Summary
It is not the God of video games... but it is really damn good
The Good
You know how there are sometimes games everyone keep recommending to you, asking you to play them, and you resist stubbornly, perhaps without even realizing why, talk rudely to your friends, and say: "Gimme a break! I'm not interested! Got that?! Read my lips:
I'm not interested!"
Well, that's what happened between my game-playing buddies, "Deus Ex", and myself. Nearly everyone I know spoke about this game as if it were a sacred object, almost an idol, worthy of zealous admiration and maybe even human sacrifices. Nearly every review was positive - no, positive is not the correct word. The game was praised up to the point of calling it the Messiah of gaming, the savior of sinful player souls, and the way to a new, enlightened gaming paradise.
I must say that
Ion Storm surely has a nasty habit of making games that repel me at first, only to capture my heart unconditionally later. First, there was
Anachronox, now it is "Deus Ex". With "Anachronox" all was relatively simple, since it was clearly an underdog, and I'm always defending the underdogs of all kinds. But "Deus Ex" annoyed me long before I actually laid my paws on it also because it was often presented as a FPS. "What the hell is going on", - I was thinking to myself, nervously scrolling down the impressive list of positive reviews to "Deus Ex" at Moby Games, - "So many positive reviews to a... wait a second... FPS?!" I leaped to my feet and shouted: "No way! Not a FPS! I know all of 'em, those stupid games where you shoot tomato-faced monsters with a chainsaw, while they are attacking you with a machine gun. 'Doom', 'Quake', 'Unreal'... I know what it is. Not interested".
Then I read some reviews and realized the game was a kind of a fancy mixture between FPS, sneaking game, RPG, and adventure, and not just a brainless gory shooter à la "Doom". It sounded very promising and interesting, and I bought a copy of this game.
I was heavily disappointed. The game seemed to be a completely unbalanced, unrealistic crate-dashing simulation, with ugly character graphics, horrible voice acting, and a confusing gameplay. I couldn't understand what the others saw in it. Yet it was true: virtually all the serious gamers you can find at MobyGames loved this game and praised it beyond any limit. I was greatly outnumbered, but it only strengthened my will to fight and to defend my opinion. Which was - alas! - nothing but a first impression, which is not always correct, contrary to my previous experience with video games.
Sometimes love begins with hatred, although I must say it can only apply very rarely to my relationships with my beloved games (and women... but I'm off-topic). "Deus Ex" was this rare case. I disliked it, and then I grew to love it, it was as simple as that. Now I should explain why it happened this way.
In fact, the game is really heating up pretty slowly. The intro sequence is so unspectacular, and the first mission is so uninteresting, that for a certain time my objective judgment was completely blocked. It takes time to really get into the game, to start caring about the strange main character, and to follow the story developing slowly, but surely.
It is interesting that the atmosphere in the game also develops gradually. The more I played, the more I got sucked into the game, and finally I found myself praising it for what I was already prepared to condemn: its atmosphere. It increases slowly, the more missions you get, and the more clear the relationships between the different characters of the game become. After you get your partner, and your brother appears on the scene as a really important figure, "Deus Ex" becomes more than just interesting - it actually gets captivating and fascinating.
It is still hard for me to figure out why I suddenly like this game, and it is needless to write just one more review about what is definitely the game's strongest point: its gameplay. The fantastic interaction with the world, which can be almost (almost!) compared to
Ultima-style "if it is there, you can use it" kind of gameplay disturbed me in the beginning, because it distracted me - as I thought - from the story. But the point is, you can play the game as if it belongs only to
one genre and has only
one type of interaction. Of course, you won't go far away here just trying to shoot everybody around. But you also don't need to disable every single alarm or to hack every single computer system to get what you need. The game conveniently offers you several ways of solving a problem. If it doesn't go with force, try using the brains; and vice versa.
