Deus Ex Review

Overall Rating

Groundbreaking plot, multiple endings and paths throughout the game. (I've always wanted to be an augmented terminator type thing)

Dated graphics, to say the least, slow loading times.

Well, what can i say, i've never played a game like Deus Ex, ever and i probably never will again.
It's so brilliant it made me shout out Deus Ex rules in the middle of a shopping mall (now people call me the demented kid). I sometimes found myself writing out the storyline so i could understand it better, sad i know. I've even got a Deus Ex screensaver.
Okay, i admit, if you're an action freak like me you'll be taking a risk buying this game. It's not your standard FPS. If you're not into storylines then don't buy it, but if you are then you'll never play on anything else as long as you live, and that's a promise. I never thought i'd find myself so addicted to a game, but anyway enough of me babbling on about how brilliant this game is, time for the proof.

The storyline is pretty simple, at first. You're a cyborg type thing called J.C. Denton. You work for a group called Unatco. They are sort of a military police type group. You have a brother, Paul, who works for them as well.
There is a big plague, called the gray death and the only cure is Ambrosia. Now, admittedly i found myself singing ooo aar ambrosiar at first but silly names shouldn't get in the way of the storyline. Anyway, after completing a few missions for the group you find out that they are...well...dodgy and you defect. After that you find yourself totally immersed in the plot you'll be playing on it twenty four seven just for that.
However, there is much more to this game than its main selling point, the conspiracy. The best thing is being able to make your own decisions in the game. You can choose your own path almost all of the time. You can easily interact with the environment and the people in it. You can get information from them or you can just kill them, your choice (kill them, its more fun!). You can also go gallivanting off on side missions. Sometimes these are things that affect or coincide with the plot but most of the time they're not. You can also kill your own men, which is fun but you'll get told off by your boss. That's another thing, You get your own H.Q. to wander about in. How cool is that? Well...i think it's cool. You can stay in there for as long as you like.

As the story progresses there are more and more things to do, people to kill, puzzles to solve. You can also take various different approaches to the game. You can be stealthy and sneaky:
Hiding behind walls, crawling in ventilation ducts, peering through holes and choosing the exact right moment to take down your target. You can then hide your victim by dragging him and hiding him in an appropriate place like a cupboard, or maybe the public library if you dont have time. You then continue along your path, avoiding security cameras and guards. Your knife is your trusty tool, if you want to be stealthy never leave home, or H.Q. for that matter without it.
Or, you can try the full on approach which suited me best:
There are a few squads of men in front of you. You shouldn't of triggered that security device. You stand up from out of your cover. With assault rifle in hand you run towards them. You have no fear, the adrenaline has taken over. In a matter of seconds their dead bodies are sprawled all over the floor. Oh look, it's a bot, where's my rocket launcher?
That's the problem with the full on approach. You can only have a few weapons at a time. You have to swap weapons around and the chances are you'll always be in a situation where you need the gun you just dropped. For instance; early on in the game i swapped my rocket launcher for a stealth pistol, i mean, what was i thinking? A few minutes later a was faced with the prospect of fighting two or three heavily armed and heavily armored bots. I only had a few lams (explosive devices), what good was my stealth pistol then?

Another annoying fact for the action freak is the shortage of ammo. However, with a bit of sense you can easily overcome that problem.

There is however a bad point which can't be overcome with some economy tips from Uncle Bob and an in my day speech. The graphics are dire. For a PS2 game i expected more. This is obviously due to the PC conversion. They really are pathetic and there's no attention to detail whatsoever.
I managed to look past the bad graphics and detail but if you like your graphics then you'll be disappointed. Another problem, well its more of an annoyance than a problem is the loading times and the amount of loading stages there are. About every five minutes (not even that sometimes) there's a loading stage. Just for a laugh i experimented on the time it took to go to the toilet and the time it takes to load the next stage. It was a messy affair, i'm still getting the stains out of the carpet but in the time it takes to load a new stage in Deus Ex i can 'officially' go to the toilet. RESULT!!!!
So it can get a bit frustrating sometimes. Especially when you need the toilet because it is very tempting. The only other imperfections are the sound effects, walking through the grass sounds more like someone eating a packet of crisps and its always night!!! That is so annoying, it makes everything really depressing.

At the end of the game you can get three different endings but they are not dependable on how well you've played the game so you dont have to worry about that time when you fell from a fifty foot ladder or when you shot the barmaid because she gave you a warm beer. It just ruins the taste dosen't it. Instead its your decision what you do, and it is a very hard decision believe me. But don't worry you can easily go back and get another ending if your not happy with it. All you have to do is go back a stage, you dont have to start all over again thank God.

Ever since i played this game, i took a completely different approach to role playing games. I really do find myself thinking about the story, trying to work it out. This is a very long and exciting game that will leave you on the floor in a fit of hysteria muttering phrases like 'Die majestic twelve, die.' I love this game to bits and i wouldn't trade in the experience for anything, because thats what it is, an experience.