Aliens, cyborgs, and sadistic AI systems, oh my!

System Shock 2: A game that somehow combines elements of first-person shooters and role-playing games, and actually does a good job of it.

SS2 opens with your character (just an average guy at the game's beginning, I suppose) dropped off near a military recruitment building, where you are briefed on the basics of the game's controls, weapon abilities, and so forth, and finally presented with your choice of which branch of the military you will sign up for, your choices being either the Marines (mostly weapons training), the Navy (mainly technical skills such as hacking and weapon maintenance), and the OSA (psychic abilities, which are undoubtedly fun but are also the most difficult of the three to begin with).

Regardless of which you choose, your character awakens aboard the space station Von Braun with a blank memory of the past few months and an illegal cyber-implant, which basically grants him the ability to enhance his abilities via cyber-modules and software upgrades. That, paired with the training you got back on Earth, will be put to use throughout the game as you quickly discover that just about everything on this ship's out to get you. A bunch of creepy alien/human hybrids are running about, ninja-like cyborg assassins run around and toss shurikens into your spine, security robots and gun turrets have been turned against the ship's former inhabitants, and there's even giant arachnids running around on the upper floors (damn, I hate those things).

System Shock 2 will keep you interested throughout, not only because there could be any number of nasty things waiting around the next corner (enemies will occasionally re-spawn if the game decides there are too few of them in the area), but because of its general depth. There are tons of hidden items and interactive objects throughout; everything from Valu-Rep vending machines to beer bottles to portable "Game Pig" consoles can be manipulated (and yes, you can play games on the Game Pigs). The plot also takes an interesting twist around the mid-point, but I'll let you find out what it is for yourself.

Your skills are an integral part of the game; to get past gun turrets, for example, you can elect to blow them up with weaponry, hack security nodes to disable them, or even use psionic abilities to render your character invisible and sneak right past them. Your weapons will also break down on occasion, and must be repaired or replaced (psionics can also be used to slow down the degrading process). And finally, you can do research on chunks of defeated enemies to learn more about their weaknesses and even get damage bonuses while fighting them.

And finally, System Shock has no shortage of fun weapons. Aside from the standard melee weapon/pistol/shotgun combo, you can find an assault rifle, a laser pistol, EMP gun, and a few bio-organic alien weapons. And, of course, there's the ever-cool Laser Rapier, a lightsaber-like sword.

Overall, System Shock 2 is a game that will keep you on edge throughout, and you'll enjoy every second of it because of its engaging story and addictive gameplay. The mutants are also plenty scary (especially the shrieking midwives and the gigantic spiders, though the latter can be removed with a patch), so be prepared for that as well.