System Shock 2

Rating:
Summary: A genuine FRIGHTENING challenge
Review: After reading the reviews on this game and ordering it online, I eagerly awaited it's arrival. That wait was not in vain.

First I must say that this is not any ordinary shooter. Nor is it any ordinary RPG. It's better than both and much much more. Although the graphics are now slightly dated (running SS2 on a 720mhz machine and GeForce2 GTS is overkill for sure) the gameplay is state-of-the-art. Nothing else out there offers the melding of Shooter excitement, RPG skill and customization, and Sci-Fi Horror madness that this masterpeice sports!

I can't rave on about it enough. It is honeslty frightening! It's addictive and challenging and just a touch psychotic. The first time a baddie dashes around the corner from nowhere mumbling incoherently about "The Many," you'll be changing your shorts! And if that isn't enough, wait until you walk up on the wrong computer terminal...

This is a thinking-person's shooter. You must be very wise with your supplies and limited inventory as you sneak (and I mean sneak) your way around the remains of the ruined intersteller craft. You will need to be very sparing and particular about the upgrades you choose. You will have to be one sneaky cyber-enhanced mother with eyes and ears open wider than than a cheap hooker's legs if you want to survive this little intersteller outing.

Playability? SS2 has it. It's a quick game to learn and easy to get used to (save for those freakish things lurking in the next corridor). The interface is stunningly high-tech. Plus, if you get bored, you can always play with the "Game Pig" you found on that decapitated engineer back in Cryo...

Bottom line? Buy this game now. At the low price you'll pay, you have no excuse for denying yourself such horrific entertainment. Buy it and play it alone... with the lights off... if you dare!

Rating:
Summary: Freaky, Atmosheric, Ethereal......Just Plain Spooky!!!
Review: The game had me dropping my mouse, backing away from the monitor and out the door. The focus here is on how Environmental Audio can go a long way to scare the be-jesus out of you. And it does it well.

Otherwise, an intelligent RPG woven together with a first-person shooter, but with a very clever, puzzle-solving touch.

Basically, you awaken from cryo-sleep on a derelict spacecraft that was sent on a mission to deep space. You awaken to find things have gone horribly, horribly wrong as some form of alien life has taken over. It's all up to you to solve the mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing else like it...
Review: I bought this game after reading many reviews from people who consider it to be the scariest game ever made. I went out and bought a new pair of headphones and vowed only to play it at night with no lights...let me say that I now agree with all those reviews. ;) I've had many "OH, S***" moments with this game involving the mouse in the air and my character dying (and me having to take a 30 minute break while my heart rate slowly comes out of the stratosphere).

As far as the gameplay goes, the graphics look dated, but the game IS over 5 years old. The plot is very deep and interesting, and your enemies, SHODAN (along with Xerxes and The Many) are always sure to remind you of their presence. The ambient sound and voice-overs are very well done, and more than make up for the low graphics quality (not to mention the fact that most of the levels are very dark, adding to the ambience and hiding the poor textures).

You can go back to any part of the ship you previously explored, but don't expect it to be free of enemies. They respawn randomly, but the worst part is, the don't respawn very often...you'll be sneaking around every corner, and if you ever get lulled into a sense of security, suddenly a Hybrid will appear right behind you, and then it's over. Time to change your pants and drink some herbal tea to calm the nerves...

It is really in a genre of it's own, part RPG, part first person shooter, and ALL sci-fi horror. I've played scary games before, but this one takes the cake. Not recommended for heart patients or young children :) If you have never played this game, BUY IT NOW!! You WILL NOT regret it.

Rating:
Summary: D'Oh! I got killed again, for the 1000th time......
Review: The only game harder than this is the ridiculously difficult "Aliens vs. Pedator" (that's right, hardcore gamers, play it on the "extra hard" setting). S.S.2 is too freakin' hard for its own good. Not to brag, but I am very good at games like this but C'mon already! "It's so creepy" - Yeah, especially when enemies appear from nowhere and smoke you quicker than a lightning bolt. "But you have guns and stuff" - that break 5 seconds after you use them and try finding ammo when you need it. Health Packs - finding them is one thing, having time to use them is another. "Wow, what great level desi-" BANG, CRUNCH!! oops, I got killed again. Sightseeing is not a good idea in this game.

However, the game does come with an ample supply of cheat codes but you have to use them at the right time. Don't start typing in the code for extra health or ammo when trouble is about to start, its too late at that point. I managed to get through the game by stocking up on health, ammo and abilities at every opportunity. By "opportunity" I mean when I was crouched behind a steel storage box while an automated gun was blasting away in my direction. Get the picture?

Rating:
Summary: Very good but hard, very hard.
Review: Several things make this hybred shooter / RPG hard: First there aren't large piles of ammo available and most monsters only drop one bullet, shell, etc. You'll almost always be short of ammo, needing to resort to the default weapon, a wrench, especially on the early levels. You really will need to make every shot count. Additionally unlike most low ammo shooters, this game, while having some stealth elements is not stealth game. You sneak around some but there is the occasional large firefight you can't avoid. The last hard part is the slow rate that you acquire weapons and even after you find them, you can't carry them all. It'll take a long time to find and gain the skills to use better weapons and the limited inventory space means you'll be making some hard choices.

Not just a shooter, you find 'cybernetic modules' that you use to upgrade your abilities. Upgrades include the usual statistics (strength, agility, endurance, etc), weapon skills, psonic abilities and technical skills. The technical skills are the most important, you have repair and modify your weapons, research unknown items you find and hack into computers, security systems and other items. This hacking skill is most important skill you have. You won't enough modules for all the upgrades so choose wisely.

