System Shock 2 PC Game Review
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- Опубликовано: 8 авг 2014
- System Shock 2 is an action role-playing survival horror video game for Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X and GNU/Linux. The title was designed by Ken Levine and co-developed by Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios. Originally intended to be a standalone title, its story was changed during production into a sequel to the 1994 PC game System Shock; the alterations were made when Electronic Arts-who owned the System Shock franchise rights-signed on as publisher. System Shock 2 was released on August 11, 1999, in North America.
The game takes place on board a starship in a cyberpunk depiction of 2114. The player assumes the role of a lone soldier trying to stem the outbreak of a genetic infection that has devastated the ship. Like System Shock, gameplay consists of first-person shooting and exploration. It also incorporates role-playing system elements, in which the player can develop unique skills and traits, such as hacking and psionic abilities.
System Shock 2 received positive reviews when released, but failed to meet commercial sales expectations. Many critics later determined that the game was highly influential in subsequent game design, particularly on first person shooters, and considered it far ahead of its time. It has been included in several "greatest games of all time" lists. In 2006, Computer and Video Games reported that System Shock 3 may be under development, but conclusive details have not surfaced about its project's status. In 2007, Irrational Games released a self-proclaimed spiritual successor to the System Shock series, titled BioShock, to critical acclaim and strong sales. 
Игры
Really disagree on the music, I think it's a key aspect to the experience that really helps set the tone, and the *lack* of music at certain times helps make certain areas even scarier. Cargo bays, anyone?
I'd also suggest getting the texture and model upgrade packs. These community-made addons really improve the visuals, without seeming out of place. They're very well done, and help make the experience seem less dated.
cargo bays weren't really spooky to me as i was so fucking mad when 4 of these allahu akbar bots charged at me while i was out of ap bullets AGAIN. i like the music though, it mostly fits the situation it plays in.
The music is half of the reason I bought the game. When he said you're better off turning it off I was like "Awwww!"
+Mad_Scientist
Haven't reached them yet, but four allahu akbar bots? This gonna be good..
ALGORITH
tip=you can actually destroy these crates or whatever they sometimes come out of.
Mad_Scientist nice. will keep that in mind, cheers.
I was initially anxious about starting this game, fearing that I might end up not liking. I was so wrong. It's absolutely addicting.
Oh yeah, man. Deus Ex, System Shock 2, all of these older rpgs hold up.
Yes I had the same fear. Than I found myself playing it until 2 am in the night because I wanted to see more of the game.
I know everyone says "turn the music off, it detracts from the experience" but I really feel like you're missing out on some great ambiance, as some later tracks are really, really moody and atmospheric and dripping with unease especially when you hit Recreations and the Rickenbacker.
+EverDownward I, for one, don´t understand how somebody can say: "turn the music off" - it´s one of the best soundtracks in the gaming history - my friend, who´s into disco&drum´n bass music, after hearing the soundtrack, was mesmerized, said that music is sick! - which means it was absolutely awesome! :)
+Tarhiel Well if your "friend" said the music is mesmerizing, I guess my opinion doesn't matter.
EverDownward- I think the best piece is ops 3. With the pulsating beat.
I love the Recreation deck the most, I think.
The music is amazing.
This game actually set the standard for me as to how difficulty should be balanced, though I'm saying this as one of those players who has beaten it 50 times on Impossible. While it's true that ammo and psi hypos are scarce, the game is overly generous with healing items. Although your inventory space is limited, you can carry unlimited stacks of the same ammo or items. Enemies can be very punishing at first, but once you know their attack patterns, you can easily kill them all with melee weapons.
I will say that not all skills are equal. One major problem I had was that energy and exotic weapons are almost completely useless, and I made the mistake my first time through of specializing in both. If you're interested in these weapons, I'd recommend only using the Crystal Shard for exotics, and the Laser Pistol and Laser Rapier for energy. Standard weapons are the most useful, with the heavy weapons coming in a close second.
I also have a tip for the chemical storerooms. Ignore Polito's advice and grab everything off the shelves, then chuck it all into the main elevator. The elevator will save whatever objects are dropped inside, so you can use it to deposit anything that's cluttering up your inventory. This works until you have to transfer to the Rickenbacker later. Also, whenever I was stuck waiting for item research to complete, I'd just sit in the elevator playing Overworld Zero (which even remembers your progress in-game).
No game should have to make you restart your character because the late game completely favors certain play styles over others... Unless it's obvious that a certain style is inferior such as going unarmed in a game that features powerful weapons.
I remember the exact moment I discovered this game. Then the nightmares began.
