System Shock 2

The Good
Ok, so I can do what most people did and pick out the individual aspects of the game. Which of course, is perfectly acceptable. Except this game transcends it's parts. The pure game experience is what it's about, the quality of the graphics and whatever just affect this and make the experience better or worse. I'll just mention some of these anyway: -The graphics have aged well generally. The lighting is still quite advanced and the look is very smooth. -The sound is the best in any game yet. I can't stress this one enough. Everything about the way this is structured audibly is peerless. The use of total silence, the haunting voice of The Many that drifts between speakers, SHODAN's bioelectrical crackle that accompanies hers, the squealing sound of many of the enemies...I could go on. Also the voice acting is really terrific. Dead serious, and cleverly changed when you know The Many has a hold on them. -The ship design is great. It looks the business, and the atmosphere created through the lighting and sound makes it believable. -It's an RPG. You can develop your character's stats. Albeit, not in a big way. -The AI is pretty intelligent.

So far, this game wouldn't be anything very special(ish). But it has a feeling and a magic that is impossible to describe. It's the genius of Looking Glass. The emotions that it brings out in you; fear, isolation, depravity, loss, paranoia...Ok, they may be the easiest of emotions to play with at this stage in computer gaming. We certainly can't do love yet. But they're so extreme it's incredible. It's a shattering experience, and there is no game like it. Plus; the immersion is SO great, you FORGET yourself whilst playing. You forget you're playing a game, you forget life. You are placed into this world and that is all that exists. If you ever feel really angry, play this game. It turns everything you feel into fear and survival. No game can do this except System Shock 2. Fact.

The Bad
Nothing is perfect. The stats system is not balanced well, some missions seem seperate and pointless in regards to the plot. The monsters are a bit cartoony. Rickenbacker was a little annoying to play and I wasn't to keen on the level design. And it doesn't build up to a huge crescendo at the end. There are tiny things that could annoy you but who cares? Given the quality of the gaming experience, any bad point seems like nit-picking.

The Bottom Line
It really IS genius because it has something that no other game has. Don't ask me to describe it. You can't ask a poet to explain every metaphor. Just play it. You won't forget it.

The Good
System Shock 2 is a quite simply a great game, the sequel has perfectly captured the spirit of the original while delivering at the same time a whole new batch of gaming goodness. Surely the game's strongest point is it's abbility to draw you into a superbly crafted atmosphere. Just like in the original, this game puts you IN THE GAME like few others, and the terror you'll feel if you surrender to the fantasy is out of this world. The game uses Thief's Dark Engine, so as you may guess the sound in the game is simply spectacular, with surround effects and incredible depth (which only adds to the creepy atmosphere). The storyline is superbly crafted, and instead of being simply laid out for you to "sit and watch" it's sprinkled all over the game in the form of those wonderful logs, e-mails and even ghosts, forcing YOU to put the pieces thogheter and essentially making it much more rewarding when you finally achieve that "A-HA!" moment. A lot of creativity and originality has been placed on this game, and it shows. It manages to stay true to the spirit and at the same time add original touches like the psy powers, nanites, etc. moreover, the game is now much more of an obvious rpg with clearly defined stats, levels and experience in the form of cyb-aug chips. Something that I didn't really need, but that certainly gives the game a lot of gameplay depth.

Also I should mention that the game follows an interesting philosophical undercurrent throughout it's entire gameplay, that of technology vs nature. Which would have been made much more powerful if you had been able to choose which side to take, but still as it stands, makes a powerful statement (and without spoiling the sci-fi/horror theme).

Of course, no "good" part of a SS2 review would be complete without a mention of Shodan, it is quite simply priceless to be able to face her again. I'm sure that anyone that has played the original feels the same way about this, she's quite simply one of the most memorable characters ever placed on a computer game, and the opening sequence alone almost brought tears to my eyes...along with that familiar shiver! ;)) Terry Brosius once again voices her, and her job is priceless (ditto the rest of the cast, but we are talking about Shodan here!) and the way she's handled in the game is true to her nature, she's still Shodan, she's still a bitch, and she still rocks. Period. Plus, there's a little surprise at the end of the game that was really sweet. Thanks guys.

The Bad
Well for starters all the critter models are...to be tactful, of the crap. The interface can give you some headaches at times (but still is way above the one in the original) but that's it.

The only great gripe that I have with SS2 is that it could have been more, much, much more. As I read on a review somewhere, "System Shock 2 is a game so good it's surprising it isn't better". That truly defines my feeling with the game sometimes, it's as if you were given a taste of this wonderful dessert and had it taken away from you before you could finish it. For instance, I know Xerxes could never amount to anything versus our beloved Shodan, but they should still have given him a stronger presence, he's just there to whine every now and then, and that's it, and speaking of Shodan, we don't get nearly enough quality time with her! Seriously, where are the hordes of robots sent your way to annihilate you? where is the villain that trapped you in rooms and sent you to her "Death Machine"?? Most of the Hal-ness of Shodan has been replaced, and though she's still mean and evil, I really wish we could have had more of that.

