Says it all really. Which System Shock game is better? I personally go with 2. 1 is great, but even with the Enhanced Editions changes it's not as refined as 2. Plus 2 has the better music score.

I've played System Shock 2 a lot more, but that is purely because of the horrible controls of the original game. After games started using mouselook by default, I couldn't go back to keyboard controls. I did one playthrough back when SS 1 was a new game, but it's been sooo long since then. I just bought SS 1 Enhanced Edition, and oh boy do I get some serious nostalgia flashbacks. I'm not bothered by the small game window or the graphics at all, and now that the game supports mouselook, I'm looking forward to reliving one of the best games in PC history.

So, to answer your question briefly: I like System Shock 1 more, but part of the reason is certainly the 20-year period when I didn't touch the game at all. Both are very good games with great atmoshphere.

The first one, it had more open ended gameplay, cyberspace and it was far more apart from other games in it's day and in a way it still is.
I like the second one but it's more of a linear shooter, I didn't much care about the RPG elements they shoehorned in, the game is too short for it IMO.

I've played SS2 numerous times since it's original release back then and is one of my favourite PC games. A few days ago I started SS1 Enhanced and all I can say is "WOW, what I've been missing". It may take a while to get accustomed in the controls but then they become like second nature. I can't tell you which one is better since I haven't finished it yet but I doubt I'll compare them anyway. The atmosphere is wonderful, the graphics are very very very detailed and I think the first game is harder than the second. You can go fullscreen at any time just by clicking the corresponding button at the left side of the HUD. Unless you meant something else by "small window".

System Shock 1 adn System Shock 2 are two very different games each one with its own highs and lows.
If forced to choose between the two I'll go fo System Shock 1, by far more open ended, has an incredible plot and background, much more original.
And SS1 should be played with the original controls, mouselook is basically cheating and unbalanced and definitely hurts the spirit of the game. SS1 controls were and still are incredibly innovative and practical, when people moan about controls I can't help but think when watching TV I saw a dog riding a bike and walk the rope, but human beings the most intelligent species on this planet isn't able to control a game by a mouse, I've seen pigs use a mouse, incredible...

Man honestly it's you overreacting, I just spoke my mind in a respectful way and I was in no way comparing people to pigs, to tell it all I wrote about dogs too but got stroke by pigs. And I just want to spare you and the rest of the forums the load of tasteless jokes that are crossing my mind right now.
Are you some kind of pig's rights and freedom activist? Or are you a people-incapable-or-too-lazy-to-get-used-to-whatever-control-method-with-the-exception-of-joypad-or-mouse-+-ke ybord activist or human rights fighter? :D
In my time whey you got a software you first had to get used to the controls and the philosophy behind their scheme, since Windows and Consoles and Steam everything got "streamlined", standardized and people got lazier and lazier. I bet that if you pick some random guy and put him in front of Wordperfect or GEM he won't be able to use them. Great tools capable still today of doing great stuff.
I'm sure that if a dog can walk a rope, ride a bicycle, if pigs can use mouse or dolphins, if dolphins don't hurt your feelings, then other human beings (the dominant specie on the face of this planet, let's remember it) can get used to a non standard control method instead of mark it as clunky after 5 seconds because they are simply lazy.

I'm not sure if people got lazier (although you're maybe right about that since there are many people that want everything to be done with one click & oversimplification - "am I supposed to install it myself?" followed by the "that's why I prefer Steam, I don't have to do anything myself apart from clicking the button."***) but you should recognize the fact that more people begun to use computers as a result of this simplification in software. Even old(-er) people use computers nowadays and they do perfectly fine because, usually, it is not needed to read a bulky manual to learn to use any modern software (mind you, I don't mean CAD or 3D processing).

By the way, how many people used computers back in your time? In my time, there were the professionals that used computers as part of their work and the younger people for gaming, communication & whatever else. Nowadays, I see there are the professionals, younger people, their parents, grandparents and everyone in between.

*** And if this isn't happening due to laziness, it's perfectly fine in my opinion, since not all users are tech savvy and just want to play PC games rather than buy a console.

No, that was not in a respectful way, I'm sorry ;-) Might just be a misunderstanding. Besides, I'm not really defending anyone - just saying that the way you phrased it was somewhat in poor taste. Software engineer who understands importance of standardization. So yes. Because there were no reasonable standards when we were young - which I would like to point out is a bad thing. Other thing is that people play videogames for relaxation and entertainment, not to fight controls. I don't really have time to elaborate right now, but unless you're really bad at using mouse and keyboard hotkeys, difficulty difference is tiny - regardless of your control scheme, you walk around and lean around every corner. Most weapons are instant anyway and those which aren't are esier to shoot out of the air than dodge. Besides, difficulty induced by fighting controls is bad difficulty.

To be honest saying that SS1's controls are bad is more because people are conditioned to WASD+mouse and used to DOOM gameplay than anything else, actually it can be said that as far as SS1's keyboard controls are concerned WSAD is closely matched when DOOM still used the cursor keys and the way the crosshairs move like a mousepointer makes it easier to interact with the environment.
And no, I don't play games to relax, for me it's serious business, I use work to relax. :^)

I never had complaints about Shock 1's controls, I got used to it quite quickly. When a game is that engaging and immersive, as Shock 1 was I had no problem with getting to know the controls.

I prefer Shock 1 slightly more than Shock 2, I think Shock 2 suffered from too much "The Many" and not enough SHODAN, also Shock 2's final eighth of the game was always quite weakest for me. Shock 1 has no weak point of the game, every single portion of it was engaging, though admittedly I kinda wish it didn't end in Cyberspace.

My top 5 PC games of all time:

System Shock
Unreal
Deus Ex
System Shock 2
Crusader - No Remorse

I really should stop reading threads about games I'm currently playing/ haven't played yet.

I have actually made it a goal this year to play all the System Shock and Bioshock games in order of release (currently almost finished with Bioshock 2) to see how these games evolved.

When I played System Shock 1 over the summer, I couldn't get the mouselook mod to work properly. So I had to attempt playing with the default controls. It actually wasn't so bad after getting used to them, the verticality made level 8 a pain though. Very surprised to see how ahead of it's time SS1 was. Very underrated game. I bought the enhanced edition as soon as I heard about it. Go ahead and call me strange, but I actually prefer the original controls over the mouselook implantation in the EE. The mouselook felt really tacked on and clunky, it didn't work well with the way I played the game.

System Shock 2 is my preferred game because it improved the upon the first game in most aspects. I say most because the laser rapier was useless compared to the one in the first game. I really liked on how SS2 allowed for many more playstyles. I saw videos of others playing the game, and was intrigued to see how different their level approaches were to mine. I really hated the ending though.

(MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD)
I didn't find the teeth jumping as bad as everyone says it is, but I thought the Brain of the Many was the worst part of the whole game. Wish I had the invisibility PSI for that part. Plus the final boss and ending video really felt out of place.