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"Crap,", 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.

"Uneven in places, but ultimately superb overall...", 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.

"The Many sings to us...", ..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.

"Oh, the atmosphere! ARGH, the economics!!", 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?

"Very good but hard, very hard.", 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.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Leave Your Lights On...", I grew up being a horror film fan, and it takes a fair amount of eerie-ness to move me. I've also played hundreds of computer games, many of which tout themselves as being in the horror genre. But enough about me...

"System Shock 2" is easily the most atmospheric and downright frightening game I've ever played. It has a permanent home on my hard drive, thanks to its fair amount of replayability, and absolutely excellent gameplay. Essentially, the game is similar to many "first person shooters" in the way it operates. That's where its similarity to other games stops.

Keep your lights turned on when you play this one..!

"System Shock 2" is a masterpiece of space horror. Your all-seeing and ever-present foe... the supercomputer named "SHODAN"... has my vote as the most diabolical and psychologically disturbing antagonist I have ever run up against in any game. Her horrible "creations" (cybernetic horrors constructed from a combination of robotic machinery and human corpses) are nearly as unsettling. In this dark and ominous game, the tension is quite palpable... you can hear your enemies in the dimly lit rooms and corridors of an *immense* starship, somnabulistically muttering things which will absolutely creep you out. The first time I heard a "Midwife" unit calmy muttering "Babies need fresh meat..." whilst she was murderously searching for me... BRRRRRRRRRR..!!! Let me out of HERE..!!! This game is simply dripping with creepy atmosphere that truly makes one feel all alone, and up against some seriously frightening nastiness. And the *excellent* audio effects add immensely to an already frightening, oppressive, and often frantic experience.

I won't give anything else away. I'll simply give "System Shock 2" my "Best PC Horror Game Of All Time" award. If you can still find a copy of this game, grab it... as I believe it is no longer being produced. Also, a WARNING to parents: I do NOT recommend this game for young people. It is entirely too psychologically disturbing and graphic (especially if one downloads a patch available on the web which updates the graphics considerably). The patched version that I play contains quite a bit of partial nudity (topless and bloody Midwives), and extremely realistic gore. "System Shock 2" has an overall setting and storyline that are decidely adult in nature. Definitely not a game for kids, period.

A big 5 stars, easily. A must have for any mature horror game addict.

"*shivers*", I read the reviews on this game here on Amazon and decided to snap up a copy of this game. Oh Lord, what an experience! Others here have said they don't know how to classify this game. A strange amalgamation of First Person Shooter, RPG, and Horror game all rolled into one. And you thought it couldn't be done.

Again as others have said before me, the closest I've seen to this game would have to be Half-Life. But within it are elements of Thief and a lot of the fear factor from AvP. You begin with the choice of one of three jobs: Marine (for weapons junkies), Navy Technician (computer hackers who electronically can finagle thier way through in lieu of fighting sometimes), and Psi soldier (who uses mental powers to eliminate threats, or to get around them).

The atmosphere is incredibly eerie, and this game will induce a serious case of paranoia in you as you play. You'll find yourself jumping out of your chair when a harmless valve hisses next to you. Likewise your skin will crawl and your heart will literally gallop when you hear the sound of shuffling feet just around that corner in front of you...

Graphics weren't really an issue for me. The character models aren't especially attractive but the action really makes it so that you don't mind. The big surprise to me was the quality of the ambient terrain. I wasn't expecting the surfaces of the Von Braun to look so detailed and even in today's graphics-driven gaming community this 6 year old game really holds it's own. The atmospheric sounds, be they dripping water, air vents, or the inane babbling of Xerxes are brilliant. Throw that in with the noises of the Many hunting for you, the sounds of footsteps, etc.....I spent a lot of time cowering behind crates afraid to look around the corner with my 1 remaining pistol round. And yet I couldn't stop playing.

Multiplayer is a blessed throwback to the Doom era, where players don't compete at all, but rather go through the game cooperatively. I had my brother hooked on SS2 within 5 minutes and after a week we were both tackling the Many together, he as a Psi Trooper and myself as a seasoned Navy Tech. And it really helps alleviate the sometimes overwhelming loneliness of spending so much time in a game where everything not only wants to kill you but is sometimes so darned sneaky about it.

Only AvP ever made me jump higher out of my chair than this game did, and to it's credit SS2 made you think a lot more than the former could. Take the time out of your life to play this classic out, and see what games today should be!

"I'm Ruined!", 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.

"Warning: no other game will satisfy!", I just finished re-playing System Shock 2 for the 5th time in 2 years. It has ruined me for all other games...there's nothing else like it out there!

The variations on this game are endless. First, the choice of Marines (mainly weapons points to start), Navy (mainly cybernetics skills) or OSA (PSI abilities). Then, as the game progresses you choose which new abilities to acquire. Want to "blow em up real good"? Use your cyberchips to acquire more weapons skills (but save some for Repair/Maintain/Modify as well as Research...you'll need those too!). Is avoiding detection & opening locked boxes for supplies your priority? Then increase your Cybernetics & Hacking skills (but don't neglect your basic Weapons points too much!). If you go with the Psi options, you'll really need quick thinking & strategy to stay alive, as there are so many choices available to you; should you blow up your attackers, freeze them, or invisibly evade them? All equally valid options, & all change the game play!

This game really proves that cutscenes are absolutely unnecessary to immersive game play. System Shock 2 uses no cut scenes except at the very beginning, & a surprise revelation about half-way thru. Other than that, if you need additional narrative information, you choose when & what to focus on thru your PDA & the discs that you find along the way. Some have no bearing on your play, some are vital, but none will slow down the game til you are ready to hear them. Thanks to this flexibility, I have come to loathe games that interrupt play with bad voice acting & animation.

You may feel the graphics are a bit basic initially, but as you play not only do you stop noticing any crudeness, you will actually come to appreciate the fact that there are not constant breaks while the game reloads itself; also, the fact that EVERY THING is available to investigate will ruin you for higher-graphics/less playability. A good example of this is Unreal 2; it may have great graphics, but it stops to initialize itself so often, & runs so many cutscenes, that I found it a bore. I have never been bored by System Shock 2.

It really is incredible that no other game I've come across can beat System Shock 2; there are no others I've played that allow you to go back to any other level, & once there, find an item you dropped days back (& still with the same qualities as when you left it!). I love Half-Life (& it's Mission Packs). Alice has great graphics and music. I started as a gamer playing Quake 2 & it's Mission Packs. But nothing since I first played System Shock 2 has ever come close to satisfying me. Please, won't someone make another game like this??

"Still one of the best games I've ever played.", 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.