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More Than Words Can Express...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Where to begin? This game is just pure AWESOME. The story-line may seem kind of like the plot of many others. You know, that "aliens have taken over the base" or "zombies resident evil style" and so on. Sure, it may seem that way, but the further and further you get in this game, the more the plots twists and turns. Halfway through the game, I felt as if I was actually the character, I knew so much.

No other FPS I know is like this, with so much story, not even the famous Half-Life. That is why I call it a "FPRPG" or First Person Role Playing Game, because that is what is resembles. You see the game through the eyes of a Soldier, placed upon the first faster-than-lightspeed ship named the Von Braun, in the history of the human race. There is action, tactics, and an AWESOME, deepening plot like no other game I have ever played. At the end, you'll be awed and strucken, for the largest, oddest, most unpredictable plot change ever, in the history of any game.

So I won't waste your time anymore. Order this game NOW!

Probably one of the best games ever made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Title says it all really. This was a total immersion experience combining RPG elements, FPS, creepy environment and effects, engaging sci fi story line, puzzles, horror, mystery, long game play. Outstanding.

In space, there isn't any air to scream with

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: June 01, 2000
Author: Amazon User

A solidly good sequel to the classic original, 'System Shock 2' was one of the most engrossing games of 1999, and had me playing it well into the early hours. It's not quite as good as the original - or, for that matter, the same team's 'Thief: The Dark Project', but it's still very good. The good things are legion - it has the same scary atmosphere as the original, with you as the lone survivor of an unexpected catastrophe on board an unfamiliar space vessel. The interior is wrecked, bodies litter the floor, mutant zombie people are attacking you, and some areas of the ship have been overtaken by an icky fungus. The later sequences, in which you discover the nature of the problem, and team up with a strange ally, contain some of the most effective goes at telling a story in a computer game without resorting to having pages of text and / or dialogue. The game itself is much as the original - search everything in sight whilst shooting - and the 'Thief'-esque engine, whilst not pretty, can do stealth and AI at least as effectively as 'Half-Life'. The game has a great cool, crisp atmosphere to it, too.

The downsides? As I have said, it's not pretty. The whole 'character generation' system is almost completely pointless, and, as you play, you realise that firepower is infinitely more important than cunning. And the FMV sequences are simply terrible - the ending sequence, in particular, is totally out-of-place. Most abstract of all, the down-beat, grim tone gets to you after a while, but that's not really a fault of the game. Having your guns break over time seems a bit excessively realistic, too (alhough a patch fixes this), and the last quarter or so seems rushed. These are quibbles, though.

Still, I felt extremely sad when I realised that I had almost finished and, after spending three days finishing the thing (it took me 17 hours), I immediately played it again.

Quite Possibly the Best Game I Ever Played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

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.

A little dated, but still a great game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 24, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'm fairly new to playing System Shock 2. I somehow overlooked it when it first arrived on the gaming scene years ago. I have really been getting into this game over the last few weeks. This game has a great creepy atmosphere, excellent audio effects and sounds, and decent graphics...and it can be very challenging at times. I like the options to play the game as various characters (i.e. Navy with technical skills, Marines with weapons skills, Intelligence Ops with mind control skills, etc.). This is a game that every FPS and role playing game fan should try. Hours of creepy fun to be had here. Highly recommended!

As good as it gets

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Whilst I agree with the previous reviewer that the last few levels were a bit of a disappointment, I certainly do not agree that they 'kill' the game. I felt exactly the same about the Xen levels in Half-life, but I still love that game. Frankly this game is a masterpiece. A few years old now, but in my opinion far surpassing many of the games on the market today. And it looks great on todays faster computers. I've played it so many times now on every setting that I can finish it in one day. But don't worry, if you haven't played this before then I envy you because you've got weeks and weeks of pleasure ahead of you. This game is massive, it seems to go on and on. I sometimes wondered if it was ever going to end. You can specialise in one of 3 areas, tech, weapons or psi, to craft a unique character each time. But in my experience its better to generalise. One odd thing I just found the last time I played, and specialised in psi, was that about two thirds of the way through the game you get the ability to turn yourself invisible. This was a good idea in theory but it renders the rest of the game pointless as you can then just make yourself invisible whenever there's any trouble and just run past your enemies. You no longer have to fight anything! Another weird thing. The first time I played this game, when I got to the Mall on the recreation deck I noticed a white wireframe pyramid rotating on its axis in one of the corners. What the hell is this? Does anyone know. I've never seen it since so maybe its just a bug. Anyway, fantastic, immersive, frightening game that for some bizarre reason sold badly but has since received nothing but rare praise from the gaming world and general public alike - see the reviews here. You owe it to yourself to play this game, and you owe it to the defunct Looking Glass Studios to honor them by buying this work of gaming Art. Why are great Artists only recognised after their deaths?

My new favorite game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 01, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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!

Warning: no other game will satisfy!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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??

System Shock 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 08, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is by far the BEST shooter that I have ever played. Unlike most games of this genere, SS2 makes you learn skills that are neccessary in order to get through the game hopefully in one piece. SS2 really sucks you in, and at times, scares the hell out of you.

Most terrifying game ever?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

System Shock 2 is most likely the scariest game I have ever played, Half-life being the only close contender. As good as HL is, though, SS2 tops it with more storyline and depth and personality. I'm an RPG fan and I'd consider SS2 more of an action game than an RPG, but the game still allows you to configure your character in ways that deeply affect the gameplay. First time through I played as a psionics guy who wielded hand-to-hand weapons. Late in the game I was able to use an invisibility psi power, run up to enemies, and whack the bejeezus out of them. I didn't have to use guns much, and when I did I just used the cheesy little pistol. Next time I play I'm going to specialize in guns and be a long-distance sniper. The role-playing elements are not that deep, but I still greatly appreciate the opportunity to choose how my character develops. That's why this game is better than Half-life.

I tried to go back and play the original System Shock while I was playing this game and even though I had played and loved the original when it came out, I found the interface way too annoying now to play it. In System Shock 2, the graphics are much much better, and the interface is nice and clean -- very configurable and fairly easy to use even when I was juggling psi powers and healing hypos while backing away from an enemy.

I only have a couple complaints about the game: loading times were annoyingly long -- one and a half to two minutes. This made the difficult sections where I died a lot tough to slog through. Also, there was one place where I had to use a walkthrough because even though I had the in-game gamma correction turned up all the way, I still couldn't see a passageway I had to go through. I had to turn up the brightness on my monitor to find it. You're probably thinking "No duh, dummy", but I like to play with a low brightness level (makes the game extra scary at night) and I was able to see everything fine except for this one area. A minor point though -- in general the level design was linear but good.

I think I had a nightmare about the cyborg assassins in this game -- the sign of a truly cool and frightening enemy. If you like half-life (or first person shooters in general) but would like something a little meatier that lets you have an inventory and customizable stats, SS2 is for you.

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