User Reviews (1 - 11 of 128)

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AWESOME!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: November 10, 1999
Author: Amazon User

If you loved Half-Life, this is a must buy. I am not a big FPshooter fan but SS2 (like Half-life) combines a great story with an incredibly immersive atomsphere. If you have yet to play Quake and its clones do not bother buying them, start with this one. Not for the those wary of the macabre.

Simply the Best game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: November 13, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This game is awesome ! It runs on a souped up version of the engine the Thief used... Great Graphics, Playability and Audio round up a winner.

Even better than the first one!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 19, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is not for 'shooter-fans', no quake, unreal, etc. This is NOT a no-brain shooter! This is an RPG, with shooting elements. This is a thinking person's shooter, where EVERY bullet counts. One does NOT spray the enemy, one waits for the correct shot. You need to know what kind of character you want to achieve, because the upgrades are sharp (& expensive!). Don't touch this if you don't like thinking.

The best sci-fi RPG ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 25, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is without any doubt the best sci-fi RPG ever (and I mean ever) made. And it's so scary that the first many hours you play it, cold sweat will run down you neck. It's in 3D, and it's (in my oppinion) the only RPG that gets away with that. And the sound is so great and sooooo scary that some times you wish you never loaded the game. Even if the game costs $100, it was still worth the money.

It's like a horror movie... Only scarier...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: December 07, 1999
Author: Amazon User

This is a winner from start to finish. It is just as good as Half-Life, if not better and I could not stop playing it. A wonderful combination of RPG and 3D action comes to together nicely. Plenty of spooky atmoshpere and cool sound effects and great graphics (make sure you have a good video card) adds to it. The storyline is one of the best I've heard, and this is a somewhat realistic game that is a joy to play. It's also very scary at times, so playing it late at night with the lights off and the sound turned up makes a great (and spooky) experience. This is worth the money. Buy it!

Creepy !

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: December 08, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Wow ! This is creepy ! It's very simple: Do you want to be scared ? Buy this game. It's the scariest game ever ! Hint: Play this one with head phones and with the lights turned off... If you dare !

Single-player, story-driven action gaming at its best!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 33 / 33
Date: December 11, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Ever since the original System Shock appeared in 1994, I have wanted a sequel. Despite how antiquated the old game is, I still go back and play it over again to this day. And now, at last, we have System Shock 2 -- about as close to playing the lead role in a sci-fi thriller movie as most people can get.

First off, you'll need a pretty powerful system to play this game at its fullest -- I have a Pentium II 300 MHz with 128 megs of RAM, and a 16 MB Riva TNT video board...SS2 runs fine for me at 640x480, with a little choppiness here and there. My only complaint is that it seems to take a long time (20-30 seconds I guess?) to load a saved game.

But that aside, you'll never notice any choppiness. You'll forget it's even a computer game. You'll be too busy gritting your teeth in terror as you hear the footsteps of someone -- or something -- approaching you, wondering if that one last slug in your shotgun will be enough -- and praying that your badly-damaged weapon won't jam when you pull the trigger. These types of scenarios are common in SS2 -- weapons degrade and misfire, ammunition is at a premium, and the approaching footsteps of the nearby mutated monsters or security robots are ultra-realistic. The only way to play this game is with the lights off, in a quiet room, through a good surround speaker system or headphones. You will come to appreciate the suspense, the atmosphere, and the downright creepiness of the thing that much quicker.

Previous reviewers were right when they said this is a thinking person's 3D shooter. And indeed, it is almost more of an RPG than a pure action game like Quake, et al. There's a wonderful character development system, which is neither too simple nor too complex...you must build your skills and abilities, ranging from what weapons you are best with, how easily you can repair things or hack computers, etc. You CANNOT max-out everything -- so you will have to choose which skills to concentrate on. Throughout the game, there are numerous tasks you must perform, apart from killing things, to get to the bottom of the mysterious forces at work on the Von Braun, the starship you awake on at the beginning of the game. Those of you who have played the original System Shock are in for lots of wonderful tie-ins and surprises. There is one particularly horrifying revelation near the middle of the game -- during which you are reintroduced to an old friend -- that had my jaw hanging open for about half an hour. There is more atmosphere, suspense, and pure terror here than in any game I've ever played before...including the Resident Evil series.

If you or someone you know is a fan of single-player action/adventure games and likes the first-person shooter role, System Shock 2 is an absolute MUST HAVE, no doubt about it. Get this game immediately. I am certain that you will not regret it.

Be afraid

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: December 17, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I've always been a big fan of the suspense/horror genre in books and film. When I purchased System Shock 2, I never expected it would be more frightening than any novel or movie had ever experienced. My 14 year old will only play it if I am in the room with him. The plot is great....I have yet to reach the end of the game and I am dying to see how it all pans out. The only thing better than the graphics is the audio. I have actually jumped back from my computer out of reflex. What a ride! Parents beware, however. Although there is no nudity or sex, the suspense and horror are very realistic and intense. I would not reccommend to anyone under 14.

