrealistic rate, and the monsters kept re-spawning even if you wiped an area clean of them. BUT.. the developers were kind enough to come up with a patch you can download to fix this particular problem, so its not that big of a deal.

Usually I'm a straight-out adventure game player and I avoid 1st person shooters, but SSII changed my opinion of them remarcably. It was great to actually sink my teeth into something with plot.

Rating:
Summary: Some Shock value...
Review: In the varied and overcrowded plateu of first-person games, it's always nice to see someone try to break away from the mold, but unfortately, System Shock 2 comes a little too late. Having missed the chance to beat Half-Life to the punch, this game is a fun play, but one best borrowed from a friend.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent Gameplay
Review: If you want to become immersed in another reality, then buy and play this. It boasts a wealth of features seen in few other games, such as an on-screen map, audio playback of crew email messages that provide game clues, scientific and chemical research of mystery objects you encounter, selecting your character's basic talents, device hacking, a cloning booth where you may respawn if you are killed, and optional psycho-kinetic powers.

For me, the game's true appeal was the hypnotic power of Shodan herself. She is not your only enemy, and after you are repeatedly threatened by The Many you will find yourself attracted to her assistance, evil though it may be. And that voice ... the Voice Of Shodan ... you will long to hear it. It is commanding, disdainful, polyvocal, cybernetic, and hypnotic.

Best thing about the game: you can just lose yourself in the gameplay. I felt EMOTIONS, not just excitement. I've missed many meals, phone calls, and showers while playing into the deep of night.

Worst thing about the game: it's just *too* hard in spots! I simply had to cheat on several occasions.

Conclusion: go on, hit the "one-click" and buy it now!