System Shock 2

"So close to perfect..."

System Shock was one of the most revolutionary games ever released on the PC. It took the critical smash Ultima Underworld and threw it 500 years into the future where a rouge artificial intelligence named Shodan had taken over the space station Citadel. You were a hacker that was captured in a hack and sent to fight for your freedom against Shodan. Of course, the good guys always win and Shodan was banished back into nothing again. Yay. All is well.

Not quite. It is now some time in the future and another computer has taken over something. Only this time, it's a light speed cruiser named the Von Braun and it has been locked down by its computer, Xerxes. You are a soldier for one of the top government security agencies (you have a choice of three and they have a HUGE influence on how the game plays out) and you have been sent to the Von Braun to take control.

So obviously, for a mission like this, the military would equip you with a bunch of huge weapons to throw down on Xerxes, right? Wrong. You come on the ship empty handed only with the ablility to upgrade yourself at upgrade stations to improve your hacking, weapon, or about 20 other skills. Obviously, this makes upgrades very important.

System Shock 2 is primarily an RPG, because the combat system is very simple. Perhaps too simple, as combat can sometimes become heated, which leaves you with few options. SS2 is based on Looking Glass Studios' (RIP) Dark Engine that was used for both Thief games, so it's obviously not made for heavy combat. Luckily, combat is not what SS2 is about.

There is always a way out of a situation without having to blast your way though it. As a matter of fact, unless you choose to join the Marines, you won't be doing much combat at all. You'll mostly be hacking turrets to destroy your enemies or shooting fireballs at them. Yes, there is a magic system like all RPG's.

SS2 does all RPG's proud with a storyline so thick, it's hard to believe it didn't come from the X-Files or something. You'll want to finish an area to find out the secrets behind the hybrids and Xerxes. Admittedly, if this wasn't a video game, the story might be a bit simplistic, but at least it is probably the first major attempt in an action RPG to write a serious story.

The graphics are much better than Thief, just because developer Irrational Games has upgraded the Dark Engine to 16 bit color. Characters are still a bit too angular for my taste, as they were in Thief. Polygon counts are still way too low.

The sound, however, has yet to be approached in another game. If you have a 3d sound card and good speakers, you will realize something. System Shock 2 is probably the scariest game ever made. The music cuts right before a climatic action point, you can hear faucets drip, and hybrids moan from down the hall. You can hear women screaming and shots being fired and can tell how far away it is. More than once in this game, you will jump because you cut away from your inventory only to find yourself face to face with a hybrid.

Multiplayer is kinda interesting. They took the cooperative play your way through the game approach. Good idea. SS2 would be a very very bad deathmatch game. Multiplayer is only available in a patch though, so I won't count it as part of the game.

Replayability is good, but nothing fantastic. You might want to try different career paths, but then again, you may not. It depends on how much you enjoy the game, really.

Overall, System Shock 2 stands as a fantastic game and a must buy for all action RPG fans. Something tells me that someday, however, SS2 will be seen less for how good it was than how revolutionary. SS2 will probably be the main influence behind much better games for years to come (yeah, I'm talking about Deus Ex).

Visual: 7 (not bad, but it is the Dark Engine)
Sound: 10 (fantastic, unsurpassed)
Gameplay: 9 (different, but very very solid always)
Storyline: 8 (good for action game, decent for RPG)
Replayability: 6 (if you want)
Multiplayer: N/A (available in patch)

Overall: 9 (a must buy for PC game enthusiasts)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/21/00, Updated 06/12/03