+Nicholas Nelson When I first came across the midwives some pooh came out.
All done with 1999 graphics.
Edit: But seriously, anyone who liked SS2 should play Prey. Makes Bishock look like a fan mod.
@@hotdogflavoureddrink I'd also recommend Dead Space and Alien: Isolation. I think they both do a good job of recapturing SS2's atmosphere.
Also, fun fact! Dead Space was originally going to be SS3, but EA couldn't get the license. I think thanks to DS and Bioshock the audience for a System Shock reboot could be bigger than ever, especially considering neither series has had a new installment in years.
@@sunnyjim6450 the incredible thing is that the lower graphics helps the nightmarish audio to do its job even better. The low quality polygons enhance the horror
I recently played this game for the first time and to be honest, it was really creepy! I've played a lot of horror games and none of them creeped me out as much as this game. I never beat the game. I didn't use my items in a smart way and it became impossible to progress. With that said I had a great time! My goal is to beat the game without guides! It's a hard game but it's very rewarding when you progress in it. You don't get that type of accomplishment in games, it really makes you work for it.
I loved all the weapons in this game. I loved the scarcity of ammo, the need to keep weapons repaired, and even the needing the right skills to pull the trigger on most of them. Combine all that with multiple ammo types that work better on different enemies, and an alt-fire on many weapons, and I'd say the gunplay alone makes System Shock 2 a deeply strategic game.
The depth in System Shock 2 is fucking insane when you compare this to modern shooters. SS2 is perhaps the greatest PC game of all time, alongside Thief 2 and many others.
Arkane did a fantastic job reimagining the genre on next gen tech with Prey and I’d happily add that to the roster of some of the best games too. Thief 2 might have been one of the first games I ever played I reckon, sad Square Enix didn’t do it justice with the reboot.
While I don't think the game is a timeless masterpiece, like some do, it's definitely the best Shock game.
If I had to complain about something about this game... it's resurrecting in a quantum bio-reconstruction unit with a cyborg assassin nearby... it will kill you mid-respawn... forever.
+Sokolniki That's just bad luck.
+Sokolniki You just gotta savescum the fuck out of the game, I played through and never respawned at a bio-unit once
Izin2296 That's hard to do in a melee-only runthrough.
+Sokolniki gotta use psi, makes melee 1000% better
+Sokolniki gotta use psi, makes melee 1000% better
Just playing it now for the 1st time and it's becoming my favorite game of all time
But isn't the shooting not fun plus tell the developer to make it for consoles... thanks bud
I remember when we played this game in co-op with my friends in an internet cafe/ arcade, everyone chose a different class, the worst moment was the very beginning of the game with this radioactive maze, but in general later the game was great, everyone had a different ability and complemented each other, great game✌️
As somebody who only played it fairly recently, i'd say it holds up very well and is a classic on the same level as Deus Ex
The graphics are good really good can't believe it was made in 90s
@@jchifos the graphics are awful. Even by 1999 standards. The lighting is probably the best aspect, but models and textures are shit. But the visuals aren't the selling point of this game, it's the gameplay and immersion.
@@Beavis26NZ The graphics aren't amazing, but they were perfectly serviceable by 1999 standards, it's very comparable to other titles that came out in that time period such as Half-Life. I think "awful" is a big exaggeration.
2:55 *attacking cyberassassin with pellets* lol xd
everyone has it's own opinion... but for my eyes and heart of an old man... this game is THE masterpiece of rpg fps.
The thing with the research skill and chemicals is an interesting one. Whilst I see the argument about the design of it being pointless and time consuming, I always found it was something which allowed for immersion.
With a game like SS2, I loved suspending disbelief and pretending I'm really there, and it's those little things and complexities which, whilst arguably unnecessary from a purely design standpoint, nonetheless provide extra contexts for that roleplay. In a way they allow it to feel a little bit closer to a simulation, because if you really were in such a situation then innane and frustrating tasks would be a reality, you literally might have to go scrounging around for resources of some kind spread throughout the ship... as opposed to a linear progression from objective to objective.
Which is where I sometimes feel a little jaded with modern game design, in that it feels like the focus is purely on functionality with a disregard for atmosphere and immersion. I loved games like SS2, Deus Ex, STALKER, the ultima underworld games, etc etc, and a common thread through all those games is those seemingly "pointless" layers of complexity, such as the inventory systems. But in every single one of those games I found it added to that sense of an almost convincing world to lose myself in.
Daniel Walley Granted that approach and way of experiencing video games isn't for everyone, but I mean the marketplace is *flooded* with games of the simplistic style with purely functional gameplay design, so it's not like people who don't like it are without options. I guess my point is that from a certain perspective things like that can also be seen as unique or niche features, as opposed to outright flaws.
