Deus Ex has been said to take RPG's to a whole different plain of existence, moving away from the old Dungeons & Dragons style of game. Instead, DE integrates several RPG elements into a traditional First-Person Shooter/Action game. In the end, the game turns out to be a very enjoyable experience, that is perfect in nearly every category.

PLOT: 9.5/10

Deus Ex follows the story of a UNATCO agent by the code name of JC Denton (his real name, which only comes up sporadically during the game, is customizable). You are a new generation of soldier, your veins and arteries flowing with nanites (and blood, of course), allowing you to become essentially 'superhuman'. Though there are several people with augmentations as you have, yours are not visible, and augmentations are controlled by your nanites. The only other person like you is your brother: Paul Denton. As the game begins, you are fighting a terrorist group by the name of the NSF, and through the game, you brother becomes somewhat of a mysterious figure, as you are not sure where his loyalties lie. Soon enough, as evidence is uncovered, you begin to question your own loyalties. It's a rich tapestry. The plot is uncovered not only through your actions, but through newspapers, datacubes, overheard conversations and such. The game is made so that the more you explore, the more you will know. You can play the game 10 times, and uncover more information each time.

CONTROLS: 9/10

There is not much to complain about in terms of controls. They are customizable through the options screen, though the screen is misleading, and it could take you a try or two to find the correct menu. The only REAL complaint I had about the controls is that you cannot lean and strafe at the same time, making shooting from cover sometimes difficult, as you may have to adjust your position several times to make only your head stick out from behind a corner or such, and not a good deal of your body.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

If you haven't play Deus Ex, think of it as a combination of Thief and System Shock. In fact, it was created by the makers of System Shock. Essentially, you walk around shooting things, but it is often much safer to find a way to sneak past them. The best part about this game is the number of choices you have. If you have to say sneak past a guard patrolling a short corridor, you can wait till he walks past, and just shoot him in the back of the head. However, you can also distract him by throwing an object in the opposite direction, sneak by in the shadows, gun him down using a turret that you hacked into, or just move through a shaft and avoid the encounter all together. It is like this for nearly everything in the game. That's what makes this game so much fun, you can play it a different way each time. The game allows you to be creative in finding solutions, and there are literally no repercussions (such as in some games, events won't trigger if something isn't done a certain way).
The game is a FPS, with a WIDE range of weapons, going from something simple as a handgun, to blade made of nanites called 'The Dragon's Tooth'. You also have all of your normal FPS weapons (Assault shotgun, silenced pistol, Rocket Launcher, Sniper Rifle, etc.) These are only a few of the weapons at your disposal. In terms of open fighting (which you'll mostly try to avoid, as shooting a person in the back of the head, then running is often a good deal safer), it is done pretty well. Enemies will strafe to avoid fire, and many will try to get behind you. Short ranged weapons are hard to use in open combat, as would be expected.
Deus Ex is a very long game. There is a clock telling you for how long you've played, and even to that, you'll want to add at least 2-3 hours, as you'll spend that much time going over your steps, because you had to load because you were suddenly surrounded. Quicksave and quickload are a necessity in this game.
I said before that Deus Ex had several RPG elements. Throughout the game, you gain 'Skill points' by accomplishing certain tasks, as well as bonus points for exploring certain objectives, or completing secondary goals. With these, you can upgrade one of 11 skill levels. These include weapons skills (pistol, rifle, demolition, low-tech (short range)). Also, you can upgrade your computer skills, lock picking, swimming, etc.) It allows you to craft JC Denton into the type of player you yourself are. Don't like fighting? Sink your skill points into Computers, and hack your way through the game. You can also find augmentation canisters that give you different abilities. With these, you'll have to make a choice as to what kind of ability you want. For example, you might find a canister, and you will have to choose between Regeneration or an Energy Shield. You can only have one, and the choice is permanent. You can find upgrade canisters to make these augmentations more efficient. This also allows you to craft your character. Like an RPG, there are also side quests.
Damage is taken by damage areas. There are six (Head, chest, left/right arm/leg), each with 100 hitpoints. If you jump from too high up, your legs will take heavy damage, and movement will become hindered. Loss of hit points to the head or torso hinders life... you'll die.
Deus Ex is one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. It lets you play like you're actually a person. You can even go into the women's bathroom (you do, several times, and not always for fun :)). There are hundreds of 'doodads' that have nothing to do with the game, but still exist. Personal emails, toilets, even showers. You really are playing someone else's role.

MUSIC: 9.5/10

I love this music so much. Almost every track was great. The intro song is, and I don't mean to sound like a beach bum, but the intro song was totally awesome dude! Each location has its own theme (The theme for Hong Kong is great), and don't be surprised if you find yourself bobbing your head while you play. While not every track was great, the pros outweigh the cons.

GRAPHICS: 7/10

There's not much to complain about in the area of graphics, but there was nothing revolutionary or stunning. IT has essentially the same graphics as 'Half-Life'. Some of the characters look kind of polygonal, but it is often not noticeable. Most of the environments are just city streets, there are no fantastic vistas. I'm not really complaining, it just isn't anything impressive, and it could have been much more.

MULTIPLAYER: 0/10

THERE IS NO MULTIPLAYER! AHHH! This was a FPS, filled with weapons that you'd love to wail upon your friends with, and you don't get the chance. True, there is enough gameplay to eliminate the need for multiplayer, but it is always nice to have the option.

REPLAYABILITY: 10/10

I've hit on this several times, but I'll say it again. The sheer number of choices available to you in the game allows for a huge replayability rating. You can get a bunch of your friends together who have played it, and each will have a different story to tell about how they played it. If you are looking for a worthwhile investment in terms of sheer playing time, this game comes through in spades.

BUGS:

I've noticed very few bugs in Deus Ex, which is impressive for a game of its size. The only three I've noticed are the following (These might not make sense, as I will refer to specific levels, but this section is really just to inform you that there are bugs present):

In the Airfield mission in which you search for ambrosia containers, the game often freezes up when you reach the helicopter platform (don't know how they missed that one).

After entering the Versalife building, a weapon would be selected, but could not be used in the game. This can be fixed by dropping the weapon with the middle mouse button, but this took a good deal of time to figure out, and made the game extremely difficult as I had to escape the building simply by dodging bullets. This was a tricky bug, because I thought my weapons were disabled because I wasn't allowed to hurt anyone. This game doesn't ever take away your freedom to kill!

Throughout the game, there is a general problem with the AI. They are forgetful and stupid. You can shoot one, run away and hide, and no more than a minute later, they've forgotten they have a bullet in their stomach, and are back on their patrol route. Furthermore, you can take out a person in a hallway, and despite stepping on their backs, the other enemies don't become alerted that something is a miss. Apparently, in the future, people accidentally shoot themselves 13 times in the back all the time.

Overall (Finally), this game is of mind-boggling excellence, and I can only say that if you won't buy it, play the demo, the first level itself is a good 2 hours worth of playing time. There are 13 missions in all, and most are longer than the first mission. That's longer than most modern RPG's. If I were to make a list of the best games of the past 5 years, this would definitely be among the best. I'm going to give this 4 stars, but I'd really give it 4.75/5. It is that close to perfection.






Recommended: Yes