Cheap System Shock 2 (Software) (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me) Price

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Customer Reviews of System Shock 2

Good game but cost unrealistic
SS2 is a good quality game. Like others, I find the atmosphere creepy and the elements of gameplay innovative, but the same elements of gameplay are just too difficult to adjust to. I made the first mistake of assuming that if I brought up the items screen, the game would pause (thanks to conditioning from Deus Ex and Morrowind). It didn't, and I got the snot slapped out of me by a hybrid. Lesson learned: I made damn sure to clear an area out first before I did anything with inventory. That quip aside, this is a fairly decent game. The only other problem is that as you progress, the ability to travel between areas perviously explored becomes less and less, and you have less freedom to explore whole areas since many places are closed off (it feels like being herded down a ramp to the ending, like when on the Rickenbauker). As a note, I borrowed this game from a friend, since I refuse to purchase a game that is older than Deus Ex, but cost more than Deus Ex. If the graphics were stellar and on par with Half-Life, I could understand. But seriously, charging 30 plus dollars for an older game such as this, when I got the GOTY edition of Deus Ex for 9.99 just sort of kills the initiative to buy it; not to mention it is a gross rip-off of customers. I would consider purchasing it if the price went down to say...8.99 at the least, 12 flat at the most. Again, great game (when a few flaws) but not worth the cost when all you get is a jewel case and a cd. Do you really think someone is going to fork out 35.00 for just a cd case and no manual? Didn't think so.

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Behold! The cybernetic messiah of spooky doom!
I'd consider myself a pretty jaded horror buff. I've played the scariest games and watched the scariest movies, and the only emotions approaching fear that have been roused from me have been an itchy trigger finger and a penchant for over-eating popcorn respectively. System Shock 2, however, is a completely different story. <
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>Speaking of stories, System Shock 2 has one (strange, no?). While not groundbreakingly original, the story does its little cyberpunk horror thing flawlessly, with many little turns and nuances fleshed out mainly through the use of nicely-acted audio logs. Considering there are very few characters in the game who aren't bloodied corpses (walking or no), this is a welcome addition. <
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>Story aside, the game's defecatory powers rest primarily with the gameplay itself. YOU'RE NEVER SAFE! Old areas are repopulated with monsters, and you're constantly bombarded from every direction by stalking horrors. This game is stressful - it had me wiggling my mouse around manically in a vain attempt to see both forwards and backwards at once. The RPG elements helped to keep things interesting and add to gameplay variety, as well. <
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>The game's graphics, by today's standards, are terrible - and they were far from state-of-the-art when it came out. But really, this is a moot point to the phenomenal quality of the game. For those with a poly-fetish, however, a mod has been released to make many of the monsters look more... well... monstrous. <
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>Sound is top-notch. I don't remember the game having surround sound capabilities (I could be mistaken - I'm too poor to have it myself, y'see), but it was an experience nonetheless. The spasmodic, electronic gurgling and screeching of the cyborg midwives, accompanied by a distorted moan of "I'll tear out your spine!" haunts me to this day. <
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>System Shock 2 only gets 4 stars from me, however, due to two things. Firstly, the multiplayer is frustratingly prone to crashes. Secondly, I found the ending short, anticlimactic, and utterly cheesy compared to the rest of the game. Nevertheless, after years of shelf-life, System Shock 2 still remains to me the best horror game, one of the best PC games, and quite simply the scariest piece of entertainment ever to have existed.

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A Classic worth revisiting Countless times? Oh yes.
To classify System Shock 2 as a FPS (First-Person Shooter) would not do it the justice it deserves. Likewise, it would be inappropriate to refer to this game an RPG (Role Playing Game,) for it does not operate like traditional RPGs. What then, is System Shock 2? It is a result of a beautiful marriage of these two genres and happens to be one of the most involved and unique games of it's kind. While it carries a quasi-experience system, weapons and items that degrade with use and an impressive storyline that casts you as an unnamed member of the military and one of the few survivors aboard the alien-hijacked, experimental starship Von Braun, it's FPS elements still have a very large effect on gameplay. The most notable and obvious of these elements is the perspective through which the game is played -First person, much as the name suggests. Other such elements include a wide variety of weapons, all with significantly different uses, specifically defined bosses surrounded by lesser enemies and ammunition that must be defeated to pass onto the next level as well as intricate puzzles that could never be worked into a side-scroller, 3rd person, or overhead perspective game. <
>Research is the key to success in System Shock 2, failing to realize this makes the earlier stretches of the game rough and the later bits extremely difficult, if not impossible to get through. Utilizing chemicals found in specifically marked rooms throughout the ship, your "Cybernetic Rig" as your guide, Doctor Janice Polito refers to it, researches tools, alien organs, and even the occasional vial of anti-annelid toxin to provide you with enhanced damage on specific creatures, new medical miracles, or even new ways to destroy the minions and growths of the cancerous biomass that is slowly consuming your ship. <
>Most of the System Shock 2's story is told VIA scattered crew logs and voice E-mails from Polito, though apparitions, which the good doctor refers to as "defects in the R-grade [military grade] Cyber implants" occasionally cross your path, replaying events that are often horrific in nature. These add to the overall feeling of suspense in this very dark and at times, gothic game, especially when, upon emerging from a dark elevator into a seemingly uninhabited area of the Von Braun, you are confronted by an apparition which promptly blows his own brains out, then fades away. If this doesn't at least slightly unnerve you the first time around, I recommend that you check your pulse. In even rarer circumstances, you are contacted by the force which is now in near-full control of the ship, a massive communal mass of entities manifested in a steadily expanding boil of neural tissues that refers to itself as "The Many." <
>Consisting of two separate starships connected by a massive airlock passage, there is plenty of room to explore on System Shock 2. The Von Braun itself consists of six expansive decks and the bridge (which is more of a subset of deck six,) while the Rickenbacker, a military transport resting on the back of the Von Braun, consists of two or three undefined decks and two more separate subsets. Consisting of the body of "The Many" and an unknown area somewhere between the two ships where the final showdown with the intensely vindictive A.I. known as Shodan, (reappearing from the original System Shock) occurs, these subsets are totally separate from the rest of either ship and no crossing-back into other areas can occur once you've traveled this far into the game. <
>In all, System Shock 2 is an excellent title; it is one of the few that has successfully combined the elements of an RPG with a FPS, while also carrying a considerable amount of substance and mild horror in the storyline.