Yeah, I remember I felt so smart when I realized "Oh I should grab some of the extra chemicals and bring them to the storage closet I usually use for this stuff. Then I wont have to backtrack later"
I remember the time i played Morrowind for the first time. It was amazing. I've read every book in the game, checked every corner, tested out so many things, but everything made sense,and had a reward for it. You could find rare glass armor in hidden areas, where you had to get maybe with a levithating scroll, there was no huge marker on a map which shows you the way to your objectives, and fast travel was a huge creature which took you to SOME cities for MONEY, not for free. That game was my first rpg, and it made me fall in love with the genre instantly, but what do we get today? I mean skyrim and oblivion were okay, but not nearly as complex like morrowind. I dont understand why cant developers make a difference between their games, and handle them in a proper way. A shooter should be an action game with simple mechanics and an rpg should be an adventure with complex mechanics. They blur the lines with every title..
Absolutely right, I loved having to set up a research saferoom on hydroponics, and playing the MFD game pig while waiting for research to complete!
There’s no immersion like this in any modern game that doesn’t feel tacked on for posterity.
One of the great things SS2 does is that it has an inner-program that would spawn more enemies when it recognized the enemy count is low. So, even after clearing an area, an enemy would spawn elsewhere to make up for it. Really added to the atmosphere that there's always something waiting for you.
around 6:00 wtf man? the soundtrack is awesome!
+Rawegian Most of the music only actually plays when there are enemies close in the vicinity, otherwise it plays the 'calm' part of the dynamic music. Sometimes no music plays. (For me at least, as I have mods installed)
I always go in and volume balance within ten minutes of playing a new game. If you leave the music at default, it can be overpowering.
Me? I loved the music to the game and felt that its synth style was a sendoff to the original while going its own direction. I liked the music, but not as much as the soundtrack to the original.
Its Ops 2, if anyone is interested
About tedious research - on my first playthrough, i've discovered shipping manifests for each chemical storeroom i've encountered - so there was no need for running through all of them to get the element i needed for my research to progress - just check the shipping and go to specific floor.
8:46 apparently he never noticed that every chemical storeroom has a manifest log, so you always know what every storeroom you've visited has.
"assault rifle......underpowered"
"You know nothing about power!"
I'm getting into older games now, Deus Ex, BattleFront 2, etc. They have more content than almost all modern games, and it is usually of a high quality.
The old games Are much more deatiled. I miss the creativity :(
+Csaba Tamasovics Almost everything is aimed at the lowest common denominator these days, purely for the sake of sales. I know you know this.. just saying.... but yeah, we never had it so good. SS2 is easily one of my all time fave games, kind of thing I wish I could have a mind-wipe to play it fresh again :-/
I think that back then they were more focused. Todays developers add more casual features. At times I even got the feeling that System Shock 2 was made by autists (no offense) given the amount of detail and depth the game's core mechanics have.
@@AgentAlfie Who the fuck would need to spend 10 hours to understand how SS2 works? Just play the tutorial, it's like 10-15 minutes long.
You would probably like Prey from 2017 then. It's a spiritual successor to SS2 but it's WAY better than the Bioshock games.
@@apictureoffunction Isn't Prey 2017 a remake of Prey 2006, which itself is a remake of the cancelled 1997 Prey?
I haven't played it it, that's why I'm asking.
I'm a fan of the Dishonored series, so I'll eventually get to Prey 2017, but I was just wondering.
better than any modern game I've ever played, completely engrossing...you really feel like youre in it
Even Bloodborne and Hollow Knight?
@@randomguy6679 I can see Bloodborne, but I really can't understand how one gets immersed into a 2D platformer.
@@spartan11mcxbox trust me, they make that happen with Hollow Knight
Play Prey from 2017 if you like System Shock 2
@@randomguy6679 Blood(1997) is still kickass as that game as well !!
Just subbed great work on these reviews keep it up. You dig into all the necessary details that needed to be explained especially for people looking to get into the classics and why they are so good.
