System Shock 2

List Price: $14.99 Discount Price: $89.95

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PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Very good but hard, very hard. [Posted on 2004-10-02]
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.

Oh, the atmosphere! ARGH, the economics!! [Posted on 2005-07-24]
I have played through both the original System Shock and System Shock 2 to completion. Having done so, I have to say that SS2 is one of the most over-rated games in history, and every time it shows up on some game magazine's "overlooked works of genius" page or the like, I want to scream.

First, let me get it out of the way: Yes, the story is very good (and I was particularly struck by the plot twist that introduces your ultimate enemy.) Yes, the sound design is good. Yes, the atmosphere is great- very spooky, very isolating.

But it's one thing to feel that your enemies hate you, and another entirely to feel that the _game_ hates you.

There are a dozen little ways this comes off, like that you can HURT yourself by running into things, and make it WORSE by increasing your agility stat and thus your speed. I do believe that's a first for First-Person-Shooters, and _please_, for the love of God, let it be the last. There's the fact that you can be shot a dozen times by an enemy, and when you finally kill him, mysteriously discover the weapon he was firing on you was not only devoid of ammunition, but broken to boot. There's that the game's system explicitly _expects_ you to die repeatedly (if you have enough money you get restored to life at a sort of save-point, more on that later.) There's a sequence that has you running back and forth trying to find a series of numbers for a passcode, one number per location, and all the while, the monsters keep up their infinite respawn while you're about your busy-work. (What would have been the problem with your so-called benefactor putting the entire code in one location?...)

But ultimately, it comes down to economics. The designers were so terribly afraid that the player would, at some time, have an EXCESS of something, that they overcompensated the other way.

The money of the game is called nanites, and ultimately, they're used for everything. Die and get restored to life? Cough up some nanites. Want to open a locked box? Cough up some nanites... Oh, and by the way, all that box contains is slightly fewer nanites than it cost you to try. (Why did someone put a security lock on the equivalent of a nickel? One of those great mysteries, I guess.) Out of ammo? Go to the vending machine, and cough up some more nanites. Or you could hack the machine- for yet more nanites- and then it would give you LOWER PRICES!

I don't know about you, but when I hack something like a vending machine, I expect to get something for free. I guess I'm silly that way.

And even if you have ammo, your gun might just break, given the uniquely corrosive qualities of the atmosphere on the ship. But don't worry, you can buy a repair tool- for a few nanites! (Though repairing a weapon degrades its quality, and makes it more likely to break down in the future. Thanks, guys.)

Poisoned? Your fate is sealed, unless you buy an antidote. More nanites! Or you can buy a recycling tool, and discover that what it gives you for recycling most items wouldn't buy you a lousy soft drink.

Maybe you're a psionic, using the awesome, infinite powers of the human mind as your weapon? Great- but restoring your psychic energies means buying a psi-restoring potion. More nanites! For all the talk in the manual about making psionics more than "just another gun", this particular aspect succeeds in making them _exactly_ that, and a gun much like the others that is going to fire twice and then need to be switched out for something that still has ammo.

And isn't broken.

And you have the skill to use.

After a few rounds of "BANG BANG click click BANG BANG BANG click ZAP ZAP ZAP click click " you realize that what's making the hairs on the back of your neck stand up isn't terror, it's IRRITATION.

A simple equation: Infinite, respawing enemies + Finite resources = game that hates you. Is it really so much to ask that a foe that's been shooting you have ammunition on them? Especially if you're going to have to face an unlimited supply of them?

There's a moment in most games of both the RPG and FPS genre near the end where you feel that you are _ready_. You're bad. You've got the best weapons, a full stock of ammunition, the best spells, or whatever- you've learned the tactics you need to take on foes over many hours of play, and you know that what's coming up is going to be hard and it's going to take ingenuity and everything you've got. But it's going to be fun and you have what you need to make it possible, and you're ready.

In System Shock 2, that moment never comes. The designers were too afraid of the player having an excess, and as a result, you never have _enough_. Not even at the end. You've been nickeled and dimed through the whole game by poison, by the unending tide of zombies, by busy-work, by hacking or lockpicking things that turned out not to be worth the sacrifices, by taking damage in places you didn't expect, by reloading and repairing weapons that break down at a fantastic rate... And ultimately, that's not scary. It's frustrating. It's irritating. It's wearying. But it's not scary.

