Deus Ex

The Good
The freedom to make your own choices

Great music

Even some minor actions may affect the plot

The Bad
The engine isn't used to its full extent

The Bottom Line
There are just a few names in the universe of games that carry so much power as this gem. A lot of people just loved Deus Ex, others think it was much ado for nothing, but there is not a single computer games fan that back in 2000 haven't heard a single passionated opinion about this.

In Deus Ex you are a CJ Denton, an agent that works for the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition. The game is a successful mix of an adventure, RPG and first person action. From the first seconds you can choose your appearance and skills, and after been directed for your first assignment, your modus operandi will start affecting the game. You can choose to blast your way in, or try a low-profile solution. Each challenge has more than on way to deal with: will you lockpick the door or try to open it with electronics? Will you hack the computer defenses to turn them against your foes or simple try to discover a side way? Again the option is yours. In this game you have the a lot freedom, but some decisions lead to a different way, so you will also have to deal with theirs consequences.

Meanwhile, you are presented to a marvellous plot. There is tons of information around, that make your understanding of this new world a lot easier, even the non-related quotations are interesting, since they help to create an unique environment.

You feel the moral consequences of your actions too, and you will be pleased to see theirs results even when they direct don't affect the story.You'll really care about this world and will work hard to achieve whatever solution fits you best, until coming to one of the endings.

In the action department, you will be well served too. There is a good selection of weapons, and some mods may change them a bit, giving a better range or making them silent, for example. And as the space in your inventory is limited, you'll have to choose what suits you best. The nanotechnology will give you interesting options too. The enemies react to sounds and may try to chase you. Definitely don't let them seeing a dead or unconscious body as they will run for the alarm.

The graphics are average, but there is a lot of scenery and even thought the game only takes place at night, sometimes you will be caught only staring at the surroundings. The music is great, and you probably will stop some time just to hear the music too. As there is no relevant glitches or bugs, playing the game for hours won't be difficult, and since the game overall is so great, even by today's standards, it will be most likely one of the greatest playing experience you will have for a long time. So don't wait any longer, and do yourself a favor, buying this game.

The Good
Oh, where to begin? Let's start with the graphics, which are excellent, despite the (slowly) aging Unreal Engine. A bit sluggish at times, but the for the most part they are smooth and sleek. A note, though: If you have a non-3dfx card then you should definitely consider getting the Direct 3D patches before you play the game. They will enhance the performance of the game a great deal.

The graphics create a immersive, believable environment. The developers went very far to make it realistic, as well as to create a dark, cold atmosphere. From the gritty streets of Hell's Kitchen to the cold, bueraucratic UNATCO headquarters, every location feels exactly like it would if the game were real. Furthermore, the game features an unprecedented level of interactivity, allowing the player to make a real impact on the world, and affect things around him/her.

Of course, whatever else is good about the game is dwarfed by its storyline. The game's writers have managed to take something as cliche and predictable as conspiracy theory and created a wonderfully crafted storyline supported by good dialogue (although with less-than-perfect voice acting) and excellent story mechanics. As the plot progresses, the player is able to make many choices, which affect the overall outcome of the game. There are several different endings, and dozens of ways to get there.

Another unique aspect of the game is that it allows for many different playing styles. The developers have provided the player a variety of tools, such as taser stunners, gas grenades, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, explosives of all kind, and many different stealth weapons. This variety allows a player to play the game according to his or her own style. A player can be a demolitions expert, a Duke Nukem kill 'em all type, an expert hacker, a cunning stealth assassin... the list goes on.

If you're a fan of RPGs, FPSs, both or neither... in other words regardless of what type of games you're into, you really need to try this game. In short, it is a piece of gaming art, and should be a part of any gamer's collection.

The Bad
The AI is a bit funky at times, but not too bad. Just crank up the difficulty and you'll be too preoccupied with the computer guards trying to take off your head.

Also, the voice acting leaves a bit to be desired, especially in Hong Kong and Paris. It's mostly just the phony accents that can get irritating. It doesn't detract majorly from the game, however.

The Bottom Line
A huge FPS/RPG conspiracy theory epic that will grab you by the balls and not let go...

The Good
Whow!, Whow! and WHOW! This is by all means a game every single player on earth should play. Well, at least all of those who were so in love with games like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Unreal, Half-Life or System Shock. You acquire a role of JC Denton, a secret agent for UNATCO agency. It something like ex-UN, but not sure how much is it interested in world's peace. Anyhow, you are... well, more nano-technology then human, probably one of the newest models. Along with your brother, you both have a memory of your parents and everything, but as missions go by, you'll start to believe some words of the terrorists, especially when your brother switch sides.

The story goes pretty deep and there are many overtures and switchovers in it, as well as the thing you can change on any way you like, and still finish the game. Now to tell you the truth, that's something I rarely see as 100% compatible and efficient success in games industry. As you feel, as you think... don't hesitate to listen to your heart when playing, do as you please anytime, there is no such thing as error, only wrong judgment, hehe, but you play as you wish, with complete control over your character and his surroundings, and that's truly accomplished in this game.