I found myself attracted more to the actual story of the game than to its unusual gameplay. The story is not just a simple "good guys vs. bad guys" thing it seems in the beginning. And the characters are more than just anonymous voices who give you missions. Yes, it takes time to go into the story, but its development and the ending makes up for the long wait. And the final part lets you choose between three ways, each one of which leads to a convincing (in its own way), yet a problematic ending. Bravo! There's no "save the world, get the girl" stuff: you should apply
your philosophy and
your vision of the world to the game. It is like
Shin Megami Tensei, only a bit more concrete.
I loved the RPG touch. You gather "experience points" which you can then allocate to make your character more skillful. You choose yourself how to do it, like in a true hardcore RPG. You can upgrade your weapon skills, or your ability to pick locks, or your swimming, etc. and all those skills are important, it really shows in the game and is a testimony of its fantastic programming. Then there are the bio-upgrades which work a lot like equipment or even like magic spells, you can protect your characters from various poisons and similar things, heal him, make him jump higher, and so on.
All this together, story, setting, characters and the unique gameplay - all this sucks the player in and makes him addicted. You start realizing how large the world of "Deus Ex" is, and how seemingly limitless are its possibilities.
The locations of "Deus Ex" are also cool, by the way. You visit large urban areas such as New York or Hong-Kong (one of the best levels), there's no linear "go there, talk to that guy, take this" progresing, on the contrary, you wander around like in a RPG or an adventure game, talk to characters, gather objects, and so on. A very original and innovative feature for an FPS - I repeat, for an FPS.
And perhaps most importantly, the game has loads of style. It has its own unique character design, interaction possibilities, usage of objects, etc. It has a strong personality, and you notice it pretty soon. Personality in storyline, in graphics, in music, and in the gameplay.
The Bad
I could mention some obvious flaws such as the not-so-hot graphics in certain areas, the somewhat repetitive level design (too many "square" levels, vents are a bit overused), the length of the game, which is not always a plus (it starts repeating itself, and while some parts are brilliant and full of plot twists, others are just "missions" devoid of story), the average voice acting, the dubious AI (you drop an electronic grenade to disable an alarm two meters from the guard, but he ignores it completely; you run loudly towards a terrorist, and instead of turning his head back at the noise, he waits until you aim your gun at his skull, and says something like "Aha! An intruder, eh? I think you shouldn't be here! Or am I wrong? Maybe it should be so?") and so on. But to tell you the truth, those things didn't really disturbed me. I enjoyed playing the game, and I enjoyed it more and more the more I played it. But one thing I disliked was the hype.
So yes, it is a great game. A truly innovative FPS with excellent RPG elements. Or a really fantastic RPG which plays like an FPS. Really, it is a great game, and I mean it. But what's about it being so non-linear that it leaves all other games behind? I'm sorry, but "Deus Ex" is much more linear than your typical modern PC-style RPG, and even than console RPGs. You can't choose where to go, there is no "world map", you must complete your missions in a particular order, and whether you choose to sneak or to go gun-blazing the result will be pretty much the same. Flexible, intelligent gameplay still doesn't equal non-linearity. And there's nothing wrong with that, but I feel annoyed when games are praised for something they are not. I have the feeling that the people who called "Deus Ex" non-linear never played true RPGs. Take any Ultima game, for example (well, not any, but those from fourth to seventh, part one). Now this is non-linearity! "Deus Ex" offers a lot of choice within the levels, and near the end of the game, but its structure is still similar to most FPSs, which are linear by tradition.
And the story is not that amazing. Interesting, yes, with some very good twists, and a fantastic moral choice in the end, but play any good console-style RPG and you'll encounter more complex, deep, and brilliant stories, with way more appealing characters.
The Bottom Line
There is no doubt about that: "Deus Ex" is fantastic. It has great, flexible gameplay, marvelous world, interesting locations, above-average plot, and is overall one of the most addictive and fun games out there. It is also very innovative and important for the development of gaming, bringing shooters, "sneakers" and RPGs together. It fully deserves the praise it has got and stands out as one of the most remarkable game-making achievements of recent years. Yet it is not the game that "has it all", not the manifestation of non-linearity, incomparable storytelling, or hardcore role-playing. It is a great game, just a great game. And to say this already means a lot.
