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                    <p><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000FF"><i><font color="#904C10" size="2">The 
                      Top Shelf: </font><font color="#904C10" size="4"><br>
                      System Shock 2 </font></i></font></b><br>
                    <div align="right"> <font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">By 
                      <a href="mailto:corto@panix.com">Austin Grossman</a></font></div>

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                  <h5 align="right"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#00025E">Vol. 
                    2, Issue 4<br>
                    December 2, 1999&nbsp; </font></b></h5>
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            <h5 align="right">&nbsp;</h5>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><loonystart>The 
              combat is as intense and nerve-wracking as anything I've ever found. 
              Some of the critters are very nasty, ammunition is scarce, and you'll 
              find yourself peering around every corner, trying to make every 
              shot count. Frankly, this is a scary game, and you never ever get 
              a free ride. There are lots of audio cues to tell you what kind 
              of enemies are nearby, and you'll need to pay attention and have 
              the proper kind of blaster in hand, with the proper ammunition loaded.</font></p>
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                  <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>Quirky 
                    robots (63k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
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            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> I'm not 
              sure if other players shared my experience, but I found the weapon-balance 
              a little arbitrary -- some of the later weapons that I expected 
              to pack a big punch, didn't. Certain weapons do work better on certain 
              critters, but even so -- midway through you get the semiautomatic 
              rifle with armor-piercing rounds, and none of the fancy sci-fi arms 
              I got later improved on it. This was a big disappointment, given 
              how hard I worked to get the necessary skills to use them. Where 
              was my payoff there? </font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Shock 
              2</font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> is a hard 
              game, and it just gets harder. Gamers, prepare to be tested -- I 
              have rarely felt such bleak isolation in a game, such terrified 
              hopelessness, as when I got launched into that giant alien biomass. 
              You're low on ammo, surrounded by enemies, and in the wrong damn 
              solar system -- it makes <b>Die Hard </b>look like a visit to Grandma's. 
              When I survived I felt I had really earned it -- I walked out of 
              that mess I feeling that I had balls of solid titanium steel. </font></p>
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                  <p align="center"> <i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="1" color="#000253"><ignoreme>The 
                    inventory system (84k)</ignoreme></font></i></p>
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            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thumbs up 
              for <b>System Shock 2</b>. It's great to see that narrative depth 
              in first-person games is trendy again, and that game developers 
              are finding new, effective ways of telling stories in an interactive 
              situation. The narrative-light mid-1990's were, I feel, a useful 
              transitional period -- <b>Doom</b> and <b>Quake</b> had almost no 
              story, and this meant getting rid of heavy, pretentious exposition, 
              burdensome complex stories that nobody wanted or cared about. </font></p>
            <p align="left"></p>
            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now story 
              is coming back in new forms, as a part of the game rather than just 
              window dressing. <b>Half-Life </b>and <b>System Shock 2 </b>led 
              the way, with <b>Daikatana</b> and <b>Deus Ex</b> hopefully soon 
              to follow. This is the kind of evolution in the medium that we all 
              hoped for.</font></p>
            <p align="left">&nbsp;</p>
            <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"><i>- 
              Austin Grossman is a game designer who has worked for Looking Glass 
              Technologies and Dreamworks Entertainment. </i></font></p>
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            <p align="left"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"></loonystart><br>
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<p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Credits: Illustration 
  &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. This review is &copy; 1999 Austin Grossman. All other 
  content is &copy; 1999 loonyboi productions. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, 
  goldarn it.</font></i></p>
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