The biggest dissapointment in the game however, comes in the way it's placed. If there is something great about Half-Life is that it introduced us to a game where you are in the "middle of the party" so to speak. On SS2 you arrive and...the party's over, and this was great on the original but it feels sort of shallow in a post Half-life world. There are no npcs to interact with, you are the "sole survivor" once again and though it's cool to bear silent witness to the aftermath of the Von Braun and the Rickenbacker, I can't help but think how cool it would have been if you were there when it all happened. Obviously this responds in part to the legacy of the original, but still....

Other than that, I should add that the game isn't as non-linear as it's advertized to be, a fact you'll find out the hard way if you try to play the game being a tech nerd and avoiding shootouts, the final fight with Shodan is way too easy, and though I understand the need for the time gap between the two games, I believe it would have been infinitely cooler to play the game as the good ol' hacker. He's got more charisma than your nameless "Mr. Magoo" soldier, and it would have made your relationship with Shodan much more tense and interesting. Ah well, can't have it all!

The Bottom Line
Essentially SS2 is a fantastic game, which seems to have taken a couple of bad design decisions. Still you have to understand that they were dealing with more than just a sequel and as most people know, making a good sequel and a good game/movie/etc. don't always mean the same. The guys at LG and Irrational had to come up with the right balance to both honor the legacy of one of the greatest games ever made (which is one hell of a though act to follow!) and also come up with something original and fun to play. If you consider that, then yeah, they made a good job. Without taking that into consideration then...well, they fell a little short in both accounts. But make no mistake either way: the end result is way above average and System Shock 2 is a definitive must.

The Good
This is, simply put, the scariest computer game ever - period. It's not a hyperbole - in fact, it's understatement. As the not-so-lonely amnesiac survivor of starship Von Braun, you'll wake up from what seems to be surgery-induced narcoma to find that the ship has become hell - incarnate. Something horrible (no kiddin) has happened, and dead bodies litters the floors. Horrendous monsters now populate the gloomy corridors of the giant, multilevel spaceship - some of them looking as your old crewmates, others completely alien and surreal. And even more sinister presence haunts its spaces. To survive, your only guide are the voice logs and messages you find scattered on your path, and the voice of what sound like to be one of the few remaining humans on the ship, who urges you to join her at the higher level of the ship. As usual, nothing is like seems to be...

The best sum-up of how immersive this game was given back in 1999 on a Internet comic strip. One of the characters finds his roomie sitting before the computer, in terminal catatonic state, eyes fixed on the screen in fear. The other guy look at him, then the computer, then him again, and says "Playing System Shock 2 all night, uh? Oh well then, I'll go pee all over your things" and leaves the catatonic guy to his thousand yard stare.

How did they do it? The winners here are two - storyline (a superior sequel to 1994 cult hit "System Shock") and sound. Oh my - the sound of SS2. Don’t ever CONSIDER playing it without a decent soundcard and a great headphone (better if of the closed type). A surround system will give you a heart attack. The guttural, sometime threatening, sometime imploring voices of the monsters; the acting of the voice e-mails, slowly revealing the horror of last days of starship Von Braun; the click and hiss of the ship machines (the security cameras...); the echoes; the music... everything conspire to keep you on you toes for all the time. You’ll not hear a single sound without feeling your stomach jump. You not turn a single corner of the entire ship without fearing the worst - literally.

Of course, one of the reasons you'll fear the worst is that this brilliant RPG-FPS hybrid is very, very tough to play. You'll have plenty of choices for weapons - but these will break or jam very often, and on this game ammos are as rare and precious as water in the desert. Most of the time, you'll resort to play seek-and-hide (you hide, and the "others" seek...). In one particular moment, I found myself stranded in a dimly lighted office, with "something" (a very disgusting and pathetic "something") calling from me at the other side of the door. I knew that "it" was going to enter soon, and get me. I didn't have any more ammunition - I was helpless. The only thing I could do was hide behind a desk, not moving a muscle, hoping that "it" would go away. I felt so scared and miserable that it took me a while to realize it was just a game (and believe me - I'm NEVER scared, and I rarely play games). I stopped playing it was some time before I steadied myself to continue.

Even the little moments (when the action slackens and you can look around to understand what's going on) have an ominous quality. One voice message (for the initiate its the "Janet, I think she speaks in English!”) still gives me the goosebumps after all these years. And some of the cut scenes (the mess hall - or the rescue shuttle pad) are very, very effective. Where "effective" means one thing: scary as hell.

And then there's Shodan, Her Maleficent Electronic Majesty. Those who had already played SS1 will recognize immediately the old bitch's "qualities". For the newcomers, prepare to meet the scariest, meanest, craziest, subtlest and most devious villain of the history of computer games. She will toy with you, sometime will even give you some glitch of hope. But never turns the back on her, or you'll regret it.

As someone else said - there's only one game sequel I look forward to, and it’s SS3!

The Bad
OK, the graphic design of the characters is not very realistic - so what? BTW, if you're put off by this kind of things (you shouldn't) there's a very nice add-on with completely redesigned character graphics.

The only other no-so-nice thing you may say about this game is that the final levels are a bit rushed up (but the ending is GREAT). But believe me - the Von Braun levels are enough to keep you busy for a long time.

The Bottom Line
The scariest, best, scariest, most clever and scariest FPS & RPG ever done!