This is tough...how do I write this?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: December 24, 1999
Author: Amazon User

Hmmm... strange. This has never happened to me before. I'm very eagerly attempting to describe and heartily recommend "System Shock 2" to players who appreciate great immersive games, but am having a hard time trying to figure out how to word this. Does it make any sense to say that I love the game dearly, but don't have fun playing it? Maybe if you are a big fan of well-made horror movies you know off the bat what I mean: I don't believe "having fun" was the response LGS had in mind when designing it. **SPOILERS AHEAD. THIS IS THE SORT OF GAME BEST EXPERIENCED BY JUST PUTTING IT IN THE COMPUTER AND TURNING IT ON, GOING THROUGH TRAINING AND THEN PLAYING THE GAME ITSELF. DO >NOT< LOOK AT THE INSTRUCTION MANUAL OR THE DESCRIPTIONS ON THE BOX. DON'T EVEN READ THIS COMMENT ANY FURTHER! THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE BEST AND FULLEST IMPACT DURING GAMEPLAY, I GUARANTEE IT. IF YOU FEEL YOU SIMPLY MUST KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GETTING INTO, CONTINUE READING. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.** As always, LGS has designed a unique and realistic title here--like its cousin, the excellent THIEF title, it's not so much a game as it is an ==experience==. You're a highly-trained individual who is a member of one of three branches of the intergalactic military. You have been stationed aboard the Von Braun, the first faster-than-light ship ever devised. This is her maiden voyage. You've also been cryogenetically frozen for an unspecified period of time, conveniently leaving you with a mild form of anmesia so you are unable to recall the events of the past few weeks or so. When the game begins, you have just woken up with an electronic mail message from a top superior instructing you to meet her on a top deck for briefing on your first duties. However, the moment you step out of the sleep chamber, it's obviously that something is horribly wrong. Debris is scattered everywhere, furniture is shattered and dead bodies are strewn about--the obvious signs of struggle and mayhem. Warning signs flash all over the ship. Monitors have been knocked out, display screens that still work only show static snow. And most disturbing of all, there's no one else in this area of the ship with you. And soon you find out why: the crew members have been infected with an "intelligent alien virus" which has transformed them into hideous mutants that kill anyone left still human. There's no one to help you. You are alone. And with frighteningly few weapons and supplies to be found on board the ship. To tell more would be simply unfair, so I won't go into further detail. The controls, based on the THIEF engine, are just as superb as on that other game and guaranteed to feel natural and easy to you. The game is challenging, exciting and has infinite replay value due to its being so freeform. Now for my personal response. I'm hoping that somehow my following comment will encourage you more than ever to at least check out the demo of this game, and if it doesn't I hope it won't stop you, but here goes: this game frightened me nearly to death. Several times it made me jump, and at least once it almost made me hide under my seat. And at one point when it became too intense to bear, I found my fingers on their own accord automatically stabbing the ESC key because I just wanted to turn the accursed thing OFF. And after the computer was shut down, the experience made me feel strange for an hour or so. As I walked through my empty home doing everyday things, I found myself automatically closing and locking all the doors I went through behind me. I kept glancing over my shoulder and was startled by slight noises. And yet I would play the game again in an instant. By this point of my comment, you're either amazed that a game can cause such a reaction or you are absolutely dying to get your hands on this one. Either way, check the demo out and give it a try, there's at least an 80% chance you'll be hooked. I am also advising you not to play it either at midnight or with the lights turned out.

Innovative twist on an old genre. It's doom with ghosts.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 26
Date: January 14, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First off, why do top designers make mistakes like building a game that's so dark I can't see the gamma controls in options? Believe it or not, they used a dark blue control for the gamma and the page is black. The other controls on the page are light green. This little artistic flourish sent me on a three day journey of frustration to play the game and get the brightness up. Navy on black is idiotic. Too many designers use tiny letters and obscure illegible fonts for games. We don't all have 21 inch monitors you know. Please keep an eye on the fools you hire to deal with the simple things like choosing fonts and background colors. Now on to other issues.

The story is intriguing. The opening music was great and got me interested inspite of the rather choppy and low quality cut scenes. What happens to that great opening music later? It turns into action, disco, buttkickin game music that I hate.

Training could be more involved. I needed to play over and over to get to any proficiency with the many controls and seemingly endless information kiosks. I don't really play games because I want to read so why not just give all the information on the mfd or pfd device in voice format instead of having us read all this drivel? Better yet, build a training mission with us actually having a stress free environment to really work on skills and become familiar with controls. Hey! Here's an idea. You know those training missions I fly off on, but I really don't go I just watch the movie? (I wonder if my ugly woman is still waiting for me?) Why not really send me on that mission to learn? WHAT A THOUGHT!

Why can't I choose a weapon or get some health when I'm in user mode? The action doesn't pause and the monsters just keep pounding away and sneaking up which I just find stressful. I know you're trying to put me in the situation, but I like to pause and think. You can forget that in this game.

Here's another annoyance. You go to this vending machine to buy bullets and health and soda or whatever and first you have to select what you want on this complicated interface after you figure out what it costs from the tiny numbers buried off on the side. That's already annoying, but then you have to pick the items up individually and then you have to go to user mode and "USE" them. Just forget it if you're bein attacked and most likely you will be. A possible reason for all this difficulty is that you should learn to turn off the security before trying to purchase anything. Once again, this is annoying to me.

Is this a new genre? Action, adventure, role playing? Sort of. I think of it as an action adventure with a tedious learning curve and a lot of dull reading. It's a boring second year college course. The psionics have me interested, the inability to use guns is frustrating at first and there's too many monsters to deal with wrench style.

The ghosts are great. I didn't have any kind of religious moment or anything like I've read some people describe, but then I knew the ghosts were there because I'd read the review beforehand and now, so have you. The monsters or ex crew or whatever they are, are scary, but they are also blurry and unlike some people, this game didn't really scare me to death and make me wary when I'm alone or anything like that.

There are a lot of good games out right now and I'm having a hard time devoting much time to this time demanding game. I do appreciate the innovation involved in this game, but I also loathe the geeky qualites of unnecessary complication. Then again, without all the skills, this would be just like half life or doom or whatever. Doom with ghosts.

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