System Shock® 2 (1999)

I played this blind for the first time, and I don't feel inclined to return. I can see how a lot of people like this game, and how it inspired a lot of other games that took those ideas and did things significantly better. It's fairly linear and requires a lot of tedious back tracking. I wasn't particularly enthralled by the story, and the combat is a mixed bag. I didn't mess with psychic powers, because I never like those kinds of things, but the melee is clunky and the enemies are very much bullet sponges. I ended up just juking and jiving past enemies that constantly respawn, because it wasn't worth the frustration of wasting all my ammo on them. I did play with the texture packs, which were pretty decent. Didn't find it particularly horrifying, outside of opening a door and having an exploding robot on the other side, but I'm not super inclined to be scared of small noises and scream at everything like your average YouTuber. The entire time I was playing I was wishing the original Deus Ex games had a better control and shooting scheme, since everything else it does, it does significantly better.

Definately a unique game not only for its time, still holds up today when it comes to uniqueness, maybe graphics too (when it comes to environment at least, characters are lo-poly "meh" :)), but when it comes to clunkyness, jeez, get prepared for something! Don't get me wrong, this is still a great unique horror/fps with nice rpg features, but as someone who is (re)playing this after the entire Bioshock series (same creators), this definately feels clunky, not only when it comes to movement, but even more when it comes to gun play, or hitting an enemy with a wrench... At least it took me time to back off when pressing "fire" and get back onto the enemy when releasing the "fire" button, then you might won't get killed :) However while the first game was more complext and the atmosphere was a lot more various, and you got (in my definition) more complex mini games, while e.g. hacking, the second one concentrates more on the horror on a dark ship, where no one is alive anymore, or if so, they're converted in some zombie things... Also while the first one was concentrating a lot more on Shodan, this one is concentrating much more on repairing things or getting them back online... Even Xerxes, the central AI of the ship is being mentioned a lot more than Shodan... However if this game wouldn't feel so clunky it'd be 4 stars if not 5, but this level of clunkyness at this difficulty definately destroys the experience for me... All I'm doing is: "uhm, okay, then load again (about 5x times) and I might try another way" and even if there's another, you get another problems to face yourself with... I still think it's worth a grab as it's on sale though, since you get a quite unique experience; definately that spice for hardcore gamers!

I have played this game before a couple of times but never got off the first deck, I didn't put the effort into learning it. So I pick it up again this year and have been playing it all the way through. It isn't as complex as it looks, it offers a few ways to play in terms of builds and things. I went with a marine and he hacks and slashes his way through, sometimes shoots sometimes blows stuff up. Going around hacking terminals, shutting off security, opening doors, hacking turrets, destroying cctv cameras, repairing machinery and weapons and hackables, researching objects (and more) you find after a kill. Upgrading yourself through terminals for your weapons and self or your psi abilities should you choose to use them. All while the forces that be talk to you, two opposing sides, one of which wonders why you don't join them. The other...well, she needs your help, for now. The plot is delivered to you by these forces through your cybernetic enhancements as well as audio logs that give exposition and codes to get past doors and containers and so on. Story is also told by a lot of environmental design and holographic recordings your cyber enhancements pick up. The Van Braun has been attacked, and it shows. The game is a blast for the most part, although it is a bit rough around the edges. Movement is fluid and nice, although that may be due to my agility stats. Sound design is also very effective although it does use cheap jumpscare attempts in parts which often don't work but what does work? Turning around to find even the most basic of enemies behind you, can give you a momentary startle. There's a fair bit of action, and a lot of hitting with a spanner which can be replaced by another weapon later on which is cool. While there aren't so many melee weapons there are a few guns to find, each with their own sets of ammo and an accompanying weapons skill to boot. It might have looked daunting at first, but the UI/HUD is quickly adapted. Map is a bit crazy though.

I played System Shock 1 & 2 back-to-back; this sequel improves on the original in almost every tangible way. The highlight by far is the atmosphere. Excellent use of lighting, sound design, and audio logs combine to keep you on the edge of your seat most of the time. SHODAN is genuinely creepy and the new organic, hive-mind antagonist really ups the horror factor. Mutilated bodies line the halls you scour for clues to survive. Not for the faint of heart. This entry adds more of an RPG element, and your only means of skill points is by completing objectives and careful exploration. You must choose wisely to specialize in your preferred gameplay styles. Most choices are valid, and you even get to toy with psionic powers; these are obviously the precursor to plasmids in BioShock. Resources and ammo are scarce, but not too scarce. The eagle-eyed and frugal can amass a decent arsenal from exploration and repawning enemies. Weapons also degrade, which adds some utility and narrative to the random weapons you find. Still, pistols melting after a few magazines feels out of place. They can be fixed with the maintain and repair skills, which should have been one skill in my opinion. Melee weapons never degrade, but melee combat feels a bit clumsy and imprecise. Unfortunately, the first half lacks some variety. Many similar corridors and mostly the same few enemies. I also felt less "oomph" to each deck's objectives compared to the first game. For what it's worth, the game tends to throw curve balls before it gets boring. The ending sequences in particular are quite creative. Nonetheless, fumbling in the dark while hive-minded enemies finish each other's sentences around the corner is quite a memorable experience and never gets old. People compare this to Deus Ex. While similar, this is linear survival horror through-and-through with a focus on creepy narrative and constant tension. It's not for everyone. But if you like scary games, then this should be on your list.

I never played the game back in a day I somehow always avoided it but oh boy did I missed a great game. Funnily I started playing this after finishing Prey(2017) and I didn't know how much inspired was it by this game and tbh I was like home Pros: Rich atmosphere with glorious soundtrack High replayability with trying out different builds HUD, UI and overall control of the game is easy to understand, which older games tend not to have It is just fun going through the ship experimenting and goign through the whole situation Cons: Collisions are not great which is especially apparent in the late game where you are constanlty stuck on some world geometry and become an easy target There are some difficulty spikes especially for a newcomer and sometimes turrets and other traps can get really annoying