Howard Landman @Landman

System Shock 2 (Windows)

An awesome FPS RPG and a worthy sequel to System Shock.

The Good
An intelligent plot, several character types with a wide variety of skill development choices, and multiple ways to solve problems make for a rich game with more replay value than the original System Shock.

For example, there are very nasty spider monsters late in the game. As a soldier trained up in heavy weapons, you can blast away at them. As a hacker trained up in cyber security, you can temporarily shut down the automatic defense systems and hack into gun turrets, making them your allies, then lure the spiders to where the turrets can shoot them for you. In some areas, you can run away from the spiders and climb a ladder, then shoot them safely from out of reach.

Graphics are quite good (and user patches are available to make them even better; I played with the patched installed). There is a LAN multiplayer mode, but I have not tried it.

NOTE: At the beginning of the game, outside just before the training area, there is a hidden basketball. If you pick it up, and then later in the game shoot it through a basket, there is an "easter egg" bonus.

The Bad
I found the system for training up in skills a little cumbersome and artificial; it detracted from the plot, although the skills themselves significantly enriched game play. Also the plot wasn't quite as good as SS1.

Cut-scene movies are a bit low-res by modern standards.

No matter what path you choose, there's only one ending. This seemed odd since there is a real choice to be made near the end.

Playing the game on higher difficulty settings can be quite grueling.

IMPORTANT: If you have a multi-CPU computer, then IMMEDIATELY after starting the program (before making any menu choices), you MUST open the task manager and bind the game to run on only one CPU. If you do not, it will crash.

The Bottom Line
A rich, complex, intelligent game that makes most other FPSs look moronic.

By Howard Landman on February 17, 2009

System Shock (DOS)

One of the best FPS RPGs of all time; intelligent, scary, immersive, and compelling.

The Good
Compelling plot, strong sense of an intelligent adversary (it doesn't just wait for you to come kill it, it sets traps and ambushes), separately adjustable difficulty for combat and puzzles. Convincing 3-D world with working cameras, variable gravity, real projectiles, movable objects. Wide variety of weapons. First game with a "cyberspace" for hacking. Some of the traps were so scary that I screamed out loud. WAY ahead of its time. System Shock doesn't just rule - it rules from orbit.

Note that some of the voice features of the game were not in the original release but were appeared in a later enhancement - these add a lot to the experience and you should make sure you have them. (The Mac port includes these.)

The Bad
The monsters are not really 3-D but just 2-D projections which vary with angle, so their motion is jerky and close up they look a little low-res. You get messages from other survivors, but there is no way to rescue any of them and they always have to die. The cyberspace is rather simple visually (kind of "wire frame"). A remake of the game with better graphics and rescuable AI NPCs would be awesome.

The Bottom Line
This is on many lists of top games of all time. It's STILL more worth playing than 99% of the games written a decade later. I found this much more enjoyable, for example, than Half Life or Half Life 2.

By Howard Landman on February 17, 2009