Deus Ex (2000)

Let's get a few things out of the way first:

1. The game is just plain ugly to look at. I have not seen the 2015 mod, so maybe it's improved now
2. The protagonist's monotone voice can be grating after a while, however this was a development team choice. They didn't want the voice actor to "persuade" the gamer as to how to feel about a game event. In a game full of choice, they even wanted the gamer to have freedom to feel how they wanted to feel
3. While I did call the game revolutionary, it was clearly inspired by System Shock
4. To write down all my thoughts on this important game would be novel length, so I'll try to restrain myself

This game is all about choice. Some games give you the illusion of choice, but this game really has consequences for the choices you make

When I first played this game in 2001, the degree of choice was off putting. Too many decisions! I needed a game to tell me what to do and how to do it. Someone hold my hand and tell me what to do!! This game cut the rope that I was tightly holding on to and left me alone with no safety net. I had to take a step back from the game for about a week, but when I came back to it, it was wonderful

This game is a conspiracy theorist wet dream. The game is chock full of conspiracies and underground shady goings on

It's got it all. Shooting, stealth, roleplaying, adventure. Missions can be completed in countless ways, which will often lead to extremely different outcomes. There were so many times that I would test the games limits as to what I felt the game would surely NOT allow me to do, only to find that it would!

If that wasn't enough, how you augment your character's abilities will also completely change your gameplay and what avenues are available to complete a task. Do you want to be more skilled in hand-to-hand combat, or do you want to just be stronger and have the ability to lift heavier objects? Whatever you decide will change things and not just subtly

The plot and world building are amazing. While I wouldn't go so far as to say that the game predicted world events, the game begins with the knowledge that New York's Twin Towers were destroyed by terrorists. This is a full year before it actually occurred. Also, there is a world wide pandemic that is ravishing the world and particularly the USA

You can use deadly force, be stealthy, or talk your way out of situations, but all will have ramifications.

The amount of choice means the game has incredible replayability

A milestone game

Deus Ex is a 2000 action role-playing game.Ion Storm, the producer of the game, and Eidos Interactive, the distributor of the game, have done a great job.The story of the game is as follows.Agent JC Denton, who is half human, half robot, gets a job at UNATCO.And then the events continue.The gameplay is as follows.in this game, which consists of 14 episodes, you can sometimes fight with enemies and sometimes take tasks from people.The music of the game was very successful.If you are not too obsessed with graphics, you will play this game very comfortably.The game has 3 different endings.My rating for the game: 10/10 (y) Good games to everyone 🙂

Deus Ex is a marvel to behold that has yet to be succeeded. There are droves of cheap imitation, ironically including sequels to the franchise. For example, Breath of the Wild has aptly created the illusion of freedom. What prevents it from ascending to its freedom is the constraints of objectivity that locks game progression. Sure, you can rush to Ganon right at the start and this will make the fight harder, but you still need to kill Ganon regardless which is an objective outcome. You can tackle any dungeon in whichever order you choose (don't get me wrong, I think this is great design) but there's still an objective progression and outcome within each dungeon which severely limits player expression. The only game that I have played recently that comes close is Prey, but it's a heavily flawed experience.

Deus Ex has intricate level design that mostly delivers on the commandments that Spector and his team adhered to during development. It's staggering the amount of branching and interconnected paths in each level and it's easy to get lost or overwhelmed. Every objective has multiple ways to tackle it, even within a sub-category of execution there are a plethora of choices to be made. For example, if you want to take a stealth approach you can swim through a sewer, you could climb up to the roof and infiltrate through an elevator shaft, you can sneak up to the front door and pick the lock, you can push a crate up to a window and smash it and enter or you can find a nearby vent shaft and crawl through the HVAC system. In addition, it's completely possible to use any combination of the scenarios above for a single objective. You can go guns blazing, though that will be extremely difficult in the early game due to the skill system.

The game takes this further by not forcing you to kill NPCs and the game has accounted for these outcomes by having the NPCs show up later or have another NPC specifically talk about it. Hell, if you go into the Woman's bathroom between your first two missions you are giving a harsh rebuke by you superior over it. The title of my review refers to an optional interaction at a club which was one of the few perplexing times the game breaks its tone.

