Come on people, are you really going to turn this into a multiplayer vs. single player thing?
I mean seriously. This is a pointless debate because it's going to go on and on and it's not oging to get anywehre.
Anyone in their right mind can see, System Shock 2 is the best choice.
Half-life 2 has headcrabs and futuristic-looking soldiers and facial expressions, whoop de frickin doo. Halo 2 has fantastic looking graphics of master chief and dual-weapons, not to mention a slew of new vehicles and multiplayer modes and options. But where are you going to see the Point-and-click interface to equip new weapons in a very diablo 2-esque item inventory system? WHere are you going to be able to upgrade your weapons with cybernetic or biological enhancements? You know how many times you see Master chief in Halo 2? about...well let's say 20 cutscenes. He's either talking, or got a gun, or flying in a ship, or turning off a bomb, or whatever. In half life 2, how many times do you see your character? If you got the right box, Gordon Freeman's face is right there. Plus you get to see the HEV suit again while you're in-game. Essentially, Gordon freeman's face is well-known, as well known as master chief. But what is the name of our nearly faceless character of system shock two? How many times do you see his face? Twice. That's right, the beginning, and the end. THe rest of the game is totally story driven and brought out through your experiences in the game. THerefore, System Shock 2 is more original.
Where in half-life 2 are you going to see zombies screaming "RUN, GO NOW" because they can't control their own body functions and they know the parasite within them will kill you? Where in halo 2 will you find an organism that not only takes over the victem...but has a very very fine and intricate looking veign going down the victem's face? Nowehre. Sure the flood look cool, but do you see them talking? No, all they do is run around and throw themselves at people in a lollygagging kind of way, exploding right next to you or hitting you with their flailing arms, and it can be assumed that there is no real "control" for the flood, as they just randomly attack. No. System Shock two has more intelligence put into the design of the host/parasite system.
A True, great superiority of System Shock two comes in it's animations as well.
Just look at halo 2. You stare at a green suit and a gold reflective eye visor. WHat the heck is talking under there? WHere's the mouth moving? Seriously, the very athletic asian under the suit who can take a beating and handle acrobatic situations should stop getting a voice over and have a good-looking soldier face showing through his visor. I mean all else we see is some strange looking aliens with wierd white teeth and gilled-mouths or worm-heads "talking," when in actuality we're looking at very predator-esque seeming worm head with little tentacles sticking out that move out and in. This is supposed to give the impression that the alien is "talking," but it can easily be assumed that the aliens are just voiced-over, conceptually recycled morons.
IN half-life two, they implement a very unique system for facial expressions, including eye movement, cheek movement, and various other parts of the face--giving what they call a more "realistic" feel to the game. Now, just look at this as a gamer. When you're blasting the crap out of things, do you really care how emotional a character is? WHat they're thinking, or their character development? Valve just took a wrong direction here, focusing on unimportant character development in a very action-oriented game. It's like having romeo and juliette dialogue in the middle of Quenten Tarentino's "From dusk till dawn." What's the point?
No, system shock two has great animations, as can be seen at the end of the game when your character stares his nemesis in the face on a very well-animated 2D square surface in a room consisting of a very large series of square cubes. The nemesis's mouth even moves with a series of sprites, giving the illusion that it is talking. This very effective method both ceases to confuse the gamer, and gives a fun, scary, and realistic feel to the game.
And don't even get me started on the weapon systems.
Sure, Halo two has dual-weapons, alien and human, not to mention enhanced and newer weapons from it's previous Halo: Combat Evolved. Half-life 2 has the new "Gravity gun," where you can pick up heavy items and "throw" them at alien or human scum.
Where's the upgrades?
System shock two lets you spend hours and hours searching for upgrades, or searching for points and cyber-units that let you have the ability to buy skills to let you later upgrade things yourself (assuming you don't fail the attempt to upgrade), not to mention let you repair weapons that you've already upgraded and damaged, or broken weapons that you've found. This adds to gameplay, and also eliminates the necessity to pick up a new weapon constantly, like in halo 2.
I could go on, but theres just too much to say. System Shock 2 is far superior visually, story-wise, and weapon-wise, not to mention other unmentioned qualities.
Screw halo 2 and half-life 2!!!!
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