Deus Ex

The Good
There are some major changes in the PlayStation 2 port, the first thing you'll notice is the different GUI and inventory system. It's easy to use and works great with the PS2 controller, though the change that every weapon uses one weapon slot, divided into weapon types might be questionable, since that makes part of the game a whole lot easier than the PC version. Now you can have the sniper rifle, GEP, assault rifle and assault shotgun all at once, and all melee weapons are stacked into one slot, meaning you can pick up every single one of them. Of course there are a lot of positive things about this, it makes the inventory very easy to handle with the controller. There is also a great system of marking items for fast selection, which you can then scroll through using the up/down arrows on the digital pad. The character models has got an much needed improvement, which you might not see at first, but when you return to the PC version you quickly notice the difference. The motion captured animation of the characters is excellent, including quite detailed eyes, and thief style dead/unconscious bodies which collapse realistically when you throw them around (the bodies in the PC version where not animated at all and where stiff as boards). The AI has also got itself some improvement, enemies can see you when you expect them to see you most of the time, and allies help you out a bit more than in the PC version. We shouldn't forget the music either, every track in the game has been re-recorded and remixed, all lo-fi sampled strings have been replaced with real orchestra instruments. You often end up watching the main menu for minutes just to hear the fantastic new rendition of the Deus Ex theme, the introduction and ending scenes have been remade as great looking FMV's, almost comparable to the ones seen in Deus Ex: Invisible War. They have made the use of nanokeys automated, so you only have to click on a door to unlock it, if you have the key, instead of putting your weapon down to use the keyring, which I think is a good thing.

In many ways this is a fantastic port, but it also got some annoying flaws ...

The Bad
There are some things in the port that really annoys me, the thing that annoys me the most is the extreme slowdowns you encounter in several parts of the game, often when they are least wanted, such as when you get into a firefight with several bots and soldiers at once. Parts of a level when you are boarding a big freighter are almost unplayable, and the last level got increasingly slower the more objectives I completed. Sometimes the lag can make you miss enemies you are trying to shoot, though the auto-aiming feature usually makes sure you hit even if your crosshair jumps inches at a time in the worst slowdowns. On a few occasions I encountered an horrible bug that made the game exit and jump to the main menu when I tried to save, making all progress since the last save go lost. This only happened twice in all the times I saved, but I really recommend you to save often to make sure you don't loose to much if a save at a critical time fails. They have changed the augmentation system slightly, so that you can install augmentations any time you like when you've found an canister, while this is generally a good thing, some in-game help and the manual still claim that you have to use a medbot to install them. There are also some differences in the way the Data Vault and computer use works, the great feature from the PC version, where you could go to the Data Vault and read all previous communication with NPC's has been removed, making it hard at times to remember what you are supposed to do. There isn't as much information stored in your "Notes" either (and the feature to edit notes or add your own has been removed, though I can understand why, with the lack of a keyboard). When you find passwords or keycodes they are stored and automatically entered when you use the a computer or keypad which you have the codes for. While this saves you the inconvenience of having to memorize codes, or check your data vault for passwords every time you want to use a computer, this also takes away the possibility to guess a lot of codes and eventually finding out the right one by chance. Now you either have the code or have to hack or use multitools to bypass security computers or keypads. Due to the memory limitations of the PS2 all levels have been remade and split up into several parts with loading times (much longer than those you encountered in the PC version by the way) between them. While they have done a great job most of the time, often with results which are visually indistinguishable from their PC counterparts, or even better looking in a few occasions, they have removed many of the different ways to get past obstacles, usually only leaving a couple of the most obvious ones. The streets of New York has got the worst treatment in my opinion, but also parts of Hong Kong, where it feels like you are running through doom style claustrophobic corridors rather than real city streets. The lack of a multiplayer mode is also a bit sad, though it wasn't completely necessary. But since the multiplayer patch had been released for the PC version by the time this port was released, one would think they could have included it in this version as well.

To be perfectly honest though, I think most of the flaws are minor ones. Except for the slowdowns and the save game bug (which both are really annoying), you get used to the other differences and appreciate the fantastic story instead.

The Bottom Line
Deus Ex on PC was a fantastic FPS/RPG hybrid with an fascinating storyline, and the PlayStation 2 port has managed to keep almost all of the things that made the original game great, while improving the graphics and music a lot. It is far from flawless though, but it still a great PlayStation 2 game, well worth the time and money you invest in it. I will end with an advice: SAVE OFTEN!

