For SS2, complicated is a contradiction in terms.
SS2 is by all means not a blast-em-up style of game, although the ability to shoot and skilfully choose the right ammo and maintain your weapons is a must. Inside the U.C.C a droid instructs you to head into the training rooms, in there you get a taste of everything from combat to using your psychic abilities, for which you will need throughout the game. In doing this it becomes immediately apparent just how easy SS2 is to get to grips with, clearly an amazing amount of time has gone into thinking about the interface system. You have your Quake style movements for playing in the game, but once you press the TAB key your interface loads up over the top of the play window, much like MS Windows would open a window over the background desktop. From there all you need to know is how to move a mouse cursor, how to right click and how to left click. Everything is explained in the training and is so simplified that even a child of 5 could pick it up.

What’s more, before you actually get into the story part of the game, an option to go three different routs is put to you. Ultimately each root starts you off in the same place, but you have different knowledge and ability. Choose the marines and you know about guns, Navy and you can hack right out of the box or the O.S.D and you learn about you psychic abilities. Basically as the game moves on you get more and more skilled at doing things, collect cyber modules and use them in upgrade units around levels, these allow you to add points to specific areas of expertise. My personal advice is concentrate on you abilities as a marine and most importantly hacking; as the ability to do such a thing is useful from the word go. In-fact you will find that training for a specific ability means you have to play the game in a different manor. For example hacking as opposed to being a marine means that some problems can be solved differently or without force. This may all sound complicated in text, but SS2 transpires in the game as being remarkably easy to understand and this only adds to the amazing depth that ensues.

Metal + Flesh = ?
Moving through the game the story plays itself out, you have been outfitted with psychic abilities and wake up instantly in trouble, from the word GO your dashing frantically to doors, looking for cards and hacking into security code locks. Despite the physically heart pounding pace, SS2 actually takes you through it quickly and clearly so you understand some of the most important skills before actually getting into the missions; called a learning curve. System Shock2 is like Half-Life but with smaller levels that have more unique and individual details than HL and a role-playing element that’s unlike anything out there. As you wonder through the various sections and levels of the ship (not levels of the game), the women that brought you out of stasis is constantly guiding you to her position, along the way you have goals to complete. Such things like finding a scientist to get his code or trying to find a reactor so you can shut it down are the goals, where as the game lies in actually managing to do that.

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