The story is hit or miss for me, with the endings being great. I won't bother trying to describe the plot because it's conspiracy layered ontop of conspiracy and convolution ontop of convolution making it feel like it was written by Hideo Kojima. Complicated does not equal intelligent. It needed reigning in to make the plot as great as the rest of the game. There's too many different factions and while people have a tendency to fractionalize themselves (thus the presence of so many factions isn't jarring or convoluted), I honestly wouldn't be able to tell you the difference between most of them because they all feel homogeneous. There's an impressive amount of voice acting, but like the plot it's hit or miss. Fortunately the main characters, including villains, deliver in the acting. JC (Jesus Christ) Denton is directed to be monotone and unemotional (excluding 'Suuuuuure') which was intentional to allow the player to project their own feelings into the character. This works effectively. Conversely... there are some outrageously offensive Chinese characters. We're talking South Park level but not doing it to break down stereotypes in a satirical way... Plenty of the diverse nationalistic cast is as incompetently performed, but a bad French or Australian accent comes off as quaint rather than offensive.

Finally let's talk about game play. At face value it looks like a shooter but controls radically differently. Aiming is unreliable until you pump up enough accuracy mods or skills into a gun type. This makes the early game hit scanning enemies extremely punishing since they are not restricted to the same janky aiming. You can make an argument that this supports the design philosophy of encouraging creative game play, but I would argue that it makes the early game less fun. The baton is effective once you learn where to hit an enemy with it to knock them out. You can hit unarmored enemies anywhere on the back and armored enemies you need to hit them right above their waist... I found the hit box for armored enemies to be extremely finicky and I could never reliably knock them out which lead to frustration. It didn't matter once I got the light saber because then I could run around and one shot most enemies.

Another layer on the combat that I view as a criticism is the shitty AI. Enemies are erratic and stupid. When you deal enough damage, they will start running around like a headless chicken which makes finishing them off with the janky aiming pretty frustrating. The worst offenders are those damned little robot spiders... whoever designed those should be slapped in the face. They feel pure sadistic.

The game contains skills and augments to add a layer of roleplaying. While the skills are impactful, they all succumb to acute diminishing return. You want to train at least one point into lock picking, electronics and computers. More points help, but aren't needed to beat the game. Likewise with guns, mods and augments can supplement lower skill levels. This isn't inherently bad, but it does feel half-baked and leaves plenty to be desired. Augments are worse with only the regeneration being powerful (in fact it is overpowered and makes the game radically easier). You have to manually activate all augments and I think this was a mistake. Locking the use of augments behind energy only works for some of them in my opinion. The flash light, regen, targeting and breathing I think are all reasonable to be toggled. The energy saver mod non-intuitively drains your energy and needs to be toggled on manually instead of being perpetually passive. Most augments are meh.

I think the best showcase of how the game mostly adhered to its design philosophy is to watch a glitchless speedrun of the game. Most of what you will see is what the designers would have hoped for in terms of emergent game play (excluding a few Super Mario kills). Overall, this is a flawed masterpiece that is a jack of all trades but a master of none. I don't think any game has lived up to it since and it's a shame because a refined version of Deus Ex would be most welcomed by more than just me.

Rating: ★★★★½ (Brilliant)

Deus Ex is a multi-genre cyberpunk set in a near-future that is dangerously close to the present. The game is fruit of a long running perseverance of its director, Warren Spector (Ultima Underworld, System Shock, Thief), to make the game of his dreams, which finally came to be when he was approached to join Ion Storm with the promise of creative freedom and a big marketing budget.

The game world and storyline are based off the question "What if conspiracy theories were true? What would the future be like?" as asked in the late 90s. The narrative is really well presented, making the player think about profound sociological and philosophical questions as the story unfolds. Interestingly, this future is very grounded and very relatable. It was really enjoying to see some of the topics I discuss often (human augmentation, government centralization) being effectively applied to reality, and me having some degree of influence on it.

