System Shock 2

Moby ID: 590
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

In the year 2114, forty-two years after the events described in System Shock, a soldier joins the military organization Unified National Nominate (UNN), receiving the number G65434-2, and is shortly thereafter assigned to the military space ship Rickenbacker. This ship's duty is to escort the Von Braun, an experimental faster-than-light starship, on its maiden voyage. However, the next thing the soldier can remember is waking up in a cryo-tube on the Von Braun. It appears that both ships were infected with something so horrifying that nearly the entire crew was either killed or mutated into monsters. The soldier is contacted by a woman who identifies herself as the only human survivor. His first task is a rendezvous with this woman, for which he will have to traverse the monster-infested corridors of the ghost ship.

System Shock 2 is a hybrid of first-person shooter and role-playing game. In the beginning of the game the player chooses a career for the protagonist in the UNN. This choice grants bonuses to the protagonist's initial skills. Marines specialize in combat, navy officers can repair weapons and hack computer terminals, and OSA agents may begin the game with psionic powers. Notwithstanding this initial choice, the player may choose to learn any of these skills as the game progresses, spending acquired cybermodules to develop the main character in a RPG fashion.

As the hero traverses the corridors of Von Braun, he will have to avoid death at the hands of hostile creatures and robots on the way, acquire a variety of items, and complete missions to unlock new areas and advance the story. The game emphasizes survival rather than elimination of enemies; in many situations the protagonist is underpowered, and new enemies may appear in already explored areas.

Combat is done in FPS style, with both ranged and melee weapons. The ranged weapons can accept a few different types of ammo, each of them efficient against different foes, and can shoot in two firing modes. However, ranged weapons deteriorate quickly as the player character uses them, and will eventually break down after prolonged use.

Healing items, such as medical hypos and medikits, will save the hero's life, while other items will shield him from radiation, cure him from poisoning, or temporarily boost his attributes. The soldier can find armor to wear and implants which will amplify his skills, as long as their battery doesn't run out. There are also some alien items that the player has to research (which usually requires finding specific chemicals in the ship's chemical stores); researching weapons and items allows the player to use them, and researching enemies' organs makes it possible to deal more damage to them.

Apart from finding them lying around, items can be bought from "matter replicators" for nanites, the game's currency. Nanites are also used for cybernetic activities (hacking electronic systems), repairing broken weapons and improving them, healing the protagonist on surgery tables, and, after death, resurrecting him in special chambers found on most levels.

Cybermodules are received for successfully completing objectives or found during exploration. They are used to enhance the main character's attributes: the player can improve his strength, agility, endurance, as well as his cybernetics and weapon skills; psionic powers are also acquired in this way. Psi powers allow the protagonist to move objects from a distance, paralyze enemies, become invisible, etc. A special "psi amplifier" must be found in order to use them, and the hero spends "psi points" each time he uses a psi power.

Like in the first System Shock, much of the background story in the game is revealed by finding messages left by crew members before they fell victims to the mysterious infestation.

Spellings

  • 网络奇兵2 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

146 People (144 developers, 2 thanks) · View all

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Reviews

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Average score: 91% (based on 61 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 281 ratings with 24 reviews)

Intense, pulse-pounding, and challenging. The essential survival horror game.

The Good
"Welcome to my world, insect." - SHODAN

System Shock 2 awakens the player in the midst of chaos and then leads them through a hellish nightmare as the only way out.

That is, of course, the beginning of why it ranks among the the greatest survival horror games of all time.

The main character wakes up aboard the badly damaged UNN Von Braun, a high-tech experimental starship. The voice of a lead scientist aboard the vessel communicating from an unknown location elsewhere in the ship is the only link to understanding the situation or, indeed, to sanity in general. And when, within the first minutes waking, the hero witnesses another survivor being brutally slaughtered by a zombie creature with the bare vestiges of humanity and a pulsing worm-like growth upon its neck, the full horror of the matter begins to dawn.

There are two goals in System Shock 2. The first is simply to survive. The second is to stop the hive-minded annelids known as The Many, who have already converted much of the Von Braun crew, from reaching Earth and assimilating and destroying the human race.

"They see you! Run...RUN!" - Annelid/Human Hybrid

The power of the survival horror experience comes from the struggle to survive. Mastery of the genre involves the proper balance of vulnerability and resource scarcity with the abilities and tools to succeed. At its best, a survival horror game should make the player hoard every bullet and judge carefully whether each combat encounter is worth the cost. The player should be vulnerable enough to always be on the thin edge between life and death. Yet with cleverness and tenacity, the player should have enough to cheat death even when everything seems stacked against them.

