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