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One of the best

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I started playing System Shock II in a dark room late at night. In about five minutes the lights were on and I was contemplating waiting until morning! Never has a game so effectively created an atmosphere as immersive as this one does.

Besides atmosphere, this game has a really good story, with twists, turns and upsets that you just did not expect. This is no cookie-cutter; the plot keeps you guessing until the end.

I also liked the setup of the game. There are different development paths your character can follow and, depending on which you choose, this game can be very different. However, it is never easy. There is no way to start out as a butt-kicking character; you must claw, bludgeon and think your way up the butt-kicking ladder.

I highly suggest this game to those who like first-person shooters with a great story, immersive action and staying up late!

Realistic, innovative, challenging, and FUN Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 09, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When I played this game, my hands were actually sweating from the SUSPENSE! The story is quite entertaining with some predictable AND surprising twists in the plot. This game allows you to play as a Marine (weapons), O.S.I.(psionics/mind power), or Navy (cybernetics/computers). Each branch has its corresponding (strengths) but having superior computer skills make the game somewhat easier to proceed through the challenging levels. There are LOTS of high tech weaponry and gadgets throughout the eerie decks of the von Braun including a "red lights" district in the crew's recreational area. It was more fun for me to solve the levels myself rather than resorting to online walkthroughs. If you enjoyed Half-Life and Thief, then you'll have a great time with System Shock 2!

Great game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This was one of the best first person type games I've played. The plot, although derivative of so many in the genre, was interesting and creepy. The skill advancement system was one of the first to allow you to develop your character in a first person game with the skills YOU wanted to use most including those in technical, hacking, and repair fields. The sound effects were quite good and added immensely to the environment. This was the first game I played that regularly startled me when I'd hear a noise from somewhere off to the side of or behind me, or open a door to be immediately face to face with an enemy. The game does suck you into its world. As much as I truly enjoyed the story, the gameplay, the graphics (good for its time), and the sound, about two-thirds of the way through I kept thinking I was near the end only to find the game would continue on. It got a bit tedious, which I find common with most first perons shooters I've played. With the difficulty towards the latter part of the game, I finally looked up some cheats on the web to make it through the final segments. A little shorter would have been better in my opinion, but this game set a new standard for me.

time well wasted!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 30, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game two years ago but was unable to play it due to my laptop's weak graphics capability. Two years later, new job, new laptop, and this game has me blown away. I won't go into story-line which is documented in above letters, but rather will focus on the game-playing. The game starts slowly, as you define your character, but soon grabs all your attention as you find yourself on a derelict ship in the middle of space. Being alone, save for random communication from someone somewhere on the ship, you must solve the puzzles put there before you, while trying to avoid the unfriendly beasties trying to kill you. What is so exhilarating about this game is finding those safe spots where you examine where you are, and where you need to go, and what you need to get to be able better yourself or learn how to kill the bad guys more efficiently, only to hear a door slide open and something telling you "I sense your flesh, there is no hiding." This game should scare you as the use of sounds, background music, and bodily remains create an amazing environment. None too easy, but really fun, buy this game and play it...

I bow down and worship at the feet of 'System Shock 2'

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Oh my God, this game is just magnificent. I don't know how anyone can knock it. Some people say the graphics are not up to scratch and dated. I don't agree at all. The game does not use the Quake2 graphics engine like just about every other game but is instead built on Looking Glass's own proprietary engine - the Dark Engine. The peculiarities of this engine is that it is superb at rendering futuristic sci-fi scenes like corridors, doors, lights, computer panels etc, but is not so great at rendering life-like humanoid creatures. So the characters in the game look a little blocky, but this in no way detracts because the positive qualities of the game overwhelm this one negative. Some also say the game is too hard. Well I admit it is hard, but I've completed it 4 times on every setting - even the 'impossible' setting. But what I love so much about this game is the atmosphere. It is the most atmospheric, engrossing game I have ever played. I love wandering around this vast spaceship along dark corridors, with colorful neon lights flickering all around me. The sound effects are superb too, from the swish of doors, to the zombielike moaning of the Many, to the voice of Shodan, occasionally kicking in and insulting you. One great touch I thought was the way the ships computer - Xerxes, occasionally makes some very ordinary anouncement about replicator units or something, so you think maybe he's OK after all, but then he follows it with an utterly demented comment like 'Glory to the Many, Glory to the Flesh'. And the game is SCARY. Not terrifying, but it does make you jump. Play this game on your own with the lights out, and the first time you hear quiet footsteps behind you and turn around to see one of the Many about to bash your skull in with a lead pipe while screaming 'Silence the discord', then you'll know what I mean. Finally there's the dead crew's voice-log's scattered all around the ship. OK it's a bit contrived, but I thought it was a great way to bring the crew to life and to reveal the story to you little by little. Listening to someone recording a log only to hear them killed while doing so by a security droid was downright spooky. And who could'nt help but fall in love with Dr Marie Delacroix - am I right guys? This game is huge. It seems to go on forever, and I was sorry when it finally did end. What a shame that with Looking Glass studio's gone, there will probably never be a Shock3. Oh well, this will always be a classic in my mind - right up there with Doom and Half-life.