System Shock 2 succeeds beautifully at capturing the feeling of survival. No matter where you are, the feeling of never quite being safe never leaves you. And the further along you go, the more careful you become with your meager resources.

One of the defining moments of my experience with the game was when I found myself crouched in a closet in the medical deck, pistol in hand, listening to the tortured moans of hybrid zombies and the chattering of psionic monkeys in the corridors outside. As I rested there a moment, wondering if my foes might find me at any time, I contemplated my next careful move. There was no thought of running and gunning through, dominating the enemy. It was about surviving.

"They told me how to make this implant. They said it would make a better me of me." - Miller

Character creation and progression in SS2 is incredibly enjoyable. Indeed, it is even complex enough to inspire at least one more playthrough to try a different build.

At the beginning, players choose one of three character types, based upon different military services.

The Marine class is the bruiser. In a fantasy game, they would be the warrior. They are oriented around combat and will generally have access to more high end weapons than the other classes. Further, it is probably the easiest class in the early stages of the game.

The OSA class is a psionic powered operative. In a fantasy game, they would be a magic user. They are the least proficient with weapons, preferring to rely on psionic abilities. Similar to their fantasy counterparts, they have the most difficult time early in the game but become arguably the most powerful by the end.

Finally, the Navy class is the hacker. Of all the classes, they have the best affinity for technology. It is the most balanced class, since they also have decent weapon skills.

After choosing a path, the player goes through an enjoyable set of "career" choices which will effect starting stats. Then the game begins in earnest.

Throughout the rest of the game, the player molds their character build even further within these archetypes. This is done by upgrading specific abilities and attributes using chips that are found or awarded. I found this to be much less distracting from gameplay than the classic experience and level system.

"Glory to The Many. I am a voice in their choir." - Anatoly Korenchkin

System Shock 2's atmosphere and story are beautifully crafted. Every place in the game has its own tale to tell. Carefully arranged set pieces provide an unspoken narrative which is often chilling. More depth still is provided through the many audio logs found throughout the game, containing some of the most compelling voice acting in gaming.

Scene by scene, the story of The Many and the horror of their existence begins as a creeping menace, then builds to the point of howling crescendo. All the while, the intensity of the game itself increases.

The Bad
While the graphics of SS2 are certainly serviceable and in some ways attractive, it was also a weak point even for the time. The worst, by far, are the character models which are simply poor in the case of humans. Monsters and androids come out fine because of their non-human nature. But the human characters are far too abstract and polygonal.

I would not say the game was too short, but I wish there was more anyway. And that isn't really a complaint.

The Bottom Line
System Shock 2 is the essential survival horror experience. It is one of a very few games which truly deserves the title of "Must Play".

Windows · by Steelysama (82) · 2009

Nothing to shock you but the lack of quality.

The Good
After first time encountering the absolutely marvelous "Deus Ex" appearance, I easily fell under the words "Huh, Deus Ex is everything but original, real originality lies in System Shock 2", especially since both games are made by the same creator. I could easily made this whole review as a comparisson of those two games, 'cos both of them have so much in common, yet there's a huge difference when it comes to addiction to those two games. Instead, I'll just try to concentrate on describing this game in specific, without much comparing it around (but there'll be some comparissons further as you read, nevertheless).

Sure, the thing I usually fall for is good story, and this one seemed to have really taunting one, but no matter this could be called more adventure oriented game than pure action shooter, I could name some shooters with even more profound story with much better atmosphere, I'll name "Half-Life" for example. Now that's the game no man on Earth should pass. Okay, the story makes you choose one of thre classes to play as, a marine (concentrating more on a firepower and macho tactics), a navy seal (being more of a stealth man than the one of action, lockpicking instead of blowing things up), and a psi trooper (using more of psi boosts and powers), though no matter which class you choose, you'll be able to upgrade your charactr to use lockpicking, hacking or psi skills.

Okay, typical boring story, marooned on a huge scientifical ship, you don't remember anything for the past three weeks, and you've been just unfrozen. But there's no way to stop and ask for directions, as it seems that there's a big mess on the ship you're on. With a help of some survivors (or so you think in the beginning), you'll get a few directives that will save your life, and then you'll choose how to proceed any further. Seems that some strange experiments went off-the-hook on the ship, and you'll have to tame 'em. In the beginning it'll be less interesting unless you prefer having a lack of weapon arsenal, and running around all night long, and you'll have to search the ship for messages, logs, and thus finding out about the story and surroundings, and all the strange events that occured while you were god-knows-where.

