I played Bioshock and Bioshock 2 before System Shock 2 and in my opinion this cyberpunk-themed masterpiece surpasses both of them in every way imaginable(except for graphics, of course).

Sometimes it's brutally hard and does have some stupid design choices(once the script required me to buy some item in order to continue the story, but I lacked the necessary resources, so I was forced to scavange the entire ship for the remains).Note that, this review isn't coming from someone suffering from nostalgia goggles. The atmosphere isn't as soul-crushing and horrifying as it probably was when released, but it's still there for the most of the time. Everything is polished and well-made: complex level design and inspired environments(for 1999, at least), excellent sound, great electronic music, good story, multi-dimensional and fleshed-out characters you never actually meet and yet you care about them, mostly balanced RPG elements, which allow multiple ways to develop your character thus enabling high replay value. Everything is polished and well-made: complex level design and inspired environments(for 1999, at least), excellent sound, great Amazing game.

It is the principle of System Shock 2 to continue this game design. Levels were realistically designed and had logical reasons behind them. The plot was always present, but not so confining as in traditional shooters - there was almost always more than one task to accomplish. Unlike most other first person shooters, the purpose of System Shock was not to kill everything in sight nor was it a 'find the key to move onto the next level' game. Like System Shock 1, there will be persistent levels (i.e., drop an item on one level, and you could go back later to retrieve it), gameplay elements like logs, inventory, skills, persistent world, leaning, hacking, rpg elements, multiple weapons and enemies, and a compelling storyline. Summary: Like System Shock 1, there will be persistent levels (i.e., drop an item on one level, and you could go back later to retrieve it), gameplay elements like logs, inventory, skills, persistent world, leaning, hacking, rpg elements, multiple weapons and enemies, and a compelling storyline.

System shock 1 vs 2