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

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

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.

Great game, great price

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: October 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is a great sci-fi action/roleplaying game. The amtmoshere is scary and the feel of this game is great. I actully jumped a few times when "The Many" surprised me. For this price you can't go wrong. This game was fun to play and created a unique gaming experience.

Uneven in places, but ultimately superb overall...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: November 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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.

D'Oh! I got killed again, for the 1000th time......

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 12
Date: January 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

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?

Innovative twist on an old genre. It's doom with ghosts.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 26
Date: January 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First off, why do top designers make mistakes like building a game that's so dark I can't see the gamma controls in options? Believe it or not, they used a dark blue control for the gamma and the page is black. The other controls on the page are light green. This little artistic flourish sent me on a three day journey of frustration to play the game and get the brightness up. Navy on black is idiotic. Too many designers use tiny letters and obscure illegible fonts for games. We don't all have 21 inch monitors you know. Please keep an eye on the fools you hire to deal with the simple things like choosing fonts and background colors. Now on to other issues.

The story is intriguing. The opening music was great and got me interested inspite of the rather choppy and low quality cut scenes. What happens to that great opening music later? It turns into action, disco, buttkickin game music that I hate.

Training could be more involved. I needed to play over and over to get to any proficiency with the many controls and seemingly endless information kiosks. I don't really play games because I want to read so why not just give all the information on the mfd or pfd device in voice format instead of having us read all this drivel? Better yet, build a training mission with us actually having a stress free environment to really work on skills and become familiar with controls. Hey! Here's an idea. You know those training missions I fly off on, but I really don't go I just watch the movie? (I wonder if my ugly woman is still waiting for me?) Why not really send me on that mission to learn? WHAT A THOUGHT!

Why can't I choose a weapon or get some health when I'm in user mode? The action doesn't pause and the monsters just keep pounding away and sneaking up which I just find stressful. I know you're trying to put me in the situation, but I like to pause and think. You can forget that in this game.

Here's another annoyance. You go to this vending machine to buy bullets and health and soda or whatever and first you have to select what you want on this complicated interface after you figure out what it costs from the tiny numbers buried off on the side. That's already annoying, but then you have to pick the items up individually and then you have to go to user mode and "USE" them. Just forget it if you're bein attacked and most likely you will be. A possible reason for all this difficulty is that you should learn to turn off the security before trying to purchase anything. Once again, this is annoying to me.

Is this a new genre? Action, adventure, role playing? Sort of. I think of it as an action adventure with a tedious learning curve and a lot of dull reading. It's a boring second year college course. The psionics have me interested, the inability to use guns is frustrating at first and there's too many monsters to deal with wrench style.

The ghosts are great. I didn't have any kind of religious moment or anything like I've read some people describe, but then I knew the ghosts were there because I'd read the review beforehand and now, so have you. The monsters or ex crew or whatever they are, are scary, but they are also blurry and unlike some people, this game didn't really scare me to death and make me wary when I'm alone or anything like that.

There are a lot of good games out right now and I'm having a hard time devoting much time to this time demanding game. I do appreciate the innovation involved in this game, but I also loathe the geeky qualites of unnecessary complication. Then again, without all the skills, this would be just like half life or doom or whatever. Doom with ghosts.

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