The gameplay elements are really good too. It puts RPG, immersive simulation and other more traditional genres into a single package. In this game, you can make multiple choices not only on how you develop your character, but on how you approach mission objectives. Every damn objective has many, many, different ways to be accomplished. It is as if the game gave you a problem, and a certain set of tools (given organically by your play style) to solve it, and you can go and trackle it as you see fit.

The soundtrack is good but repetitive at times, AI is kinda dumb, sound effects and graphics are dated (but otherwise well executed) and the voice acting could be better. I'd give this game five stars if not for these aspects.

Nevertheless, this is a brilliant piece of work that has aged well, and I'm certain it was a masterpiece of its time.

Critics' Score:

Metacritic: 90/100

Gamespot: 8.2/10

IGN: 9.4/10

It's a pity we no longer see games like these. Full of ambition and scope. It took me 40h -maybe 45h- to play the main story and do some of the extra missions. I chose to play through it stealthily, it makes the game more challenging, forcing you to calculate your and plan carefully before taking action. Evidently if you are not of the sort that likes to hide behind shadows, you can always get hold of a GEP Gun and make your way through it with blood, fire and fury.

Having a game that clocks 37H+ for a non-open-world single-player experience, its simply astonishing. Warren Spector and his team planned every single little-detail of the world where Deus Ex takes place. Every mission is carefully crafted and of course, we have to talk about the freedom; seldom games offer such amount of freedom nowadays. You can do practically whatever you choose to do. And you know what? It doesn't hinder the story at all, it plays naturally. Every choice you make -and you make many of them- is so seamlessly done that you might never notice you had a choice. Perhaps one of the best games you'll ever play, highly recommend it.

Score: 100/100

Deux Ex, for PC

Rating: 9.0/10; Masterpiece

Deux Ex is a first person shooter which has heavy story, stealth and RPG elements. It is a game where story comes first and the combat, stealth and other mechanics are tools to advance the story. Excellent writing, story, themes, characters, dialogue and locations are the hallmarks of this game. Even the most minor and generic of the NPCs in the game often have interesting things to say and multiple spoken lines from repeatedly speaking them, which puts this game ahead of many full RPGs.

The game starts off by having you distribute points amongst the skills. The skill descriptions are quite good and easy to understand, clearly showing what you get at each skill rank (though without mentioning specific numbers). Skill points are awarded for progressing in the story and for doing certain optional things (such as getting to a secret area). One of the best aspects of the game is that there are so many different ways to accomplish your goals, and the skills are balanced with this in mind. For example, the combat skills make it easier to kill enemies, while skills like computers, swimming, lockpicking and electronics can open up alternate paths that avoid combat or allow you to flank. However, you also have the option to use equipment as a crutch to overcome the shortcomings of your skill choices. For examples: effective use of stealth and power weapons (like grenades) can offset poor weapon skills; health kits can be used while drowning, and thorough exploration can yield logins for computers. Combine all of this with saving at any time that lets you experiment without risk, and it is fun to explore everywhere and do everything. The game does encourage you to take out every enemy and explore every location by rewarding loot and skill points, rather than simply taking the quickest route through the game.

Weapon skills determine how quickly you can shoot accurately. In order to shoot accurately, you must stand still and aim at an enemy for a while. A circle around the crosshair shows how accurate your shot will be; it shrinks over time while standing still, and expands when you move, while scopes have idle sway depending on your skill level. While I like that this system makes run and gunning a bad choice, I do find that the accuracy circle takes too long to shrink at skill levels below master. It should not take several seconds for a trained weapon user to accurately shoot several meters.

