grimjack2's Full Review: System Shock 2 for Windows
System Shock 2 is the rare game like Half-life or Thief that is far more than the simple action game that Doom virtually created so many years ago. Actually it is much more than even a 1st person shooter with a story. It actually succeeds as a Role Playing Game, and that is very difficult to do with an engine like this.
I'm still surprised that System Shock 2 didn't do better when it came out. It received rave reviews, including numerous nominations for "Game of the Year". It is the sequel to another very praised game, and was unique in its futuristic space setting. System Shock 1 was fantastic, and should have revolutionized both the first person shooter and the RPG far ahead of what we see now. But, like most of Origin's games, it was well ahead of the average hardware demands at the time, which kept this game from being satisfying to most purchasers. Instead Doom took off, and shooters remained simple for a few years. Purchasing engine licenses wasn't the same competitive business as it is now, so few people designing a role playing game would want to use the 1st person view. The first game gave us a very creative and different environment. It is futuristic, but technology tends to be something somewhat horrific instead of sterile and clean. System Shock 2 successfully plays itself out in the same universe as its predecessor.
You start the game by choosing a career, which is similar to picking out your starting statistics in any other role playing game. But more on that later. You are serving on board a large space cruiser, travelling in suspended animation. You left human, but when you wake up, you aren't 100% organic anymore. You've been given cybernetic implants that make you enhanced and 'upgradeable'. Throughout the game you collect cyber upgrades, software improvements, and come across other chemical and mechanical improvements that are similar to training and magical items in your more typical fantasy role playing game.
The game has two wonderful training introductions. One is before the game truly starts where you choose your profession. You can either join the Marines, the Navy or the OSI Psi Corps. The Marines are for fighters, and you will start with advanced fighting skills. The Navy is the more technical branch, and you will have some skills like Hacking, Repairing or Modifying given to you. The OSI will give you an early lead in Psi skills, which is similar to 'magic' in a fantasy role playing game. Psi skills let you do things like turn invisible to sensors, pull objects towards you (a Jedi trick?), and have temporarily increased statistics. There are about thirty five separate Psi skills to train in.
You can actually finish the game as very different characters. You can never get even half of all the potential statistics possible, so you have to choose what kind of character you want to be. It is a mistake trying to specialize in a little of everything, because the main weapons you will be using at the end of game demand the highest levels of statistics.
In this training you are shown most of the interface. It is complicated but not hard to learn. You read some logs, work some switches, train a little in weapons, and learn the basics of hacking. Hacking, modifying and repairing all work in a similar way. You have a group of interconnected boxes that you want to turn from one color to the other. What you want to do is connect three boxes in a row. There is a percentage chance for each box to change that is based upon your statistics and the difficulty of the hack. This is interesting because it doesn't just either work or not work randomly based upon the percentage, but actually makes you feel like you have more of a chance to do it.
After the game starts, you learn the rest of the interface under rushed conditions. Now that you have the cybernetic alterations made to you, you have other various functions. The visual interface lets you see maps, inventory, and statistics, while still moving around. This works because it feels like a cyber implant could as opposed to just being a weapons display at the bottom of the screen. You also learn how to work various items you'll find around the ship, and you start to get your first audio logs and emails.
You receive constant audio logs in the beginning from a woman who is helping you navigate through the ship and advising you of things that are going on. She says that she is the person who woke you, and she guides you in the right general directions to finding your way to each major step. Other email logs you find lying around. Some you find in the person's appropriate offices, and some you find on corpses. These logs make up the story, and replace lengthy RPG encounters, or long reads at chapter starts that other games have. This really adds to the immersive feeling the game gave me. You also see 'ghosts' that act out what might have been their last acts before death. Some show themselves getting killed horrifically by the mutated soldiers, and some show you humans being turned into cybernetic organisms serving the host intelligence.
