System Shock 2 (1999)

Not quite as tight or consistently tense as the first game, but a damn good follow-up and one with a hell of a lot more replayability considering the rather impressive character-building dynamic of this one.

The ending of the game is pretty bad, especially considering how great everything is up until that final hour. This is especially insulting when there's an incredible moment just before the lackluster final boss. But if you can ignore a rushed, poorly designed alien environment à la Xen from HL1, you're in for an incredible experience. Music is fucking awesome, exploration is incredible, and uncovering the events of the Von Braun is almost as exciting as it was for Citadel Station. I'm very excited to go through the game again with a different playstyle and build to see just how much changes, especially since my "military man" build locked me out of half of the game's arsenal.

I'm cautious to hop on the 10/10 train considering the issues I have with System Shock 2, but this is also a game that genuinely had me looking forward to playing it at the end of my work day, and it's been a long time since a game gave me that wonderful feeling.

An action/horror/roleplaying game

The setting is a spaceship and there are definite cyberpunk vibes. I never played the first game, but I assume it's similar. It's first person combat with a role playing element. Along the way you can gain abilities...even psionic powers

The game has definite horror elements. Some people consider it one of the scariest games ever. I'm a bad judge regarding that because I guess I'm just incapable of being scared by a video game. The closest I ever came would probably be Alien Isolation.

You can use melee or projectile weapons to defeat enemies

You learn what has transpired on the ship through found audio logs and apparitions.

At the very beginning of the game you pick your career in the military. The branch you choose directly affects the bonuses applied to your beginning skills:

OSA: Psionic abilities Marine: Weapons bonus Navy: Hacking, repairing

This is undermined a bit, as later in the game you can develop skills outside your career choice...so why bother with the initial choice?

Completing tasks allows you to upgrade your abilities

The game definitely was an inspiration for Bioshock

Choosing what ammunition type to use can be very advantageous as certain ammunition will do more damage to particular enemies

Psionic abilities include the ability to shoot fireballs, teleportation and invisibility

I found the storyline to be engaging and the music suitably creepy

The game has pretty good replayability as the character classes and the RPG elements allow you to play as a totally different character. You can pretty much play the game however you want which makes it somewhat reminiscent of Deus Ex

The action moments of the game are more tactical than run and gun. You've got to think things out and be patient which may not be a style suitable for everyone. The complex roleplaying gameplay might turn some people off too

While it's realistic that your weapons would degrade over time, it can be a real nuisance and is one of the frustrating elements of the game

As always, I review a game based on the experience I had when I initially played it, which in this case was around 1999-2000. How it holds up and whether it works on modern gear is something I never take into consideration.

It's a great game, but might be a little too complex for many players. It's an RPG so shooting is not really about skill, no such thing as a headshot, rather the damage is higher as you upgrade your weapon skills. There are 3 main branches that you get to choose at the beginning. It's much more effective to focus on a few certain skills than trying to be a jack of all trades. When I say complex, i mean there are Tech, Weapon and Psi (space magic) skills that all have sub skills. Plus you get a statistics modifier to increase physical abilities like Strength, Agility, Speed, etc. It will be a little hard to understand everything during the first playthrough. Story is nothing too special, but the charismatic antagonist makes up for it. The reason I didn't outright love it were

1. Melee: It's very awkward, sometimes you can stun an enemy if you hit the first, sometimes not, it's random. The character also has a very large hitbox so some enemies can hit you even if you're behind their back.
2. Balancing: I was playing on Hard and by the end of the game i had to use melee too much, because I couldn't find any ammo. As mentioned above, it was pretty awkward.

For first time players I would recommend playing on normal and without manual saving. It really enhances the experience and there's always a way to avoid game over state, if you die.

I am definitely not against older games. Thief by the same studio is one of my favorites of all time. But despite some strong early atmospheric moments the pacing of this game is just too slow to really grip me. I found myself bored and not wanting to bother logging on again unlike other games in this genre. I think it's just a little too open ended to the point of losing pacing for my taste. glad I gave it another shot but I don't really feel compelled to bother finishing it.

I can see how some of my favorite games ever really drew inspiration from this titan. But for me it just doesn't hold up enough to make it worth the time invested.

System Shock 2 did not disappoint. The in-depth and completely open character generation system reminded me a lot of Dues Ex. Unfortunately, the game wasn't as hard as it was supposed to be, even on 'hard' mode. I think I can attribute that to my tendency to horde items and primarily rely on melee weapons in most games. I used all the arms and ammunition I had collected primarily in the last two levels. I should have started in 'impossible' mode. Shodan is one of the best video game villains of all time and I don't remember the last game I played where almost the entire story was driven by the intricacies of the final boss. In my opinion, Dead Space captured the atmosphere of System Shock 2 more than Bioshock; even though Bioshock had shamelessly copied System Shock. All in all, I think I will remember this experience for a long time. It's time to start playing Two Worlds: Epic Edition.

Actual Score: 4/5