Another RPG mechanic in the game is the augment system. You have several body slots that can be permanently slotted with bionic abilities, and then further upgraded in power. Just like the skill system, this allows you to further customize your character to be better at certain parts of the game, such as stealth, combat or exploration. All augments function like spells and consume mana (called bioelectric energy in this game), though I was disappointed that there were no direct attack abilities, such as shooting lighting bolts or fire balls. There are 3 minor flaws with the augments. One is that each augment item is only good for a specific slot, so the game decides in which order you get augments rather than you. Also if you miss the item for a specific slot and then find a duplicate of one you already have, then too bad (unless it is one of the slots with 4 options). The second is that the items take up inventory space and can only be installed by a medbot. Sometimes this means you will have to carry it around until the next level. Lastly, the default hotkeys for activating augments are somewhat awkward, though they can be remapped or you can go into the menu to turn them on/off while paused.

Inventory management is a slight annoyance in this game. You have a fairly large grid based inventory, though you cannot rotate items to fit in sideways. The inventory is a decent size, though you will in no way be able to carry around every weapon type. Ammo and keys thankfully do not take up space. It is annoying to have to constantly drop something in order to pick up something to eat or drink; an option to directly consume an item from the field would have been helpful. I also found it annoying to have to back track through the levels to find consumable items (such as lockpicks and medkits) after I had used some; infinite stacking or the ability to turn them directly into money would have helped. Speaking of money, shops were not well done in this game. Certain NPCs will offer to sell one instance of a few specific items. While that is ok, there is no reason that you could not go to a real store to buy anything you want in between most levels. You are able to use restorative items while paused, which does hurt the game’s balance. It makes very little sense that you can be drowning, dying of radiation poisoning or being shot at, then just pause the game to return to full health.

Looting enemies is poorly done. Clicking on a body will take whatever can fit in your inventory. If you have free space, expect to pick up plenty of knives and pistols from almost every single enemy. While I like that the enemies drop what they have, it is tedious to have to constantly be opening the inventory to drop stuff. Even more silly, you cannot pick up and move a body unless it has been removed of all loot. However, the enemy AI is so brain dead that you will not likely need to hide any bodies. They often completely fail to respond to most suspicious things, such as gunfire, explosions, dead bodies and alarms. I suspect that guards are specifically linked to certain areas, alarms and other guards such that only if you trigger those specific alerts will the enemies respond. There were plenty of times when I set off an alarm and had to wonder why no one was responding, or shot someone only to later find someone not too far away who apparently did not hear the shots or screaming, or had a guard come across a dead body and then just carry on as if nothing strange had happened. Are you telling me that all of the security systems in the game are entirely separate and not able to communicate with each other, and that the guards have no communication devices? The enemies will also run around like fools if they cannot reach where you are, so it is absurdly easy to take them out from high places. Stealth is usually very easy, because as long as you are crouched the enemies will not hear you and line of sight is very forgiving. There is also the trope of enemies forgetting about you if you can stay hidden from them for a while. All in all, it makes the stealth very simple and unrealistic. Enemies are also usually by themselves or in small numbers spread out over the maps, making the stealth even easier.

I particularly dislike how wearable equipment is handled. Ballistic armor, camo, hazmat suits, nightvision goggles and rebreathers all take up inventory space and only last a limited amount of time. The game explains they are battery powered. Ok, so there is no off switch? Who designed these? These would have been much better if they could be equipped to body slots (kind of like how augments are), and only degrade when used or you take damage. I also dislike how weapons are upgraded; upgrades (other than the scope, silencer and laser sight) can be put on a weapon multiple times for small boosts to its stats. It does not make much sense though it does make thorough exploration and looting more useful.

The best part of the game is the attention to detail found in the story, dialogue, levels and characters. There is a lot of interesting lore to find, and characters will often have different dialogue depending on actions you take. Early on, you can go into the women’s restroom and make the women inside very unhappy. Later, you will be reprimanded by your boss. This was a very nice touch, and the game has many instances similar to this, with some having a greater effect on the story and even gameplay. I was a little disappointed though that there is no option to join the bad guys; a hidden ending that is only obtainable by making all the worst choices would have been cool.

The worst part of the game was a point at which you are given the option to surrender, or fight. Unfortunately, invisible walls prevent you from escaping, and infinite health enemy prevents you from winning, so fighting is not really a choice at all. The choice is really between surrendering to go to the next level, or waste a bunch of time and resources before going to the next level. This entire part should have been a cutscene.