+numchuck3 Thanks for subbing!
this is the virst video i watched by you, now you're my favorite game critic and i watch all ur reviews
I am 14 meaning I have grown up with the ps4 and Xbox one gen of games but this game just clicked for me. I played it on hard and I was always able to find the objectives relatively quick and never found myself stuck with too little nanites or the wrong cyber modules installed. I basically beat the whole game without once getting lost or looking up a tutorial and that amazed me. The games visuals with a few mods installed are so easy on the eyes and makes playing it feel smooth and fluid. All of the levels and their branching corridors and rooms felt incredibly easy to navigate even without a map which blew me away as no other game from before the 2000’s had ever been easy to navigate for me. I will say the only weak link of the whole game however is definitely that last level but other than that it’s easily in my top 3 favourite games
Me and my wife played thru this coop style and man was it a blast!!! You can both focus on different skills and be able to handle every situation with a little clever planning, i focused on heavy weapons hacking and repair and she did all the research, small arms and psi powers. Fucking amazing sense of progression if you are clever enough ! Totally unforgiving if you don't understand what you are getting into!
found you through a comment you left few months ago must say you make some of my favorite content on youtube keep it coming
My favorite game of all time! Thank you for this one. Played it over the stretch of 6 months when it originally dropped, although I was 20 at the time, I was still freaking out and screaming like a little girl when playing in the middle of the night. A true master peace.
Playing Infinite a decade or so after SS2 is like watching human de-evolution in front of your eyes. It was one of those moments when I felt significantly dumber after experiencing the ordeal. On top of atrocious gameplay the story felt like Ken Leving patting himself on the back every five minutes or so. I sincerely hope Mr. Levine never again continues to besmirch the name of "Shock" with his pretentious bullshit. Yes, he was also responsible for the brilliant (structurally perfect) SS2 ... and that just makes the whole situation even more sad. May there be a kickstarter project for SS3 soon, please God
I'm currently replaying this one on my 47" TV at night for a few friends. The experience is every bit as amazing as I remember it 20 years ago
I beat this game when I was 13 and I hated it but I refused to let it get the better of me. I recently went back and played it again and loved it. I didn’t mind the back tracking as much this time around and I understood the story WAY better than I did back then.
Just got this on GOG, great review btw.
Just installed it last week, stuck in onto Hard mode and dived in without ever playing it before
It does have a brutal learning curve for the first 40 minutes or so - just a barrage of ui menus, upgradeables, skills, items etc. Its an rpg at heart, not a shooter. But i'm still enjoying it. The lack of hand holding is absolutely awesome and a breath of fresh air compared to the crap you deal with these days. You're a guy who's just woken up in a hostile environment in the middle of nowhere and shit 's hitting the fan hard - why would there be "quest" markers? It's up to you to find the way, to figure out the layout etc.
Then you would probably also love System Shock 1.
AlexCopyPaste Yeah. I was going to start with the original, but then decided to go for SS2 since that seems to be more highly regarded by fans of the series. I may check out the first one at some point though.
I personally think it is good to start with the second one as a gateway. I also played SS2 first. Now I can't tell which one of them I prefer.
I loved this game's difficulty. Every enemy was terrifying at the start. You always felt like you were fucked, but never cheated. And you'd learn and become stronger, and you'd start taking out the enemies like they were nothing. Then they'd introduce a new enemy type, and you'd feel helpless again. It's great.
SS1 really shows it age. It's just a hard game to play. I think there are mods to make it more user friendly and playable, though.
Brilliant review. Need to play System Shock 2 again.
This game holds a special place in my heart, as it was the first game to legitimately scare me. I didn't even believe that games COULD be scary up until this point. I still remember it, I got the game because I liked the original System Shock and thought Thief was pretty cool and since when did Looking Glass Studios ever steer you wrong? I install it, and I hear that familiar SHODAN taunt and I'm ready for some atmospheric cyber-punk action.
Then I feel a legitimate cold sweat, and the game starts to really eat at me. The idea of these twisted, half-human monsters being eaten away by cybernetic parasites legitimately disturbed me. The crushing loneliness, the sound design, it all got to me. And then I jumped and legitimately yelped. It wasn't even MEANT to be a scary point, I was just dumb and triggered a fucking sentry turret and died after a long tense session of sneaking around. But I shat a pyramid of bricks, wailed and had nearly punched my damn monitor. Then Chie, my girlfriend (now wife =D), shows up.
"Oh honey, what's wrong? You're not hurt are you?"
"No. T__T It's just a game I'm playing, it... well.... it's scary and I just kinda jumped."
* SIGH *
"I know I'm going to sound like your momma, but it's 3 in the damn, people are trying to sleep, and you should be in bed Miss Emma-Kaye."
"Yah, you do sound like my mum."
"Why do you say it like that?"
The same scene more or less repeated when Silent Hill came out a few months later. 1999 was a good year for scary games.
Wow, you had same experience as I did, 2 of the video games that ever got me scared to play was Silent Hill and System shock 2. Of course I have both games, and to this day I am still scare to play them at night. Thief was scary too but you get used to it after awhile, but those 2 games you will never get used to it because it forces you to be afraid of the unknown and the meaning of true helplessness.