And yes, I finished the game. No, I felt no compulsion to play through it again as a different type of character.

There's other little things, like that they replaced the ungainly but interesting pseudo-VR hacking of the original System Shock with a guessing game somewhere in complexity between tic-tac-toe and minesweeper. Or that the only thing your character actually says for the entire game deflates the tension of a climactic moment for the sake of a dumb joke. Or that the bad guys seem to offer you the opportunity to ally with them, but the designers never considered making that opportunity a real one...

I've said more than enough. Pick up the original Deus Ex if you like games of the genre; let this "sleeper hit" continue sleeping.

P.S. At least two of the _positive_ reviewers have blithely stated something along the lines of "Well, yes, it's so hard you have to use cheat codes to complete it, but..." Do you guys really expect so little of game designers that you're willing to forgive this kind of grotesque mis-design in pacing and difficulty? Are you so desperate for games with an actual storyline that you're willing to ignore enormous flaws?

The Many sings to us... [Posted on 2005-09-02]
..and the song is to the tune of "Best Game Ever". Really, that term is thrown around a lot. It seems that every other year or so, a new game comes out that is "the best game ever", and with that, the true meaning in the expression is somewhat lost. What do I think is deserving of the "best game" title? Several things: great storyline, compelling characters, interesting and entertaining gameplay, the ability to become truly immersed in the games atmosphere, and (what i believe to be the mark of any truly great game) the ability for it to be just as fresh and exciting as current games long after being initially released. With this criteria in mind, System Shock 2 is easily my favorite game of all time, and I would argue for it to be the best game of all time.

Now, I know that right away I'm biased in stating that, but I can't help it. It's too difficult for me to talk about this game and not pile on the superlatives for it. If one was to run into any of my friends and ask them, they'd all say that I praise System Shock 2 on the edge of lunacy, and I'm not ashamed to say they might be right.

There are just so many things about the game that I love, it seems futile to even try to mention them all and so it makes more sense to simply say "My favorite game ever/best game ever" since basically the same point gets across. However, I'll try my best to describe a couple of the elements which I feel sets System Shock 2 apart from other games...

-The game was the first, and best, merging of action oriented first-person-shooter elements with tactical character based role-playing elements. Think Deus Ex (which is one of my other all-time favorites) only without the focus on open ended environments and ways to accomplish a task, and instead a focus on open-ended ways to become attached to the game world. The character creation and skill system used allows for you to become attached to the character, to really "think" about the game world differently based on what skill sets you wish to adhere to. Hacking so as to avoid security? Maintenance to get more out of your weapons? Research to understand the enemy better? Also the different weapon sets: energy, standard, heavy, etc. Each has strengths and weaknesses based on your approach to the game. All in all, the Role-Playing elements are just as deep if not moreso than a traditional role-playing game, but are combined with the immersiveness and intensity that comes out of a first-person-shooter for a gameplay experience more cerebral and satisfying than any other I've encountered.

-A fantastic linear(but not) storyline. I hate that in the current state of PC gaming, the word linear automatically becomes synonomous with "bad/mindless/etc." The fact is, sometimes a linear environment is the best way for a story to be told, as in Half-Life and Half-Life 2 (which are both pretty good games I've heard). Now, System Shock 2's brilliance is that the game unfolds in a linear fashion in that the player moves from level to level, but the levels themselves are completely open and non-linear, freeing the player to discover things in the order that they actually encounter them, which makes for the most authentic feeling of "being there" that I've experienced in any game. Then for the story to completely unfold, the game utilizes "audio-logs" which are found around the environments and contain different accounts from various other characters concerning whats happening in the game(kind of like doom 3 PDA's, only better, and in system shock 1's case, 10 years earlier). To fully illustrate how well done this is, system shock 2 (and the original for that matter) were the only games where I truly cared and had concern for characters in the game's story that aren't encountered during actual gameplay.