Deux Ex is a phenomenal, immersive story driven masterpiece, with player choice playing a significant role in the game. Replayability is somewhat limited in that the levels are the same, with only your choices and character build changing. The few shortcomings of the game do not hold it back much, though I wish there was a difficulty mode that made the enemies respond realistically, where if you let any alarm go off, any camera spot you, or any enemy stay alerted long enough to use a phone or radio, then the entire level is permanently alerted to you.

Pro

• Excellent story, characters, dialogue
• Extensive keybinding options
• Good audio, especially localized ambient sounds like humming machines
• Certain things can be smashed with melee if your damage is high enough, and multilple weaker attacks will not work. Incentive to have high melee damage beyond combat
• Can backtrack to most areas of each level, and you decide when to end most levels
• Codes and login/passwords are automatically saved in the notes (though there were one or two times where this did not happen)
• Can write your own notes
• Your actions can change later dialogue and other aspects
• Objectives (such as saving a hostage) can be failed without causing game over. The only game over condition is your death. You can even take out your own allies without screwing up the game if you want
• Good character customization with skills, augments and what to carry
• Interesting enemies with unique abilities
• Damage is applied separately to each part of your body. Each part has different penalties for health loss and can be separately healed
• Variety of options for dealing with levels which revolve around player action, skills, augments and items

Con

• Cannot (or is very hard to) shoot through gaps in fences (like chain link fence or bars)
• Pressing “use” puts away your equipped item, which is annoying and jars your cursor a bit (makes disarming mines harder)
• Can't directly use healing items from the ground (have to drop something first if inventory is full)
• Armor is handled poorly (along with hazmat, camo, rebreather and night vision goggles). It lasts a short time when used and cannot be turned off to make it expend only when needed
• No automap or minimap (sometimes there are pictures of maps, though they barely help)
• Mouse sensitivity is different in game vs in menu
• Ammo pickups vanish even if you cannot carry the full amount of ammo
• No way to choose what to loot from a corpse
• All loot must be taken from a corpse before you can pick it up
• Very disappointing final boss battle
• One level takes place in the aftermath of a nearby missile hit, yet there is no radiation. Was it not a nuke?
• Hacking an ATM disables it, so you are unable to later use found login info
• Some level glitches, though nothing game breaking
• Cannot climb small distances (like into the back of a trailer)
• Makes no sense how you can carry so many weapons (like rocket launchers) without attracting attention
• False choice between surrender and fight, with unwinnable fight
• Computers and keypads require you to actually type stuff in. You cannot open your notes from the login screen to see what to type, and it is possible to guess or use an outside guide
• Items can be used while paused; health and mana restore while in dangerous situations can trivialize those situations
• Gun aiming is too slow at all but untrained (which should be terribly slow) and master skill level
• Augments come in a fixed order, take up inventory space until installed, and choice of augments is not clear for the 4 slot parts (i.e. that you can put in both augments from a single canister if you find a duplicate later)
• Very limited shops and use for money

Deus Ex is the game that perfected the FPS/RPG crossover genre. The mysterious dystopian storyline is the icing on the cake.

The Good

• Great storytelling. The story is engaging, has some twists and turns and you are quickly invested in it. Personaly I also love the cyberpunk theme.
• Gripping gameplay. At heart, Deus Ex is a stealthy story driven shooter, but the RPG elements give this game more body. It's fun to decide whether to play this game offensively or defensively. Many levels contain interesting hidden locations where you can find cool items or upgrades, so exploration is encouraged.
• Today, 17 years (!) after the release of Deus Ex, the game still looks quite good. It has aged of course, but the flexible Unreal engine is clearly still an asset. You can easily play this game on a 21:9 1440p 100Hz monitor. Something that some new games don't even support. 

The Bad

• It's hard to find flaws, but I guess that the game would have been better if there was some more player choice in the storyline.
• It would be awesome if the skill system was fleshed out a bit more.
• I guess the same could be said about the augmentations.

Deus Ex is an icon in video game history and rightfully so. It's a great game to return to, even 17 years after its release.