I remember playing SH at a friends house for the first time, 1am at night, and we just fished for a pile of pirated PS games and got the Japaneses version of it. Needless to say, one university student and one high school student got scare shitless that we have to force controller to each others to keep going. Play SS2 for the first time, I was sneaking around gathering clues like how I did in Thief the dark project, only to be jumped by the mutant and nearly lose my composure and close the game for 10 minutes and leave the room to gather myself.
The late 90s was indeed the pioneering years of so many popular future titles.
One of the best games I ever played. Great review, thanks!
This is such a fair and balanced review. Well done, gman 👏 This is why I ALWAYS check you out first to see if you've done a review on any given game I'm interested in.
*mutters to himself* yes it's the timeless masterpiece that I keep talking about
Great review. We are currently play through this & loving the game.
Awesome review, you've really helped me get off the fence.
Assault rifle underpowered ??? :)) I passed the game at hard with the damn assault rifle and i kicked ass like i was an overpowered full of Russian bias T-34 tank in war thunder ground forces!
If you play at normal, even better! 3 or 4 shots with the right kind of ammo to ANY enemy and he's dead.The assault rifle is OP, just make sure you fire the right kind of ammo at the right kind of enemy.
BTW ppl , he's right about the music! Turn that shit off! It's a way better atmosphere.
About the chemical storage complaint...
Every time you go into a chemical storage , the player can pick up a disc with the storage list of chemicals. When you need a chemical you just look on the damn list and go directly on the right storage that has the chemical. 90% of the time the disk is right in front of the player so you can't miss it! Not sure how the reviewer missed that !
Except for the level where you are in the body of the many you don't get stuck in almost nothing.. very fluid.
I managed to finish the majority of the game with melee weapns. Likewise the pistol remains a useful weapon right to the end.
"BTW ppl , he's right about the music! Turn that shit off! It's a way better atmosphere".
NEVER! The music adds to the atmosphere. You just need to turn it's volume down a bit, so that it's not blasting full force through your speakers/headphones, but plays in the background like it should, adding another rich layer to SS2 awesome sound palette. I've played through SS2 four or five times, and always appreciated the music. It's awesome.
I second turning the music off. It's not that it's entirely bad, it's just that hearing that one mumbling hybrid somewhere around a distant corner is what makes the game come to life.
I like the music. It was a time in gaming when music was actually music instead of ambient background soundscapes.
AlexCopyPaste I mean I enjoy that style of music more than most people; I was in the 90's tracker scene heavily. But that kind of music is better in a side scroller than an adventure horror.
Full disclosure: I accidentally read that you do not recommend to turn the music off and I was all like "I agree"... so then I noticed I did a sloppy job at reading and changed it into a more general statement. I totally get your point though! It is just that modern games are so afraid of having an edge to their music that I think having "real" music with a specific style and tonality is almost fresh nowadays. I noticed that when playing Deus Ex: HR: I was missing that (Midi-Synthie-)Oomph from Deus Ex. The music in HR (and most modern games) are like these "wafting" chill out background pieces which I cannot get a grip on. That is why I enjoyed the old school soundtrack of System Shock so much in all its Midi-Glory. The atmosphere is still strong and having clished Horror music like a jump scare movie is kind of cheap if it is used too often. So it is nice to have a catchy cyber-punk soundtrack once in a while. I rest my case. Have a nice weekend.
I got to the point when I played this game where I just found it less frustrating to run past all the enemies during the final stages due to all the enemies and my lack of ammo. Was a fun game with a lot of story and these types of games are amazing to me. It’s a shame we don’t see many like this these days
Great review! Subscribed
BenRiley83 Thanks!
"Look at you, hacker! A pathetic creature of meat and bone...." I got chills every time I hear it. =)
I have fond memories of playing this on my PC in the 00's. Also opted to play the Psi-class, which was the most interesting.
It should be worth mentioning there is still a mod scene for this game, and that they've basically taken the vanilla version and put it on steroids. They've improved the graphics (most notably the models), textures, and released community patches that fix some of the major old bugs. This includes the *optional* removal of things like weapon degradation, or altering its severity. They even went so far as to remove the spider enemies for arachnophobia.
just searching System Shock 2 mods will show off a lot of the stuff for use.
Loved that intro, one of the best lines from Bioshock Infinite.
Dude you deserve more subscribers
You're probably the only channel I'll allow ads to play. Cause you actually put up good content. Take my ad munees, please.
this game scares the sh*t outta me
While I can see where your complaints are coming from, I to say still have that System Shock 2 is still the best game I have ever played to date and is the only game I would consider a 10/10 in terms of how I'd score it.
