System Shock® 2 (1999)

... Just for releasing this masterpiece. Insta-buy for me even though I already own two copies(one box, one jewelcase). This is a Survival Horror FPS with heavy character building elements(more than spiritual sequels that starts with B), and can't get enough of playing with dozen playthroughs. The best charm with System Shock 2 is the presence of SHODAN. It's better to play System Shock 1 first, but not really required(SHODAN will brief what happened between 1 and 2). Summary? Buy it. Period.

Forget about your so-called survival horror, everything is about atmosphere. And this game has it all. This feeling of emptyness, that urge to pay attention to every sound, to keep a count of every single ammunition... Claustrophobic corridors inside, agoraphobic space outside... No communication except for a single human beeing, ghosts appearing in the middle of nowhere, a Crazy IA and a few audio logs left behind for you to understand... This is it... "I am not affraid", you say... "You will be..."

A friend and I were comparing notes on this brilliant game when it first came out. I was telling him how I was glued to the screen, how I couldn't stop playing it, how it was the absolutely perfect fusion of a FPS and an RPG, and how scary and moody and awesome the ambience was. He, on the other hand, insisted he could only play for an hour at a time. Naturally, I asked him why; he answered "Because that's how often I have to empty out my shorts. Damned monkeys." It really is that scary, and it really is that good. If you're on the fence, don't be. Just get it. You won't be sorry.

Simply amazing. The classic of all classics.

Sadly the quality of the Graphics, which way back when in '99 were groundbreaking, do not hold up today. Buuuut, the Gameplay is still top notch. And the Replayability is great with 3 Base Archtypes to start with.