Deus Ex

The Good
I liked the storyline of corruption and conspiracy and the ability of the player to interact with the environment. The skill-building element backed up the strategic FPS element well, and allowed more variation in each game. I found it helpful that there were several different ways to approach any given situation/mission.

The Bad
I thought the ending(s) were a bit disappointing because they don't really tell you what happened, but just hint at it. Also the AI was slightly weird, such as if you set off an alarm, no back-up troops enter the room. I would expect that an alarm would be heard throughout a complex. A lot of the scenes were dark and I found it hard to see with any screen glare, but it did add to the mood. Last thing...I have never before played a game with such long loading times...maybe it's just me.

The Bottom Line
This game is for anyone who likes FPS with a strategic element, such as a bloodier Rainbow Six. Be warned, this is and RPG, so if you can't stand them, stay away. I recommend this game to anybody who's interested, but make sure you play in a dark room with good speakers.

The Good
I loved the different locations. Hong Kong was my favorite. I liked the music for the most part. It looked nice, consistent. It was a very fluorescent game. It was cool how you could hack your way through, sneak your way through, or just blast your way through, depending on your mood. You get to blow stuff up! A lot of stuff! The Vandenberg showdown is the single coolest moment in the game, where you hijack a couple of big bots, who start blasting the bad bots, and they're shooting each other for about five minutes. That was at Vandenberg, right?

The best thing about the game was the storyline. The story and dialogue, for a video game, were rich and interesting, and the continuity was nice. You meet interesting people with personality. You travel around the world, learning the truth of conspiracies. I'm kind of a conspiracy fan, so I ate it all right up.

The Bad
There are some nit-picky items that bothered me. The characters acted spazzy and ran around all crazy. It was somehow unsatisfying to fight with standard guns, at least until your skill improved. The ability to blow stuff up with GEP guns and HE20mm and LAMs compensated for this in a big way.

The Bottom Line
This is just fun. It's kind of an intelligent game, so it may turn you off if you're not down with all that fancy book-learning. If you're looking for a game where you just kill your way to the end (and who isn't?), play Half-life. If you're willing to immerse yourself in an interesting story and read a lot of e-mails and such, You'll be rewarded.

The Good
There are two great things about Deus Ex. One, the gameplay system is very interactive, so you can talk to whoever, use an ATM machine, buy candy bars and cola at vending machines, use computers, and pick up or destroy almost everything, from bags of garbage to a basketball You can even Hack into computers and use lock picks. The other great part about Deus Ex is that there are always at least two solutions to any problem in the game, and the characters react differently to whatever you do. You can also upgrade any weapon, either to steady your aim, make it stronger, etc. Also, the game uses something called 'Augmentations'. Implants that help improve what you do or let you do have something like a built-in flashlight. You have different skills in the game, and as long as you have enough skill points, you an upgrade whatever skill you want. Finally, the game is very long. Although 13 levels seems short, every level takes like up to three hours to beat. Fortunately, you get to keep whatever stuff you have in your thirt-slot inventory with you. This Ion Storms first good game, and will make you forget about the horrible Daikatana.

The Bad
As good as the game is, there are a few things that could have been fixed for the final release that could not be fixed in a patch. The worst one is, sometimes gameplay can feel VERY sluggish, for example, 25% of the time you will use just the keyboard to walk around, strafe/etc. The rest of the time you will be using the mouse and keyboard at the same time unlike other first-person games, because, well shooting the enemies (almost always other humans) is not done well, and how they react, unlike other action FPS/RPGs like System Shock 2. Also, AI can be pretty stupid sometimes, like when you shoot an NSF terrorist a few times, and then he just runs around a corner standing tere waiting for you to shoot him. Fortunately this does not happen very often. Also, the voice lack any emotion, despite the great script and plot. Also, there is zero character development, like in any RPG, and no side quests to accomplish. Also, for a game that tries to be realistic, its disapponting that the graphics are straight average. Ion Storm should have chosen the Thief 2 engine, since because it was so good at making dark levels, and Deus Ex takes place a night, it would be perfect, instead of the Unreal engine. Another disappointment is that there is no multiplay, although, like System Shock 2, a patch is coming out for Cooperative play, which should be very fun.

The Bottom Line
Deus Ex is like a combination of sneaky gameplay like Thief, levels like the Playstation game Syphon Filter, and role playing elements put together in a plot simmiliar to Perfect Dark, and some things inspired by The Matrix. If this doesn't make you want to buy the game, nothing will!