The main thing I'm not like about the game currently is how little normal repair actual repairs a weapon without using Maintenance tool. I don't want to be in a freaking gun fight and have to literally stop everything to repair my gun.
2:07 I feel like that's the first time I've heard him sound happy like this.
Good review, you've sold me on this one.
The first time I played this game was when I was 11. My brother (who at the time was a bigger PC gamer than myself) used to buy PC demo disks. One day, he talked me into pulling away from Super Mario RPG for a while to play the demo for System Shock 2. It was one hell of an experience, and one of my favorite times with my brother.
The funny thing is I was playing Ultima Online with a friend, and she told me to play System Shock 2 since I loved survival horror. Gave it a shot and loved what all it had to offer on the first few minutes. But when I learned that the skill investments were really unforgiving, and it got to the point when I reached the 2nd to last deck in the game, I couldn't get past it because I was just too under built. But replaying it wasn't too bad since things kinda unfolded a different way than how I previously played. Over all, I love it even though I played it a good 15-16 years late.
I normally grab all chemicals I see and stash em in the elevator. . . along with guns I can't use yet and other items which I think I'll need later.
This was my first shock game and I loved it. Although I did have to restart the whole campaign in engineering on my first playthrough.
Most honest review of this game, its about time someone mentions about its unforgiving difficulty to newcomers. As always great review for a great game.
Yeah this game is really overwhelming.
Great review! You motivated me to continue playing it!
Great video as usual sir
you ever think about doing an updated version of this with all the available mods? they really change the game into something amazing and turns it into looking like a 1990s game into an early 2000 game making the creep factor even higher
ohhh my whata gem, lil Gman before the BIG times :D awesome review as always - one of my fav games of all time ;-) hope Night Dive do a Deep Dive and make a full remake after remaster like with SS1 ;)
Gggman... you're fucking awesome, don't ever stop doing what you love bro :D
I played this game right after playing Bioshock and honestly, I hated it at first but I got really use to it and now it's one of my favorites on the PC. Stick with it people, it's not bad.
Actually I recently went back to it for a second play through and he is right, this is a game that gets better every time you play through it, mostly because you know all the do's and don'ts. So Gggman, are you ever going to take a look at the original System Shock or any of the sequels to Bioshock?
Ah. One of my most favorite game! Replayed it recently-ish and still got enormous amount of enjoyment out of it :)
As much as I love System Shock 2, I have to say I personally enjoy Bioshock more. Bioshock just feels a lot more organized and cleaned up compared to System Shock 2, but still incredibly open. Also I like the location and story more in Bioshock than in System Shock 2. Don't get me wrong, System Shock 2 is an incredible game and it does have more gameplay choices/different ways to play than Bioshock, and it is more challenging and rewarding than Bioshock. Every game has their pros and their cons. I love both games, but I love one a little more than the other... Great review by the way.
The only thing that is lacking in SS2 is the weapon system. It is totally unbalanced. Standard weapons are the best and there is really no point in develeoping the other weapon skills if you want to finish the game. I know that you can finish the game with the wrench, but that is for hardcore players anyways. If the weapons would be balanced, SS2 would be a superb title for me. I love the game.
Love this video. I finished playing it for the first time yesterday, and it was awesome. I agree with all the complaints, but like you said, when it clicks, it's magical.
Great game. The sound design and voice acting is amazing . The near constant humming in the hydroponics level is so scary. It is a hard game. I had to play it on easy to enjoy it. Even on easy things got hectic especially near the end. The end boss fight is so frustrating though, I had to rely on a cheat to beat her .
Awesome and unforgettable game till this day. New System Shock remake is coming out next year, very cool!
Excellent review man!
gonna try it out on GOG...
how was it?
After six years we're still waiting for the answer
@@RVxCobra he/she probably died
SS2 still holds a special place in my gaming history. It was a game that had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge, largely due to the claustrophobic environment and the sounds. Omg, the sound work in this game was fantastic for that purpose.
I have played the first Bioshock, and think that is a great game, too. But, it's a different time and age now. It doesn't pack that same punch. Still, a great game in my book.
Gamers are now used to being shocked. System Shock 2 played a large part in that, and for that alone deserves its place as an influential gaming classic.
People who have no problem with researching are the people who read their inventory logs. You can find these in each store room and they have all the information regarding its stored chemicals.
This a great review. I searched for SShock2 review to see if it would give a Bioshock like experience.