The game runs pretty fine, even on my - now old - Pentium II 333MMX, and the fact I have 192MB of RAM doesn't do the trick. Guess it's the processor. Still, even if I reduced a certain quality or screen resolution, the game still looked a blast, simply amazing. The thing is, this game might have many same things like other games, but it's the only one that has all those things right! That's a fact!!! Besides, it does have a great new features which does make it unique.

Your character is built on nano technology, so you can upgrade him form time to time with nano canisters or upgrade canisters, choose the things you wanna upgrade, like being stealth (even literally, hehe), night vision, striking force, focusing targets, eyesight. Hey, didn't you wonder how come he's always wearing sun glasses, when it's always atmosphere like in Blade Runner, foggy and cloudy night. Either that, or you're crawling some dark sewers and buildings. Well, that explains the purpose of this nano technology, doesn't it? :)

As for the weapons, they're great. The thing that seems small, but that way, much more realistic, is the inventory since most of time I couldn't take some more advanced weapons and not leaving the ones I had behind, which was no option since I upgraded the weapons I had already, so it would be a terrible waste. Yeah, you'll notice how with certain weapons (sniper or a rifle gun), your hand isn't steady as you'd like. Well, with upgrading certain weapons, their range and accuracy, you'll be more easy to handle 'em. One thing's for sure in this game, game balance is amazingly correct. That means, there are no tricks like super indestructible bosses, or that you can destroy some bot simply with a rifle. Well, you can, but it'll take you more magazines then you think. Still, the game's pretty hard even if you play it in 'easy' mode. It's most likely you'll be killed many times whichever mode you choose. But the good thing is to pass the training and get acquainted with game's interface, weapons and tactics. Guess those that taught you taught you well... maybe too well for their mistake ;))

There are some pretty cool weapons, like shock buzzer that only render opponent unconscious, not leaving the blood trace so you can just remove the body where none of his pals will spot him with ease. Also, dart bow that's mounted on your hand (actually, you mount it, it's not a part of you originally, it's removable), that has three types of darts. Flare ones that are useful all the way through the game, usual dart with some light damage, and tranquilizer darts that disable opponents. Of course, when you hit him, he runs for a while before he blackouts, but he definitely blackouts. Okay, flamethrower is for mass audience, hehe, and makes crispy enemies rather easy, takes pretty much space though. Sword, well, some kind of advanced technological sword is pretty much useful. Still, if you have weak melee attack, you might need a few slashes to get your target down. Oh, and there's only one thing to be sure you kill your target with only one bullet... and that's to aim for the head.

There are other useful weapons, but when it comes to bots, the regular weapons doesn't do any good. You'll either need EMP grenades that disable robot electronics leaving it unable to perform guard duties, or you can use things like bazooka or rifle when switched to rockets pod, and aim from the distance. Also, you can hack into computers and security grids and sometimes, you can either disable enemy cameras, turrets and/or bots, or make 'em your ally. There are many places to travel to, many ways to get equipment, and many traps, so be careful to whom you trust. And whenever someone needs your help, be sure he's not using you for his own goal, and risking you without thinking twice. In such cases, you can either decline his offer and give him some lead, or make a job for him, collect reward and then waste the fu**er.

Now, this game also has something that's not always present in 1st-person RPG-shooters, and that's a damn fine tune. Music is really awesome. In his own style, it may be just as good as the one from Outlaws, well, in its own style I said :) Great speech, accents, places, everything. This just might be the right game to have the major genres included, and all are active all the way... action, adventure, role-playing, science-fiction, heck, if they ever made this game as a movie, Matrix wouldn't be as close :)

The Bad
Hmm, I wonder how they put such a huge and fantastic game on single CD. Bravo for them. Anyway, there should be some other way to make save games. I mean, I know, the more you explore, the more of that will have to be included in a save game file, but still, 15MB save game file... you just save your game a couple of times and there goes 100MB of your space. And that's only average, it varies form 4MB to 24MB of space. Still, game works fine, doesn't take too much to load, and has great atmosphere, storyline, characters, music and everything else.

The Bottom Line
This game hold too many secrets for me to be able to mention them here, but you can make a game skeleton out of this review, and the rest should be your decision. Still if you don't get this game, it can only be your loss, and your loss only.

As I mentioned earlier, for slower machines, you can use cheaper detail level and different resolutions, which is most of time okay (unless you played for some time in richly detailed level, you might not want to reduce that, hehe), but when it comes to characters, they're completely unrecognizable (faces, I mean), but when you put on rich level of details, they look just plain great. Well, you can always switch the things when you finish the mission and speed isn't important anymore, hehe. Anyway, even in the worst possible detail level, the game still looks better than all the 1st-person shooters I know.

The game has three different endings, but its path is chosen at the very end. I'm usually not a particularly fond of multiple endings, since that usually means you have to play from the beginning and then choose different path. Well, not this time, it's more like making a final decision of what to do. Still, none of the endings won't be that easy, even though they all end more or less at the same place.

Great game! Honestly! I'm really looking forward to its sequel, I wonder to which end will they continue it, if so :) This is a true game we were all longing for, yeah! Good work Ion Storm & Eidos!