Weapons and Interface

Not just any guns

The weapon system in System Shock 2 is one of the most unique and innovative we've seen in a long time. OK so all the 14 weapons have more than one fire mode - we've seen that before. Many of them have one to four different types of ammo as well (each of which has strengths and weaknesses against different enemies) - you may have seen that a couple of times before too. But the developers didn't stop there. You can set your munitions to explode on contact or explode after a certain amount of time. What's even cooler is that weapons are completely modifiable (provided you have the right skill sets) to give you higher fire rate, bigger magazines, etc. Weapons can also break if you don't keep them in good repair so watch out. Don't expect to mindlessly run around with guns blazing - even shooting in SS2 is a cerebral experience.

Die, C3PO!

Beat him with the wrench!

Items/Items Galore

There are tons of items in System Shock 2, due to the great interactivity of the environment and the objects in it. Manipulating them will involve you using a system that is not unlike that in Diablo. You'll be picking up items off the ground and out of boxes, equipping them on you, and dropping them with the inventory interface. This mode turns your mouse into a cursor and brings down that Diablo-esque interface. At the touch of a button you can switch back into the "shooter mode" where you move around just like a conventional first person shooter, so that you can deal with enemies. Items vary from special hacking software to make your hack attempts easier, to body armor for protection, to soda cans for who knows what!

More of that green gas

Another zombie dude