This is one of very few games that managed to legitimately scare me back when I was young. THE most important thing going into it is to plan your build so you don't find yourself screwed and useless a third of the way in. My advice? Go Navy for most efficient starting stats. Spend a lot of points on Standard Weapons early on so you can access the omnipotent Assault Rifle as soon as you find it. Spend the rest on your base stats and some essential Maintenance. Later on you'll have enough points to put into Heavy Weapons and pick up the grenade launcher, at which point you're a straight menace. Alternatively, you could go Standard Weapons and Hack with a few points into Cyber Affinity in keeping with the series' hacker theme. Slice the pie on those corners, clear rooms methodically without letting cameras spot you, and aim carefully - waste not, want not.
Playing this coop with a friend was so much fun
I dunno...I kinda liked having to backtrack to labs on different floors to find the chemicals I needed. It was much more satisfying in the end when you finally complete the list you needed to research the next ability, especially since there is always some level of risk in making the trip due to roaming monsters. If you hold the player's hand too much for convenience's sake, you lose some of that feeling of payoff.
Except they do it with backtracking, it's a chore for many, myself included. It's cumbersome for the sake of, not respecting a players time. A game can not hand hold but also not make you go through the tedium of searching old areas.
Honestly still one of the greatest games I've played. For a while I got so sick of straight forward shooting games and found that getting at least a little something different in regards to approach to gameplay helps a long way in keeping engagement strong. Bioshock, while good, feels like a dumbed-down version of SS2 overall. I don't agree with the reviewer talking about first time players will be frustrated or find things like the chemical jars a nuisance. I didn't think that at all.
Playing this like 2-3 years for the first time back felt like a breath of fresh air and I haven't had that same kind of feeling in a while: from the combat to skills, weapons, story, and how the game doesn't make you feel dumb or hold your hand. So much variety and approaches to gameplay. To me, this is the perfect shooting game with the right amount of RPG elements.
This was one of the scariest games I've ever played.
System Shock 3 trailer
m.ruclips.net/video/yIWAMT2og3M/видео.html
This game was supposed to come to the Dreamcast too. I wish I could play this game on a console.
Finished it for the first time a couple months ago. Having played Bioshock before SS2 and really enjoying the atmosphere and story revolving around Rapture, SS2 definitely took some time getting into. But as mentioned, once it "clicked", it became a deeper experience in regards to gameplay in comparison to Bioshock. Probably has to do a lot with it being developed as a PC game from the get-go, and having a user interface and gameplay based around mouse and keyboard. Personally, I feel that SS2 probably does have the edge on Bioshock thanks to it's deeper gameplay, but it's a tight race for me. Both of them great games though, did not regret playing through SS2.
Damn, I love this channel
this is the first game which taught me that computer games as a medium can tell really good stories.
I love your channel! It brings good memories :)
Any plans for Painkiller ?
regarding research and chems, you find an inventory datalog in every storeroom so you know where to go
+Ioannis Maniatis I still hear the little chime it plays.
+Friendly Metroid that little jingle is the best
Once I played SS2, the Bioshock games felt like *a step back* especially with the lack of multiplayer co-op.
Wouldn't be until PREY (reboot) came out I felt like I was playing a game deserving of it's legacy.
This game still holds up very well in my opinion. The thick atmosphere, horror game elements, role play elements are still really good and complex mechanics are really fun to play with. But, I must agree to what was said in the review, the combat is still wonky and the controls seem weird in tight spaces.
Story time:
I remember seeing this game at my buddys home shortly after release, he said that System Shock 1/System Shock 2 and Deus Ex are on of the best games he played and I really must play them myself. Even when he was generous enough to rent me those games, I refused his offer because of the language barrier.
Back in 2004-2008 period, when my English was good enough to give those PC games a proper playthrough (plus many othesr, including Front Mission 3), I went ahead and did so.
Back then Deus Ex, System Shock 1 and System Shock 2 where still amazing for me.
Story time over.
Focusing on the second System Shock game, it's atmosphere and it's cyber horror like theme just hit the spot for me. That soundtrack is still stuck in my head to this day and I occasionally play it for nostalgia reasons.
In contrary to what was said in this review, I believe that this game is great for a single playthrough, very unforgiving for sure, but that what makes the thick amosphere even thicker.
I myself did only one, very slow, very patient, careful playthrough. Explored as much as I can and read/listen to as many exposition as I could find. I did have some problems here and there, got lost a few times, sure, but nothing frustrating or breaking my progress.
I'd could add to what was said in the review, that the game is very unforgiving, yes, but is also very rewarding when you pull it off.
