What? Fear? What is there to fear when you've got a pump action shotgun to hand which will take out most enemies with a few blasts? Well, even when you do get the shotgun there is much to fear and this is part of what makes the game so good. You actually start out with a simple wrench and unfortunately your arsenal doesn't get much better for quite a while. As you creep around the dark, deserted corridors, the occasional burst of atmosphere music threatening to push your level of sheer terror over the edge, your nerves will shatter once more at the sudden foreboding groan of a nearby mutant. After taking a few loads of buckshot on your way to meet this strange new threat, a swift crack to the skull fells it, allowing you to take its shotgun. But the gun is broken. And in terrible condition. And so you are no better off than you were before you gave the mutant a thorough but costly (to you) beating. Because in System Shock 2, things just aren't quite as straight cut as in other games.

In this game, guns wear down over time necessitating a repair job. Thankfully, your newly found wasted shotgun can be repaired, although it is a while before you will be able to do this. Rather than simply taking your gun to the nearest Gun-U-Like store to be fixed, you'll have to tinker with it yourself once you have the relevant skill. Skills are purchased with cyber-modules which you will only occasionally get hold of. These may be spent at terminals that you will find sparsely scattered throughout the game. At these terminals you can upgrade your skills in computer hacking, repair, the use of various weapons (some weapons even have a minimum skill requirement) and may even buy new psychic powers to unleash the dangerous latent power of your mind.

Try as you may, you'll find that it is impossible to be a Jack-of-All-Trades and also be any good at the game. You simply don't get enough cyber modules. It is also impossible to become adept with all guns, as you just don't have enough inventory slots to carry all the available guns and close combat weapons. Specialisation is crucial if you want to get through alive. We decided to completely avoid any psychic powers at all (although we of course gave them a quick burn once we'd finished the game) because it was just too hard to get enough abilities and be any good with guns.