Aside from difficulty and RPG features the game provides a good story. Your path is fairly linear and there's a bit too much key collecting there are a couple plot twists. And while the space ship interior graphics are mundane, the sound design is excellent. You'll need a good speaker setup to hear things coming up behind you or in the distance ahead.

One disappointment: most monsters re-spawn. My preference has been to clear out an area and have it stay cleared.

I had no problems running this game on Windows 2000 although switching to the desktop caused a nVidia-based blue screen of death.

Rating:
Summary: Best Ever, but...
Review: This is my favorite PC game of all time. I've been playing since it's release (yep, I've got the original packaging and all). My only negative comment is not on the game itself but that it is almost a crime that no further games in this series were ever produced. I also have SS1 but unfortunately still have not gotten it to run correctly on modern PC's (damn DOS crap!). I still have not taken the wrench challenge on the highest level, too much dancing around with robots I guess..

Rating:
Summary: Folks, this is as good as it gets.
Review: I first played this game in Spring of 2003, by which time the graphics of this game were almost primitive. I stuck through the first few minutes to see what the game was like, and it wasn't long before I was sucked in to what is probably the best game I have ever played in my life. This game will scare you to death. It really makes me wonder why more games like this aren't made. Doom 3 actually took most of its style of play from this game. Its very much like Deus Ex, and in my opinion is actually superior. It has a superb storyline played out through emails and data logs with superb voice acting. The atmosphere will really sink into your skin, and when you hear the monsters hunting you down, you'll be ready to jump out of your skin! Be advised, this game is very difficult, and it takes time to get used to. It is not like a regular FPS, you simply don't have enough ammo to go around blasting everything you see. You have to be clever. Play this game, and you will not regret it. It's true that the later levels are somewhat dissapointing, but the game is still well worth it. Five Stars for this game. Oh, and make sure to check out the System Shock 2: Rebirth modification, which replaces some of the graphics with excellent high polygon versions. It really makes the game look ten times better! Just type the name System Shock 2 Rebirth into a search engine to find it.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing else like it...
Review: I bought this game after reading many reviews from people who consider it to be the scariest game ever made. I went out and bought a new pair of headphones and vowed only to play it at night with no lights...let me say that I now agree with all those reviews. ;) I've had many "OH, S***" moments with this game involving the mouse in the air and my character dying (and me having to take a 30 minute break while my heart rate slowly comes out of the stratosphere).

As far as the gameplay goes, the graphics look dated, but the game IS over 5 years old. The plot is very deep and interesting, and your enemies, SHODAN (along with Xerxes and The Many) are always sure to remind you of their presence. The ambient sound and voice-overs are very well done, and more than make up for the low graphics quality (not to mention the fact that most of the levels are very dark, adding to the ambience and hiding the poor textures).

You can go back to any part of the ship you previously explored, but don't expect it to be free of enemies. They respawn randomly, but the worst part is, the don't respawn very often...you'll be sneaking around every corner, and if you ever get lulled into a sense of security, suddenly a Hybrid will appear right behind you, and then it's over. Time to change your pants and drink some herbal tea to calm the nerves...

It is really in a genre of it's own, part RPG, part first person shooter, and ALL sci-fi horror. I've played scary games before, but this one takes the cake. Not recommended for heart patients or young children :) If you have never played this game, BUY IT NOW!! You WILL NOT regret it.

Rating:
Summary: Not an FPS or an RPG, SS2 combines the two perfectly
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: I'm Ruined!
Review: I had the monumental misfortune of playing SS2 before most of the "Best of the Year" and "Best Game Ever" ... games that are so wildly popular. Sure, it's got flaws. Yeah, I've got my pet peeves. But for the truly all-around immersive horrorific first-person gameplay experience, this is the game you MUST get.

First off, the creep factor is unbeatable, approached only by certain episodes in its cousin games, Thief 1 and 2. I'm a pretty hard-core horror addict, and I had trouble playing this game while alone in the house - no - make that alone in the room. Especially after dark. The designers did a great job with the atmosphere; it's claustrophobic, lonely, startling, and just plain scary. The monsters here don't just jump out of the shadows or take 85 rounds to kill. They mutter, grumble, shamble, and run...and they spawn. Hint: it's much creepier to play with the techno-y soundtrack turned off or way down. The environmental creepiness stands up well enough on its own.

In terms of gameplay, this one's got a fabulous setup. The controls are easy enough to use with practice, and the training levels before the meat and potatoes scenarios will help you get your bearings just fine. Manipulating your environment is as easy as it gets - your interface highlights what you can use and/or pick up, so there's no guesswork involved there. I get really tired of games that make you feel around for usable items instead of letting you use your creative energies on other, more important tasks. Like figuring out what the hell these worms are for...? The only real problem, as in every other game on the market, is getting on and off ladders, and frankly, whatever brilliant software designer conquers that problem deserves a Nobel Prize.

I fear that I am getting long-winded, so allow me to wrap this up. This is an AWESOME game. Get over your polygon hang-ups and stop whining about having to maintain your guns so they don't break. Play a Psy-Ops character, or go back to your boring and totally non-stimulating Half-Life. If you haven't played Half-Life yet, do so before you play SS2, or you will be sorry. I'm playing it right now, and I can't wait for it to be over so I can replay SS2. Yep. I'm ruined.