For those wondering, I don't exactly remember my character specs, but I was specing into hacking. but researched only the basic stuff at first, did a lot of specing into one handed or light weapons, so I can use the plasma gun very effectivley, simple psi abilities like telekinessis with light buffs.
In late game I was still using a lot of hacking, did a lot more on research and was still using plasma gun but with a certain powerful meele weapon with some more advanced psi abilities like pyrokinessis with more buffs.
Probably spent some modules here and there that I don't remember (I remember I was occassionally using a grenade launcher though).
At the time I was also looking into a mod that was enhancing in game models, but seeing that it affected only a few models in the game, in the end I left it vanilla. I'm wondering if those mods are still being worked on or even finished up till this date.
TLDR Thanks for the awesome review, that clearly hit the nostalgic spot, since the wall of text :)
I remember starting this when I was about 11 (think I borrowed the CD-Rom from my Dads friend) and completely noping out when I first encountered a hybrid. Time for me to conquer my fear and play this bad boy!
Really great review. I'm going through the game myself for the first time, and honestly the trips to the chemical storerooms aren't that tedious in my opinion. If I need a certain chemical, rather than immediately backtracking, I check my logs to look at the chemical manifests that i picked up on each floor to see if it has the chemicals I need, then I go backtracking.
Then again backtracking never bothers me anyways, so to each their own.
What's the music at the end of the video? I love it and want to know what song it is so I can listen to it
5:47 how do you quickly switch between separate tiers of psi without opening up the interface? What function is it on the binds screen? Anyone know the answer?
Cleath78 I think it's like F2 or F3 to quickly switch. Can't remember exact button.
Great review
I just don't get ppl complaining that is hard and not forgiving. That's the whole point of it! If it was forgiving and if there was always abundance of items such as ammo it would lose part of its appeal. The fact that you need to conserve the ammo and items actually makes it even scarier since you cannot just hammer your way through mindlessly.
I had to restart the game the first time I played after a few hours because I realized I was too wasteful with ammo and made a couple of bad upgrade decisions. Did this is anyway decreased my enjoyment of the game? No, it actually made finishing the game even more satisfying.
To sum up, it is challenging game. If you are casual gamer you may want to stay away. But you'll be losing big time. Because it is a timeless classic. And if you call yourself a hardcore gamer it is a must.
Agreed. System Shock 2 is for a more mature audience than the Bioshocks. Somewhat refreshingly, it wasn't trying to pander to every single demographic as most games try to do these days.
+HerrProf It is more rewarding isn't it. Unlike Bioshock infinite and many other titles today, this is a challenge. But I don't think it was that hard... You just had to be careful... Unlike Bioshock infinite (which is a good game, don't get me wrong) which is basically a walk through.. There should be more 'Challenging games about and definitely more brain work like is on display here
+Daniel Webb Fallot 4 I think is the best example of how a game that was special and unique and then took all of those elements and dumbed it down for the modern gamer.
+HerrProf The problem I have with the game's difficulty isn't regarding how brutal it is, and how you can fuck up majorly if you don't know what you're doing, but rather that the game doesn't let you know in any way if you're fucking up majorly, making the user waste their time, on a campaign, that the player screwed up.
+Him Me You know I find all these comparison's with bioshock infinite and system shock 2 laughable considering how different games they truly are. System shock 2 is game type A and Bioshock infinite is game type B
Game type A is focused is a slow paced game that seeks to instill a feeling of pressure as you are forced to upgrade yourself to face the challenges that await and distill a feeling of horror into you
Game type B on the other hand is much more fast paced spectacle based affair based upon fast movement bright colorful visuals and great spectacle in terms of story and gameplay.
So really when you come down to it comparing the two is like comparing chess to soccer and just like chess and soccer I believe that both Bioshock Infinite and System Shock 2 (admittedly I like system shock 2) both are good in their own unique way.
perfect review mate, this was my first PC gaming experience, and I loved it, however, I had to cheat, there were certain checkpoint's where I was simply screwed...Prey should have been called System Shock 3
Great review man, have you tried the moded versions of the game? They add new enemy models, hi res textures and rebalance some of the worst offenders
I played this game for the first time about a week ago, and I enjoyed it from start to finish. I thought I was going to be overwhelmed at the amount of stuff to choose from, but with some of the info from this review I was able to choose a playstyle from the very beggining and I saved myself the trouble of having to restart the whole thing because of wasted skill points.
At least on the Normal difficulty, the game isn't that complex. You just have to think a little, but I can see players from the modern era getting really frustrated at something like this.
loved playing this, shodan made me on edge everytime she piped up. I entered every new area with a new sense of dread.