System Shock 2, a journey through a game that marked a generation.

Travel. Travel can serve as an escape from the routine of everyday life, to break with the mundane and to start looking for something new; are sometimes a personal catharsis, after we have internalize and realize all the stages we been through. This is a proposal for you. Travel to unique places and meet the wonders conceived in the youngest form of entertainment in our society: PC games.

Getting to know the corners of the game was not a simple easy task. I rolled up my sleeves and learned the basics to be able to venture into this scary RPG. Psychic powers, armament and piracy, all this was seen and reviewed with the suffering of my character who succumbed at times to the onslaughts of the initial enemies. And I confess with some frustration. I recognize that I have plunged into one of the most intense RPG experiences in the first person. This intensity put me short intervals in the progression, to be convinced that I made the best decisions in the evolution of my soldier, whenever I approached machines to increase the affinity of my abilities.

Beginning the adventure and recovering from a corpse my first weapon: a bloody wrench - one of the first scenes that shows the devasted place that you are in. And the wrench, while being risky for beginners to use in close combat, when approaching more than an enemy. Despite the inherent risks, it has proved to be very useful and effective. The wrench saved me the ammunition of firearms, which I quickly perceived as a precious commodity, and is lethal when used correctly. The animations of the characters are a little archaic, but I still realized that there is a "dance" in the melee. We should never take a step toward our enemy when he comes to meet us, for we risk "stepping on our feet" and seeing the screen momentarily red as our health bar recedes. Each enemy has its own particular approach and this does not allow the monotony to settle, when we hold the wrench, or other weapon depending on the occasion.

As I am progressing, scouring every division of the aircraft. I try to perceive what has happened of so macabre in this ship; why are bodies succumbed, severed and brutalized without any evidence by the person responsible for such crimes. The victims' blood serves as the ink for threatening messages on the walls. I also want to understand why Von Braun is in ruins, destroyed in almost every corner, with grid and power failures. These responses are delivered in audio messages scattered across the scene in the form of discs, which clarify what happened to the crew when they arrived at Tau Ceti V in response to an emergency warning coming from this planet. With a guided tour by Dr. Janice Polito, responsible scientist to prevent Xerxes from following the same path as SHODAN in the first System Shock. Through my radio, I receive your advice and the goals to complete. However, I soon realized that such an attempt was a failure, when I learned who was really on my side to guide me through Von Braun.

Of course, I can not forget to mention the unforgettable Artificial Intelligence SHODAN, the main antagonist of the game. Her meticulously constructed personality is the main reason we love hating SHODAN. She is vain, manipulative and with a very annoying superiority complex, a blend that elevates her to GLaDOS (Portal) status as one of the best AI ever created.

All the way traveled is accompanied by a wonderful soundtrack and immaculate vocalizations that certainly help set the tone of the game. This tone has been losing over the years. I speak of the terror felt in all the corridors, divisions and narrow spaces of Von Braun. This scenario of constant terror is aided by several factors that can keep our heart from jumping. The scarcity of ammunition, provisions to restore health, the sounds emitted by the creatures that inhabit the ship and the unforeseen attacks of these same beings are enough to frighten us sometimes. The feeling of being the prey, where predators attack without knowing where they might come from. Added to this last installment, we have the perfect cocktail for a game with an always high tension and feel some cold sweats.

I am sad to hear that such a rich experience has not yet been repeated in the years following its release. Many titles have been drinking inspiration from this source, but since the console market is the one that yields the most, the controls and game mechanics end up being reduced. Or at worst, the RPG and terror components are taken away giving rise to uncontrolled shootings and action where we are a hacker and not an active part of the campaign. This is one of the biggest complaints that consumers may have from publishers, who do not take advantage of the unique features of each system.

This game is really one of the greatest games of all time, the plot, the action, the RPG style, the realistic tension. From a time when developers tried to delivery the best game in every aspect, not just a temporary money machine. I recommend this game not only for gamers who love the industry with passion, but for readers, the movies extusiasts, because its not just a game, its a travel, and you are submerged in the middle of the tragedy of the Von Braun starship.