"System Shock 2 brings decent nostalgic sci-fi experience with many hours of fun game-play. Best of all, it's free.
I must say, that game is obviously where Deus Ex, and other various games get there ideas.
It was a real neat treat playing it. It's too bad I had to play Deus Ex first, because some of it seemed like a replay - but not exactly. Not only do you have guns, you can fight with special PsI powers, use hand objects, etc.
Let me first say that usually, I start games on medium mode when I get the choice. But, after 6 hours of medium gameplay, I just decided to lay it out. It's simply, too hard at medium gameplay for the first time through. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a challenging game, I just wish that I had set this on "easy" before beginning.
I thought it was some-what scarey. Your walking...all of a sudden you hear a loud noise, and a robot clunks up behind you and starts blurbbing something, then explodes.
One thing I didn't like, is that sometimes, it seemed like you can't ever "secure" a room. You'd walk off in another area, complete it, come back...and it's crawling with goodies again. There is nothing wrong about this, there IS when on medium mode, there is a scarcity of resources...so soon, you are fighting with a crowbar...because most of your items are broken....and you dont have the right ammo because your all out to fight certain objects- (Robots take AP projectiles, ETC)
I played this game using the high-res patch, and the graphics were pretty decent....no complaints here about graphics, sounds, or controls...very highly playable.
It's innovation is its BEST feature. Everything, including objects, etc seemed pretty new and fun...even to this day. Elevators that are just made of an air current, etc. You walk around, finding PDA's, its just like Doom III in that since.
During my 6 hours of gamplay, I did not see much that attributed to an "RPG". I would argue against it being an RPG. Yes, you can build up your charactor a certain way, but the story line so far, would be the exact same way everyway through.
One other complaint is the quick save option. It only works when your playing the game. So, if you shut it down..and start it back up later...you loose everything you have. Which, is actually a big deal, because we are so USE to using quick save. I spent alot of time actually on this game just getting back to where I was...it was alittle irritating. Make sure to push ESC, then actually really save it before quiting, because you WILL forget!
Sometimes, I'd like to think there was just too much "options" to make yourself into. You could make yourself into this PSI monster, but you can't really use weapons that well....especially repair them because they fall apart too fast. I tried to make my charactor very borderline for PSI, but able to use small arms really good...and I still was having trouble because I didn't have enough points to be able to repair my weapons, and my PSI was lacking for being "borderline". So this means, that there may be too much options to really keep up with the game. It might be good to stick with one thing, as with most open ended "skill point games". A good comparison of what I am talking about is building a necromancer in Diablo 2. Only stick to a couple skills..such as Bone and Summon...or Summon and Bone. if you do everything, your Necro will be weak. Best weapon I found out is the crowbar....it doesnt fail, its just as strong as the firearm..and it works on everyone...why not?
Conclusion: Overall, this game is a MUST have. It's free, and its the backbone of most of these SCI-FI shooters that we have today. Is it better than Dues Ex? Not a chance. But if you had fun with Deus Ex, you will have fun with this game. This game again, is innovational. Nothing is conventional...which makes this a very unique sci-fi shooter.
Pros:
*Highly Innovated..It's the Blade-Runner or 2001 of Sci-Fi movies
*It's Freeware..you can't complain.
*Lots of different skills/weapons you can be
*Scarey in alot of spots
Cons:
*Quick Save Option only saves while you are in the game. Don't forget to do a FULL SAVE before you exit.
*Somewhat a long learning curve
*Difficulty is too hard for medium settings your first time through.
*Storyline is non-changing..
*Intro seems alittle too drawn out.
*Weapons become dysfuntional too fast...would be nice to have a few more skill points at first so you can be more "multi-skilled".
System Shock 2 brings a nostalgic sci-fi experience with many hours of fun gameplay. Best of all, it's free.