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I was recently given a huge number of old games (30+) when a friend of mine left for the military. Out of all of those i've only played about 3 before so i've been real busy. The latest game i've had the pleasure of experiencing is System Shock 2 (1999, looking glass). I heard a LOT about this game a year or so after it came out. A friend let me borrow his cd back then but I thought it was a typical FPS shooter. How wrong I was.
First of all the reason i'm posting this on an adventure forum is because I feel this game contains enough elements to be called an "adventure." The reality is it's more of a hybrid rpg,action, and adventure game. Don't let the "action" part of this game scare you away it completely makes up for it in storyline and the foreboding you feel during the game. This is by far one of the creepiest games i've played. If you like sci-fi/horror movies like Alien, event horizon, etc.. then this is the game for you. It successfully recreates the feeling of being trapped in an enormous bulkhead research vessel while discovering step by step the horrifying fate of the crew.
You start out the game as a crew member on board a military ship that has been sent to escort the Von Braun research vessel. You wake up and all the crewmembers have disappeared and you have to figure out why. The only thing to guide you on your quest is an enigmatic science officer guiding you with a portable communicator. The various crew voice modules you find along the way slowly develop the plot. The voice acting is definitely a notch above the typical acting i've heard. Without spoiling anything the plot is anything but typical so the acting drives the storyline. There's also a plot twist or two thrown in along the way.
The main drawback to the game was the rather cheesy ending but it was great up until that point. Unlike pure FPS games the guns aren't there as an excuse to just create havoc. Some people might be turned off by the constant ammo/equipment scavenging but it does realistically advance the plot. There's also a lot of hacking and equipment manipulation to get to the next level of the ship/game. For people who aren't that dextrous at fps games then I recommend playing on the easy setting and picking psi as your speciality. There's enough ways to avoid direct combat with this class and still follow the storyline. Contrary to pure FPS games the best way to advance isn't always to blast your way through. Intelligent use of your skills will help you avoid combat most of the time. I also recommend downloading the "Rebirth" textures/model enhancement pack done by a fan. This gives system shock 2 a much needed facelift.
As someone that loves adventure games I would really recommend this hybrid game to anyone. This is a game I would not hesitate in calling a classic.
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/etienne.aubert/sshock/sshock_rebirth.htm Great download for SS2, and the latest patch for the game adds Cooperative Multiplayer
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