I'm not sure why I put story under this section, I guess it varies a bit between good and bad point, so it's acceptable more or less. The atmosphere, on the other side, is quite impressive. I mean, nothing we haven't seen before, but it's spooky alright, and you can hear your enemies mumbling or walking behind the corcer or somewhere down the line ahead, so they'll hardly surprise you, but when/if they do, you'll jump back sometimes, that's guaranteed ;))

Okay, until I developed a touch for controls, I was a bit confused and thought that engine has some recoils on occasion, but seems it's pretty much okay, running fast enough, in multiple resolutions, and inventory and interface handling is quite easy once you get accomodated with all the terms. Some songs are also well suited for the atmospherical experience, but they only play on very certain places, and always on the same ones, though. Now let's see if there are reasons for not liking this game...

The Bad
As much as this game looks pretty fine graphically, and I'm refering to ship and the rooms only by saying that, characters, monsters and animals plain suck! Their low line of polygons is simply not understandable for 1999. I mean, "Jedi Knight" which was two years older had the same, or even better looking characters.

I never played original "System Shock", nor have ever seen it, so I cannot comment on that one, but I think that this is pretty cheap try on the sequel. I guess they tried to make a decent sequel, but if that's what they can call their best (and keep in mind that four years passed from the original game), then this kinda sequel can only be for those fans of original game, and barely for someone new. Newcommers to FPS world should better try "Deus Ex" or "Half-Life" for starters. Frankly, I never liked "The Thief" when I first tried it, either, so I guess I just don't like taht kinda graphic in general. It seems kinda too tall for me. I dunno, but this game really looks more tall than wide, and I know this is rather improper view for commenting upon a game, but once you'll start to play it, and see the 3D engine and how it looks form the inside, you may (maybe) just be able to spot that point. But if this was considered a good game, I wouldn't care about the graphic at all... however, I don't find this a good game. Not by a far.

Okay, now, does any of you enjoy having infinite monsters or enemies in any kind of FPS game? I think not, I mean, if we aren't allowed to have infinite ammo, why should they be infinite enemies, and how was that closer to reality? Well, it's not. I mean, you can barely break through some level and kill every monster and hybrid on the way, and getting low on ammo and armour, and then when you need to go back, the level is full of 'em again.

Oh, and one more thing... that SHODAN female badguy is by far the worst nemesis I've ever encountered. Not only she's stupid, but pretty much annoying. I don't want to go offensive to all those fans of original "System Shock", because maybe in original she knew grammar more, but it's pretty bad to see a computer that doesn't even speak properly. I mean, it's a computer, for Pete's sake! Computer is supposed to be something most effective and highest scientifican achievement, yet it's incapable of talking the way we could understand it. And then she want to play a God? Yeah right, what kinda God would have less abilities than we do? ;)) If you're searching for real computer AI nemesis, try battling CABAAL :)

The Bottom Line
I seem to have mentioned all the points, and no matter I've equally said good and bad things about this game, I'm still glad to have it under my collection, and will try to get the original "SS" as well. It's an interesting game, yet very annoying at some points, but worthy passing it once. However, I highly recommend trying "Deus Ex" instead. That game realy made a new standard considering such games, plus it has superb plot and atmosphere. Hey, did I mention that ending in "SS2" is like the worst ever to be found? Well, it is, seems like a cheap shot to make availability for a sequel. I hope they'll make none of it, though.

Windows · by MAT (240493) · 2015

The scariest game ever made - not for the weak of heart

The Good
Atmosphere: you will fear the lonelyness, you will become paranoid as hell, and get really, really engaged in the game. With letters written in blood on the walls, alarms sounding, things exploding and falling appart without warning, dead bodies piled up everywhere, ghostly aperances forever re-experiencing their last moments of life, and distant screams and zombies mumbling in undead voices for you to come to them; either to kill them, or join them, or both. Even today, this game is has to be the scariest game ever made!

Story: At the heart of all the terror lies an engaging and evolving plot; something goes horribly wrong aboard mankinds first FTL inter-stellar starship, and the joruney of your dreams, has become your worst nightmare from hell.

Voice-acting: Will at times send chills down your spine.

