Deus Ex
For: PC
Genre: shooter/adventure/RPG
Reviewed by: Escee (Brandon)
Developer: Ion Storm
Publisher: Eidos
Released:6.22.00
 
Deus Ex brings new life to PC gaming. For a while, I had been disappointed in PC gaming. There really was nothing new on the PC that wasn't just a port from a console, or just a game that would later be ported to a console (like Starcraft and Half-Life, both ported to consoles). Deus Ex brings newfound life to the realm of PC gaming. It is my nomination for Game of the Year 2000.

Deus Ex is, on the outside, a first-person shooter, much like Half-Life. But on the inside, Deus Ex is a combination of genres. It is a first-person shooter, an adventure game, and an RPG, all in one. Deus Ex rewards exploration, like an adventure game. There are many ways to finish each and every level, and the game is completely non-linear, much like an adventure game. Like an RPG, you talk to people to gather information, and you gain experience points ("skill points") as you advance, which you can allocate to various skills. As you can see, Deus Ex revolutionizes the FPS genre. Half-Life set the standard, and Deus Ex expands the boundaries of that standard.

Deus Ex is a very challenging game. Even the first level is very open-ended, and will seem hard the first time you play it, but once you get to the later levels, you will realize that Deus Ex does have a difficulty curve, even if it does start fairly high.

In Deus Ex, you can customize your character's skills. You start off with so many skill points to allocate to various skills, such as pistols, rifles, lockpicking, computers, and swimming. You will gain more skill points through the game through exploration and progress. If you have enough training in rifles, your sniper scope will not move around as much and you will therefore have more accuracy. Train more in computers, and your hacking will have greater effects and uses. Train in lockpicking, and it will take less time and less resources to pick locks. It is through this system that you can choose that way that you want to play the game. If you want to run through the game and kill everyone, allocate skill points to your weapons, so you will do more damage and have better accuracy. If you want to take detours and sneak around, allocate skill points to hacking, lockpicking, or electronics, so you can disable security systems and tough security robots. With enough skill in hacking, you can even turn turrets against your enemies, to clear the room so you don't have to get your hands dirty.

Deus Ex also features an augmentations system. In various places in the game, you will find augmentation canisters. Each canister contains a selection of two augs. You can select one and install it. You will then be able to use special aug features, such as cloaking, healing, or speed enhancement. These features drain bio-energy, which you must manage seperately from your health. Once I got the healing aug, I would run into situations where I was far outnumbered, turn on my healing aug, and be victorious. I would then refill by bio-energy and have full health. The aug system adds a whole new twist to the game. Not only must you manage both your health and bio-energy, but you can customize your game even more. For those that want to sneak around, you can equip a cloaking aug and slip past enemy forces.

Deus Ex also features a compelling storyline. The game takes place in a dark future, where poverty is all over the streets. A powerful nanovirus, dubbed "The Grey Death," has created an epidemic, and there is not enough ambrosia (the medicine to treat the Grey Death) to go around. Terrorist groups form out of the rioting and UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) is trying to hold society together. Your character, JC Denton, is a cybernetically enhanced agent of UNATCO (it is this fact which enables him to use augmentations). JC will find himself in the middle of a conspiracy when his brother Paul joins the "terrorists." You will uncover the fact that UNATCO is only a small part of a larger organization, Majestic 12. Majestic 12 is manufacturing both the nanovirus and the ambrosia, and is using the epidemic and the demand for ambrosia to try and gain control of the world.
 
Graphics
Deus Ex uses a greatly modified version of the Unreal engine. The graphics are very dark, in order to fit the mood of the story, and thus it is hard for the game to show off its beauty. But in certain areas of the game, you will see the special effects, such as amazing reflection effects on the marble-tile floor in the MJ12 lab in Versalife of Hong Kong. There are areas where the framerate falls if your system is not powerful enough, but if you have a powerful machine, these times are few and far between. The only complain I have is the backgrounds. They are, for the most part static images as opposed to multi-tiered backgrounds. Other than that, the graphics are great.
 
Sound
Deus Ex has very high-quality sound. The music is usually unnoticed, but it is good quality if you take the time to listen. The sound effects and voice-acting are top-notch.
 
Gameplay
Deus Ex is my nomination for Game of the Year 2000. I loved the way that the game was non-stop. There were no absolute missions. The game flowed from objective to objective seamlessly. (Well, except for the extremely long loading times, which sucked). I loved the RPG and adventure elements incorporated into the FPS genre.

Control
The controls are the standard FPS controls: look with the mouse, go forward with "W" and backward with "S," choose your weapon (or, in Deus Ex, your weapon or tool) with the number keys, jump with the spacebar. It is tried and true and works perfectly.
 
Lastability
The storyline is intruiging enough that you may want to go back and play it again. In addition, there are three different endings to the game, depending on your actions in the final mission. There is also a multiplayer patch (downloadable from deusex.com) which adds the multiplayer mode to the game.
 
Ratings

12.29.00

click on the above screenshots for larger versions.
 
images from ign