System Shock 2 is a true classic that was overlooked by Quake and Unreal. How this happened I don't know...
So let's fast forward to 2008. The year I finally get to own and play the game. I can always approach these old retro games with the intention of playing them without the new foundations made in newer games (i.e. Metal Gear for the MSX doesn't have a radar or field of vision cone, so I adapt I shall) and without the fine tuning and balancing needed. So I shall review the game as if it came out in 1999. I know I can't truly do this and some prejudice will no doubt erupt somewhere but I shall remain as faithful to judging as if it just this week came out.
So System Shock 2. What can I say that hasn't been said? The gameplay mechanics are a mish mash of first person shooting, sneaking and with a sprinkle of RPG elements thrown in. The supposedly derelict space station is one of the creepiest environments in a game ever, the whole game to this is very unsettling and none of the atmosphere or bleakness has been lost at all. And the plot. What can I say without spoiling such a wonderfully thought out and indeed thought provoking plot? Just that it's one of the greatest and not one game have managed to make THAT impact as quite profoundly as System Shock 2 did. The gripe I have is after that moment, the plot loses its appeal a little and if it weren't for the shocking and scary ending, I would have said stop playing after that moment. So let's begin at the beginning, which ties in nicely with the gameplay paragraph.
The intro of the game explains the events that happened in the first System Shock title. It is 47 years after the A.I. Shodan was destroyed by the Hacker, which was the protagonist/player combo of the first title. You play as a biomechanical soldier who is emotionless and mute (to put you directly into the shoes of the story thus making the emotional ties to the story far stronger) at a training facility. Here you get taught the basics in control, inventory and using the various gadgets and gizmos that you'll encounter. After the initial basic training you can have the option of training in the three categories that ultimately decide what sort of character you'll be. First there's shoot first and sod the questions later weapons training, complete with trying out various weapons, ammo etc. Then there's the technical and maintenance. So this means you'll be more of a hacker and weapon fixer than a fighter. Then there's the Psi Ops training. Here you basically use a black orb with a sort of syringe connector that stabs into your arm and you use magic spells. The training gives you telekinesis and a freeze spell. So after you done all this training the next task is to pick the one training school you'll side with. After picking this school there's no going back and this is when your character will get shaped. After that you pick three additional stats for your character and four years past and the main bulk of the story begins.
The game plays very much like Looking Glass' other game, most noticeably Thief: The Dark Shadows. You have the option of approaching the current objective any way you see fit be it sneaky, shooty or a mixture of both. The sneaking is very much spot on, seeing how it's almost like Thief just minus the light bar and many, many shadows that engulfed that game. In fact, it feels like the stealth in this game is a tad easy and is not as forced as Thief, which is pretty obvious seeing how Thief is nothing but stealth. Then there's the actual fighting. The fighting mechanics control solidly. You first start off with a wrench, naturally, but you soon acquire all mannerisms of weapons from shotguns, pistols and laser guns. Depending on your stats though you can't use all these weapons as soon as you pick them up. This adds a good element in my books because it teaches you to be cautious and weary of your bullets and it adds a factor of realism to the game - despite the space setting and cyborgs. The downside is the weapon degradation. It's totally messed up and is in no way balanced. All the weapons in this game don't last long and it's quite a while until you procure the necessary skills to stop this being a talent. In fact, if you never picked Navy at the start you will seriously have a hard time ahead of you. Although Looking Glass and Irrational Games have rectified this problem with a patch, I am still playing this game as if it came out today and that's one of the main criticisms aimed at System Shock 2.
You upgrade your character by collecting cyber modules, regularly given to you by Dr Polito or by finding them scattered all throughout the Citadel. Items and ammo can be found in various crates, corpses or bought from vending machines, provided you have nanites. You can cut the cost of the items down if you hack into the machine. Hacking costs you nanites and you can hack vending machines, gun turrets and cameras. It's pretty easy to hack to begin with. It's a little mini game and all you have to do is line up three bright green squares. As you progress it becomes aggressively harder. Red squares appear and if you highlight them, boom! Course, you could just use the hacking tool and be done with it regardless of difficulty. Nanites also come into play if you die. If you die you can be brought back to life providing you activated a Quantum Bio-Reconstruction Machines and have the relevant funds to allow such a thing to happen. If not, then it truly is game over.
So that's the main core of the game. It's solid, if a little skewed in some places here and there but the overall game plays really well. The sense of panic that perpetuates throughout the game is one of the game's many strengths that still stand up to this day.
The graphics were more or less dated when they came out. Not badly, but this was a time when Unreal was out and it was going to be matched against that. However, the graphics work well for the atmosphere and overall design of the game. Yes the space station is kind of boring and monochrome in a sense. But name a space station that isn't. The last parts of the game are clearly rushed and used many textures from the first part. The character models are blocky and lacked animation quality, even when it was originally released. However, despite all that the game still has a charm to it that carries it well. It's still playable and that doesn't hamper the actual game at all. It's scary and tense and the atmosphere can be unbelievably bleak and desolate at times.
The music has a retro 80s synth feel to it and it pops up in important events such as plot revelations or action moments. It's competent and some of it is pretty cool, but it's nothing to write home about. Now the sound effects and voice acting. That's where it's at. The voice acting is tremendously good, despite the odd guff actor or line delivery. The person who steals the show though is the actress who plays Dr Polito, who also wrote some of the story. Her delivery is absolutely spot-on and you'll see why she's cool as you play through the game. Hell, even in the intro you'll see why. The sound effects pack that visceral punch and the 3-D sound engineering is just amazing. Granted the technology is slightly dated but it's still affected.
System Shock 2 is a decent length of 20 hours, plus replay-ability thanks to the many options available in this game. Though the original release didn't have multiplayer the developers saw fit to include it with a patch. I still to this day believe it should never have had multiplayer. It's a single player experience and the multiplayer takes that away. So I say ignore that mode and concentrate solely on the single player. Plus the multi player is completely tacked on and was only added later because of PC boys crying for it.
In conclusion, System Shock 2 is a very well made game. A very well made with a few blemishes. It's far from perfect and it was clearly made by amateurs. However, it was clearly made with an absolute passion to the series and it's clearly better than its predecessor in every single imaginable way. The story is the clear reason why so people love it. There's nothing quite like System Shock 2's story and the gameplay and nuances that appear throughout the game have appeared in others, such as the brackets around interactive items. System Shock 2 was clearly ahead of its time and stands as one of the finest videogame achievements in its history.