Graphics: Similar to that Thief - not good, not bad, just in between; graphics is not really important in a game like this.

Gameplay: With sci-fi RPG-elements, a bit advanced but mostly easy interface, and several ways to complete different tasks: System Shock 2 is one of the better First Person Shooter / adventure games out there.

The Bad
At times TOO scary; but maybe that's a good thing?

The Bottom Line
This game is not for the weak of heart, but if you are looking for a good scare; look no further. This is quite possibly one of the best FPS-games ever made: better then Half-Life, better than doom, and unique even today.

Windows · by Stargazer (99) · 2003

[ View all 24 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Which SS2 am I playing? o__O Slug Camargo (583) May 20, 2008
Damn the Many... Unicorn Lynx (181788) Apr 3, 2008
No spawn and no degradation? Unicorn Lynx (181788) Mar 18, 2008
Just Finished, ITS AMAZING!! ricardoe Oct 7, 2007
System Shock 2 Expansion Pack on WinXP dave solin Sep 12, 2007

Trivia

Animations

In addition to using the Dark Engine, the game also uses some animations from Thief, most notably the zombified crewmen with the shotguns and pipes. They use portions of animation from the guardsmen in Thief, specifically when they walk around searching for your character, and when they run over to attack you.

Basketball

In Thief, part of the training mission included a little basketball court at the beginning of the game. In SS2, this basketball is carried over and is found up on a ledge on the 'street' level of the very first training mission. Go around the 'pillar' to the right of where you arrive on the street. You can mantle up to a sloped surface, and on the flat part of the ledge will be the basketball. Bounces very appropriately, too!

On the Recreation deck will be a basketball court, towards the last part to explore in the level. You have to be on the upper running deck to shoot, but if you make a basket with the basketball or even just clip the rim, you'll get a very funny email. Be sure to bring it up in your PDA, as it reads differently than it sounds.

Bugs (Spoiler!)

In a cutscene on Deck 4, the walls will drop away and a cut-scene will begin. However, you can still move around and if you fall off the platform that the room has become, you CANNOT get back up, short of killing yourself or loading your game! A neat little bug.

Cancelled Dreamcast version

There was going to be a Dreamcast version of System Shock 2, but it was cancelled

German version

The localized German version of the game was slightly modified for fear of banning. Some corpses were removed (e.g. a hanged man), and all blood was colored green.

Mods

The graphics for character models in the game was considered by many to be the low-point in the 3D Design. So some fans took it upon themselves to create unofficial high-res models which are known as System Shock: Rebirth and can be found at http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/sshock_rebirth.htm

Multiplayer

There is a patch available for System Shock 2 which does not only allow adjustments of the respawning and weapon wear and tear, but adds a cooperative multiplayer mode.

Release

System Shock 2 was published by Electronic Arts instead of Eidos, which was Looking Glass‘ world-wide publisher at the time. This is due to the simple fact that EA held the copyright for the System Shock franchise -- the firm had acquired it with the purchase of Origin Systems.

Sales

Although System Shock 2 was rated a masterpiece by all major magazines, sales were only mediocre. Ironically, the game shared the same fate as its predecessor: Both games never reached a mass audience, partly because of bad marketing efforts.

Shodan

The voice of Shodan was done, as in System Shock, by Terri Brosius. She is the wife of Looking Glass Audio Director Eric Brosius.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • March 2000 (Issue #188) – Best Sound Design of the Year
    • November 2003 (Issue #232) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • GameSpy
    • 1999 – Role-Playing Game of the Year
    • 1999 - Best Genre-Bender (together with Drakan: Order of the Flame)
    • 2001 – #12 Top Game of All Time
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2000 - #22 in the "Readers All-Time Top 50 Games Poll"
    • April 2005 - #39 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • PC Player (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2000 - Best Game in 1999
    • Issue 01/2000 - Best Action-Adventure in 1999
  • Power Play
    • Issue 02/2000 – Best Game in 1999
    • Issue 02/2000 – Best Atmosphere in 1999

Information contributed by -Chris, CaptainCanuck, George Shannon, Great Hierophant, M4R14N0, PCGamer77 and WildKard

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by robotriot.

Macintosh, Linux added by Kabushi.

Additional contributors: xroox, JubalHarshaw, George Shannon, Unicorn Lynx, chirinea, Sciere, jlebel, dorlthed, DarkDante, Patrick Bregger.

Game added December 17, 1999. Last modified March 14, 2024.