This is the scariest video game I've ever played. I don't mean scary in small moments like Alien versus Predator where things constantly jump out at you. I mean scary like being trapped in a haunted house, never knowing what new horror is going to come shambling down the next corridor towards you. Listening to audio logs of people describing being dragged to a giant eating machine where they are processed for parts and nutrients is not easily forgotten. Most of the monsters are truly creepy. They are a combination of mutated humanoids, grotesquely altered lab animals, cybernetically enhanced humans, and complete robotic guards. And these are just the majority of them. There are more enemies here than in most 1st person shooters. They also have very good A.I.. Some seem to keep their distance and shoot, others charge, and some try to get behind you. And they are more varied than most games as well. Spiders, Monkeys, robots, and turrets all come in various types and sizes. There are Psi reavers which seem to keep reappearing every time you kill them, until you realize that you aren't really killing the monster. What you are shooting at is just a projection, and you have to find the true creature to finally stop it. Hearing the mutated cyber-maidens scream as they charge at you gave me a chill every time. The first time I saw a shambler from a distance, I was thinking how big it looked, and was wondering what I was going to do to stop it. Suddenly it charged and was on top of me so fast that I had no time to respond. I'm sure I momentarily froze at my keyboard, not sure what to do.
The environment can be your enemy too. There are radiated areas, and electrically charged panels that can damage you. Standing near explosive barrels is never good during a battle. The ships security system has been turned against you. Security cameras are everywhere, and a lot of the game is spent leaning around corners trying to pick them off before they turn to face you. Ordinary lifting robots and protocol droids are now programmed to attack you.
The graphics are very good, and the interface works well with it. The monsters have fewer polygons than newer games, but the ship looks fantastic. Many of the walls angle outward making it harder to lean around corners and avoid fire. The level design is amazing in the way that you keep finding new types of areas and locations, but the general look and feel remains relatively the same. This does feel like a large spaceship might. Some areas are dark, and you can turn on and destroy lights to change it to your tactical advantage. The whole ship isn't available to you at first, and it is a very clever use of the story that slowly allows you to access more of it.
The sound in the game is a standout! Like "Thief", which shares the same engine, EAX and positional sound are fully utilized. It is very helpful hearing a security camera before it sees you letting you know to look for it. And like "Thief", if enemies hear you, combat, or doors opening and etc., they will come to investigate. Many of the sounds are dreadful to hear, especially in the audio logs.
There are various weapons and classes of weapons. Having multiple types of enemies wandering together in some areas makes it very difficult to just run around shooting. You could never be properly prepared for all of them so selective picking off from a distance is necessary to survive. There are anti-personnel bullets and armor piercing, and they are fairly ineffective against the wrong targets. I was a little disappointed in the fact that weapons are constantly breaking down and in need of repair. Also, ammo is fairly scarce, for what seems like more than the first half of the game. This made me play the majority of the game with melee weapons. This isn't as hard as it sounds since you start with a fairly effective wrench, and can easily move up to a light saber and then a crystal shard that does more damage than most of the early projectile weapons. Some enemies cleverly explode when killed, so you don't want to fight everything hand to hand.
The weapons constantly breaking seem to be the biggest complaint most people have with the game. This didn't seem realistic, and were difficult to prevent, especially in the beginning, and random enough that it was far more frustrating than challenging.
Another complaint I had was that the enemies periodically regenerated in certain areas. I understand that this makes the game seem more tense, and difficult. However, I'm the type of player who likes to empty out levels before doing careful exploration. This game is a slow crawl of exploration, not a quake deathmatch, and with so many of your abilities and weapons in need of recharging after a certain period of time, it didn't seem to have the right balance of allowing careful exploration and fast action.
There are truly great moments in this game. Like Half-life, I can imagine this being a great story. When SHODAN makes an appearance, it is a great cinematic moment. Having audio and visual clues as to what happened works so well, because the clips are so well done. Researching is very fun, and somewhat similar to the all time research classic, X-com.
There is now a patch released for the game that allows cooperative play. This game is perfect for that, and as far as I can remember, this hasn't been seen in a game like this since Doom. I wished I had played it with someone that way just to see what it is like.
I recommend this game whole heartedly. And I suggest you play with the lights dimmed, and no TV or music in background. Now that it is in the bargain bin for under $10, you cannot pass it up!
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