LADYDRAGON.COM - Deus EX

Deus Ex had a lot of fuss going around it before it came out because it looked promising and most of all Deus Ex had for lead designer Warren Spector which is best known for hit games like System Shock and Thief. The result ?

You play the role of J.C. Denton a nano-augmented (bionic man like..) member of the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Organization (UNATCO) and you fight a dangerous and unpredictable terrorist group called the NSF.

The story cannot be described there is so many plots and twists mostly about government conspiracies maybe even the truth on aliens...

Great design of a Gargoyle

The game is divided in several missions that lets you roam around freely in huge maps from New York to Paris and Tokyo. Not only the maps are huge but they are also really interactive like if you see something you can pick it up most of the time.

Deus Ex also lets you decide how you want to accomplish a mission. There are many ways to deal with missions, you can use stealth and hacking skills. Brainless bloodbaths are not recommended here. If you can think about it then you can do it.

For an example your first task is to control terrorists that have taken siege in the Liberty Statue. From there you can climb on containers and go trough the backdoor, hack the doors and security and make your way easy or act like Rambo which is not really effective but you can.

There are a lot of items and weapons to help you throughout the game. You can access those items in a "item menu" or just set them on hot keys, for the ones you use often, just by dragging them in the slots bellow the screen.

You learn everything in the optional tutorial at the beginning of the game. It is well done and covers everything you should know before you start the game.

Witness an accident as you pass by

Use your binocular to look closer

Technically Deus Ex shines from it's creative level design and huge worlds created by the wonderful yet powerful Unreal engine. The only problem is that the engine is meant to be played in Glide (3DFX) and has a really bad Direct3D support. Player with Nvidia based cards (GeForce,TNT) may have a hard time running the game. The problem is supposedly solved with the use of the latest patch.

The game can be frustrating at times since ,even though it does not use the one shot kill method, is realistic but dying often means to try another way so dying can also be helpful since every time you restart you are free to try an all new tactical approach to the situation.

The story is the best ever in a 1st person shooter. An entire X-Files season could not even par the conspiracies going on in Deus EX and the twists just makes it more appealing and captivating.

Graphically Deus Ex fully takes advantage of the Unreal engine and it shows. The character are detailed and not badly animated at all. Level design and it is nice use of detail just makes it pure eye candy

Such for information in Hong-Kong

Music is discreet and has nothing special but it succeeds to up the tempo and stress (lots of it) when it is used. The sounds and the voice acting will not win prizes but again it succeeds in doing what they should be.

The gameplay is innovative yet not to complex. The multiple ways to deal with a mission adds almost infinite replay value. An important point is that even though its hard at times the game is well balanced and it is easy to succeed if you do the things the way they should be done.

Ion Storm's second title is a sure shot. Amazing story, great graphics and high replay value, what else could you ask for? Deus Ex will definitely be a nice addition to any gamers library and a nice addiction to any 1st person shooter fanatic.

Companies

Developer
ION Storm

Publisher
Eidos

Category
1st person shooter

Notes

Originality:98%
Gameplay:96%
Interest:97%
Graphic:95%
Control:99%
Sound:83%

TOTAL: 95%

Requirements

Operation System
Windows 95-98

Processor
300 MHz Pentium

Memory
64 RAM

Hard Drive
150 MB