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You are on a spaceship in outer space with no weapons. The computers are not working properly and the mainframe has been hacked. Your crewmembers and former comrades have changed into deranged hybrids who kill first and ask questions later. An eerie silence prevails punctuated by screams and alarms. And it is dark. Very dark indeed.
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That is System Shock 2 in a nutshell. ‘Dread in outer space’ would perhaps be a concise summary of this game, which left me chilled to just about every bone in my body. Forget the weapons and the enemy, this game is all about atmosphere.
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But to begin at the beginning, System Shock 2, like all sequels, gets under way some time after the period where the original game left off. To refresh your mind, in System Shock, an ‘intelligent’ computer named Shodan tried to take over the world and wreaked considerable havoc before being scuttled by a valiant hacker (you, of course). Now, in a perfect world the company, which made Shodan, TriOptimum Corporation, would have been shut down and its staff slammed into prison, but hey, that would have ruled out a sequel.
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So, in System Shock 2, TriOptimum Corporation is pretty much alive and kicking and, what’s more, is helping build a new craft called the Von Braun that will travel at the speed of light. The ship sets out for its maiden voyage amongst much fanfare and expectation and…surprise, surprise…something goes wrong. In fact, lots of things go wrong and it is up to you to get the excreta off the fan and save the day.
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It is around this rather straightforward tale that System Shock 2 serves up a remarkable experience replete with weapons, ghosts and hybrids.
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In fact, the System Shock 2 experience starts even as you are installing the game. Instead of those dull as dishwater installation messages, you see a very sci-fi screen that informs you that Xerxes (the computer that keeps the Von Braun ticking over) is scanning your CD and is verifying system access. A small but effective touch for building ambience. And on the subject of installations, the game installed without any hitches on my Windows XP, AMD Athlon XP 1.4 Ghz, 256 MB RAM machine (system requirements used to be a lot more modest 4 to 5 years ago, you know).
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System Shock 2 gets under way with you having to choose your line of work. You can choose to join the Marines, the Navy or the OSA, a special service that focuses on developing psychic power. Once you pick the shoes you want to fill, you have a choice of three postings, which will hone different skills, ranging from combat to maintenance. The skills you choose to sharpen are in all probability going to be the difference between life and death, so choose wisely. At the end of these three postings, you end up in the starship Rickenbacker, which is escorting (yup, you guessed it), the Von Braun. You are frozen for the journey and when you wake up, it is to the sight of destruction and the sound of Dr. Janice Polito, the Senior Systems Analyst on board the Von Braun, telling you that things have gone very badly wrong indeed.
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As you explore the ship, which is littered with debris and dead bodies, you keep getting clues about what might have happened. You stumble across the PDAs of many of the dead crew and slowly start to piece together the events. Dr. Polito keeps sending you messages on your PDA to keep you up to speed as well. More often than not, it is something else going terribly wrong.
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And speaking of wrongs, the ship comes with a huge supply of baddies. Many members of the crew have been changed into zombies and while they are comparatively easy to deal with, the sight of them looming out of the dark, swinging a pipe, can be highly unsettling. Other threats on board include giant spiders, cybernetic nursemaids and cyber-assassins. The last-named are particularly formidable as they lurk around in the dark and pounce on you when you least expect it. Helping these fiends go about on their errands of destruction is the ship’s own security network which keeps setting off alarms whenever you forget to lie low. A word from the wise—this is one game in which it pays to keep a low profile.
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Of course, you do have your own set of skills to help you overcome the odds. There are a total of ten skills at your disposal, ranging from hacking to handling heavy weaponry. Allied to this are your five basic character features—strength, endurance, psionics, agility, and cybernetic affinity. As you fulfil your missions, you get the opportunity to upgrade different skills as well as build up your characteristics. Needless to say, your choice depends upon your approach.
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The more gung-ho types might add to their strength and build up skills in heavy weapons while those preferring subtlety will think in terms of upgrading hacking and piling up on psionics and agility. Of course, the fact that you can choose to build up different skills and features simply adds to the replay value of the game. Take me for example. While I gave in to the base ‘shoot and kill’ instinct in my initial game, it was not long before I appreciated the virtues of stealth (and the sheer numbers and strength of the opposition) and started another game with a more circumspect approach.
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In fact, it is this blend of stealth and aggression along with the ability to upgrade different skills and features that takes System Shock 2 out of the category of the first-person shooter and puts it right up there with the likes of Deus Ex and Thief.
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And like those two games, System Shock 2 has very little going against it. Sure, it does take some time to get used to the interface—the tutorial, while being, slick, does not tell you all that you need to know. And you do wish people would refrain from sending you messages when you are engaged in battles of life and death. It can be most disconcerting to hear a polite voice informing you about your mission even as you are being chased by a dozen vest-clad demented zombies waving pipes. Some of the more action-oriented players may also quibble about the small quantities of ammunition but I rather liked the fact that one got ammo in places where it was expected to be found (canisters, dead guards and the like). No breaking crates and barrels in search of missiles and bullets, a la Unreal, Half Life and Deus Ex. To top it all off, the game played very smoothly with nary a hitch.
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For me, the most stunning feature of System Shock 2 is its atmosphere. The sounds of clunking machinery, eerie screams (you witness a maniac gun down a woman early on as you watch helplessly), random explosions, and the fact that an assassin might be watching you all the time ensure that your spine is frozen by the frequent traversing of chills by the time you are through.
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To sum things up, System Shock 2 is awesome. It serves up everything that you expect from a good game and then adds just a bit more to surprise you. A warning: steer clear of it if you are afraid of the darker side of life. It took a great deal out of me and yet, I feel I am going to have another pop at it some time in the near future.
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In fact, I will start playing it as soon as I get back from the local waterworks. I owe them an apology for calling their repairmen ‘pipe-wielding zombies’ when they came to fix the plumbing in the neighbourhood.
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Recommended System Requirements:
- Windows 95/98
- Intel Pentium 300MHz
- 64MB free system RAM
- 550MB hard drive space
- 8x CD-ROM drive
- Supported 4MB 3D Accelerator
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