Zetor
Arcane
I finished it too... overall I liked it, and will replay it in hardmode soon (my first playthrough was on normal difficulty), I'm going to make better use of the camera too this time. :p
It really annoyed me just how 'plain' the FPS gameplay felt. There is no leaning / going prone, most weapons / plasmids are just direct damage dispensers (though some have environmental effects). Honestly it felt like a throwback to the System Shock 1 days (and even SS1 had leaning!). I also never really ran out of ammo; while the maximum ammo levels are set pretty low, it's easy enough to buy/invent ammo as needed, or just use any of the other weapons for a while.
Ditto with the hacking minigame -- it's fun the first 10 times, but just tedious (and almost risk-free) afterwards. Since hacking is permanent, it's REALLY powerful on cameras/turrets, which makes the tedium even worse.
On the other hand, there is some really cool stuff you can do with plasmids [enrage, telekinesis, various burn/freeze/shock combos, etc], and the research camera "minigame" is a lot better than compared to SS2's research. It also helps that every weapon/plasmid is useful, unlike Shock2.
Story-wise, it was pretty solid up to about 2/3 of the game, the LOL SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE moment was pretty well-executed too, imo. Sadly it became a slightly better version of formulaic_fps_plot_9182 after that. I still liked it, but the endsequence was definitely not the high point for me.
Choices... there weren't really any (were there any choices in SS1 or SS2?). You DO get slightly more Adam by harvesting the little sisters, but the rewards you get by rescuing them instead are almost as good. I saved every LS and had more than enough Adam to buy the plasmids/tonics/upgrades I wanted.
So yeah. Play this as a FPS-with-a-story and it's pretty awesome (best one I've ever played, actually); play it as a RPG, and be disappointed. I'm a bit annoyed by some of the design decisions 2k made, but what can ya do?
-- Z.
It really annoyed me just how 'plain' the FPS gameplay felt. There is no leaning / going prone, most weapons / plasmids are just direct damage dispensers (though some have environmental effects). Honestly it felt like a throwback to the System Shock 1 days (and even SS1 had leaning!). I also never really ran out of ammo; while the maximum ammo levels are set pretty low, it's easy enough to buy/invent ammo as needed, or just use any of the other weapons for a while.
Ditto with the hacking minigame -- it's fun the first 10 times, but just tedious (and almost risk-free) afterwards. Since hacking is permanent, it's REALLY powerful on cameras/turrets, which makes the tedium even worse.
On the other hand, there is some really cool stuff you can do with plasmids [enrage, telekinesis, various burn/freeze/shock combos, etc], and the research camera "minigame" is a lot better than compared to SS2's research. It also helps that every weapon/plasmid is useful, unlike Shock2.
Story-wise, it was pretty solid up to about 2/3 of the game, the LOL SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE moment was pretty well-executed too, imo. Sadly it became a slightly better version of formulaic_fps_plot_9182 after that. I still liked it, but the endsequence was definitely not the high point for me.
Choices... there weren't really any (were there any choices in SS1 or SS2?). You DO get slightly more Adam by harvesting the little sisters, but the rewards you get by rescuing them instead are almost as good. I saved every LS and had more than enough Adam to buy the plasmids/tonics/upgrades I wanted.
So yeah. Play this as a FPS-with-a-story and it's pretty awesome (best one I've ever played, actually); play it as a RPG, and be disappointed. I'm a bit annoyed by some of the design decisions 2k made, but what can ya do?
-- Z.