I could go on with other aspects, but really, would it have any more effect other than elongating an already growing review? Skimming through some of the other reviews, one can come away with at least one clear picture: the people that have played and loved system shock 2 don't just view it as a fantastic game, but a fantastic EXPERIENCE. In comment to some of the negative reviews that seem to be discontent with the difficulty and nuances of the game, I understand and advocate myself that not everyone will like everything about the game, I just think its too bad when people don't appreciate games for attempting to be something more than a casual time waster. Sytem Shock 2 belongs in the same league of recognition as the Half-Life series. It tries to be more than just a computer game, it pushes to be everything that immersive entertainment can be, or SHOULD be, and in my opinion it succeeds in every possible way. To the former Looking Glass Studios and to the members currently at Irrational Games, I would like to thank you for providing an incredible gaming experience unlike any other.

Uneven in places, but ultimately superb overall... [Posted on 2005-11-03]
Even though I'm not really an avid gamer, playing games only infrequently, I must say that System Shock 2 is simply the best game I have ever played. It's a game of such undeniable character that even now, +5 years after I first purchased it, I still find myself thinking about some moments in the story. That being said, however, it's sadly let down by the fact that the game was shipped prematurely, as a result of financial difficulties with the developers. Also, in an interview with the developers, they state that they underestimated the effort that was necessary to modify the engine (the Thief I engine), into the System Shock 2 mold.

When first presented with the game, you immediately notice the macabre imagery that permeates every aspect of it's design. From the superb level-design, to the chilling recordings of crew members from the ship, which are used to great effect of narrating your journey through the game.

Then, unfortunately, you begin to notice the rough edges.

Firstly, the weapons. A lot has been made of the fact that the weapons degrade too often and that ammunition is too hard to come by, but I think this is missing the point. The developers obviously thought of System Shock 2 as more of a "game-noir", opposed to an .ID shoot everything that moves cliche. Having said that however, I found quite often that this often made certain parts of the game completely unplayable when confronted with enemy, that could coinciendently track you down to your precise location, irregardless of whether you were "sneaking" around convertly at the time, whilst finding yourself having no way to defend yourself. Too often, I found myself forced to resort to melee weapons, even at the later stages of the game, where one would have really expected the player to have moved on to other more exciting weapons.

Secondly, the quality of the level design degrades at a truely frightening rate. I would say that after midway through the game, the levels become completely unplayable. Not only are the levels rather basic and somewhat disjoint from the preceeding, the momentum from the previous levels is completely lost. Since the main narrator is not really present in the later stages of the game, it's often hard to understand precisely what one is attempting to achieve; there are no clearly defined goals. Indeed, the final level even resorts to the good-olde "alien layer"-style, seen in just about every FPS since Doom.

And, finally, third, the RPG elements of the game are pretty much non-existent. The balance of the game, or complete lack thereof, as others have remarked, means that even at latter stages of the game the "top-tier" upgrades are still completely out of the reach of your character. From what I saw, there were no ways of obtaining sufficient credits to purchase such upgrades, unless one either set out with either the purpose of aiming for just one upgrade in particular, or by using a cheat. I also didn't like the fact your character had to have sufficient skill in some field before some weapons could be used. I can understand that training in, say, heavy weapons may improve your accuracy, but I fail to see how that the weapon would be completely unuseable if the user did not have the necessary training

Anyway, don't let these complaints put you off the game. It's truely a fine, fine game. In my opinion, however, I feel it's a missed oppertunity and could have been quite a bit better.

Crap, [Posted on 2006-01-27]
What is this?

Got the game for free.

Expected a semi-solid shooter with a decent story to keep me playing it.

Well, this wasn't it. A way too complex game. All the time I was apparently upgrading my character's abilties in different sections. I never had a clue about what these abilities did. I got weird names and numbers, like (+1) Maintenance. 3/4 of the time I didn't even have a clue about what was I doing, wandering around way too dark corridors (Forget about playing this game during the day) trying to find something I had no clue what it was.

I got halfway trough the game, and I'm still using a wrench as a primary weapon. Apparently you can use physic powers, but it takes several minutes to select the "spell" (Among hundreds) the item, the etc and etc so I just found myself fighting with a wrench against hordes of zombies that kept coming out of nowhere.

I once got a pistol but it only had a couple of bullets. I could only find a couple of bullets per level.

Uninstalled it 4 hours after I got it, after the inmense frustration of being killed by the same zombie over and over again, when I had nothing to defend myself with except a wrench, and I had killed him a dozen times.

Not for me.

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