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?!"

Well, that's what happened between my game-playing buddies, Deus Ex, and myself. Nearly everyone 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.

Since I usually can't stand this kind of hype, Deus Ex annoyed me long before I actually laid my paws on it. But when I read some of the reviews more carefully and realized the game was a kind of a fancy mixture between FPS, sneaking game, RPG, and adventure, I understood I wouldn't be myself if I didn't try it.

I can't say I fell in love with the game from the moment I inserted the disc into the drive. In fact, the game was heating up pretty slowly. The intro sequence is rather unspectacular, and the first mission not particularly exciting. But times has passed, and it really grew on me.

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.

One of the decisive gameplay elements here is the fantastic interaction with the world, which can be almost compared to Ultima-style "if it is there, you can use it" kind of gameplay. You can fool around with pretty much everything you see, and sometimes the results are more interesting and rewarding than you'd expect. I absolutely love this kind of attention to interaction and detail. I mean, which other game lets you take a break from the story, walk over to a playground and play some basketball?

Deus Ex is a spiritual successor to the fantastic System Shock 2, especially in the way it experiments with different genres. Like System Shock 2, it is also primarily a FPS with strong RPG elements; but it goes even further than its predecessor in merging various playing styles into a single coherent and immensely satisfying whole.

The magic of Deus Ex is that it allows you to play it the way you want to. The different genres are not "over-imposed" on each other, but are merged in such a way that you won't notice it; you'll simply feel that you can do whatever you want. The subtlety of this genre-mixing is astounding; but even more astounding is the fact the game actually works as a representative of any of the genres it contains, taken separately.

Basically, if you liked straight-forward shooters, you can play Deus Ex as one. If you liked Thief-style sneaking, Deus Ex provides it for you as well. If you like RPGs, you can focus your attention on that aspect when playing this game. The thing is that Deus Ex only rarely throws at you tasks that can be completed only in one way; it doesn't have "shooting missions", "stealth missions", etc. You 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. You choose the approach by yourself almost at any given moment. This is the greatness of Deus Ex.

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.

The locations of Deus Ex are, for the most part, interesting, large and detailed. 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" advancement; on the contrary, you wander around like in a RPG or an adventure game, talk to characters, gather objects, and so on.

The story is more than 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 get 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.

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 bother me.

The story is not that great. Interesting, yes, with a couple of very good twists, and some fantastic moral choices in the end, but it couldn't help being a bit dry and uninvolved for a game of this scope. Also, the writing is definitely less than stellar; some of the dialogue seems to be taken straight out of a not particularly brilliant B-rated movie.

The Bottom Line
There is no doubt about that: Deus Ex is amazing. Incredible gameplay flexibility, marvelous interactive world, interesting locations and a good plot make it an outstanding shooter/RPG hybrid and an overwhelming, deeply satisfying experience. It fully deserves the praise it has got and stands out as one of the most remarkable achievements of video game design.

The Good
Where should I start? Okay, first, the graphics are totally awesome (but the mouths are jerky). The sound is excellent, as well as the music, and the alarm is totally freaky. The story...well, I can't praise it highly enough. I got a tingly feeling by the end because of the greatness of the twisted plot. I never got that feeling from any other game. Everything is very non-linear, and you can customize anything, and I mean anything: pathways, side quests, decisions, augmentations, skills, inventory: you name it! The game world is extremely detailed, with a network of vents and tons of different pathways in every level. Will you: sneak through the vents, wasting a lockpick; go in using the all-action approach; hijack the security; go through the backdoor elevator, using a multitool; sneak out using another path; etc. There are practically an infinite amount of paths you can take, and there are tons of buildings and characters that you don't have to visit! WOW! Finally, the game has a sort of real-world/cyberpunk feeling: a gritty feeling which I REALLY liked...it really helped the game along.

The Bad
I didn't like the fact that it was set in the night. Also, the AI doesn't instantly see you, it always has to say something stupid, even if you're in front of their nose ("Who's there, I know you're around here somewhere!"). In addition, you have limited inventory space (this isn't bad...I just didn't like it). The loading times are waaaaay to long, and you die too often. There are also loads of ammo shortages in the beginning. Finally, after you beat the game once, playing it again isn't as surprising. But that is nothing!

The Bottom Line
Damn! This is, hands down, the best game I have EVER, EVER played, and I played LOTS of games!