maximusboomus

The Year 2000 - that was when Deus Ex was released... A RPG meets FPS game that in my mind was so good that it has yet to be surpassed. Sure the graphics now look life something you'd find in a free online flash game and the dialogue is sometimes a mixture of the matrix and days of our lives but oh man what an immersive game! Your character is JC Denton, a "modified" person capable of "augmenting" capabilites using a mixtue of augmentation canisters and upgrades. These vary between making you superhuman resistant to invisible (Just don't bother with making JCD a better swimmer).

Your mission starts simple: help UNATCO stop a terror faction called NSF from taking the ambrosia (a cure for the plaque). Very quickly you get thrown into a whirlwind of conspiricy worthy of a Dan Brown novel and enough action and spy thrills that if Jason Bourne was real and had time to play video games he'd be playing Deus Ex. I love the fact that all of the game feels like a battle. Ammo is regulated and your actions can lead to consequences. The levels are a marvel of architecture taking you from NYC to Hong Kong, they give you the sense of a modern world filled with technology and tradition. Little side missions can keep you occupied for hours, you even find yourself creating missions for yourself like throwing the basketball through the hoop in Hells Kitchen (No Gordon sorry). Gameplay is as fast or slow as you wish - I rarely found myself walking around aimlessly for long. The AI is Year 2000 quality, the enemies are never truely difficult to handle. The world created by ION storm is very engaging, you find that the details put into the game are truely amazing.

I know that bioshock is a great game and follows on a similar vein but after playing Deus Ex recently (again for the billionth time) I find that it's still very linear - walk here pick this up inject yourself with Plasmids continue on yo be attacked by crazy people then make small moral choices - kill little girl gain lots of power, or save little girl get small amount of power - the endings are the only thing that changes, no real choice is there - At least Deus Ex has you thinking which path A B C or D?? Plus I found that bioshock was over-hyped and made for a crowd who like shiney things. The horror aspect of bioshock vanishes after you realise that you are respawned really close to the point you just died - did you notice how each time there's a "difficult" section coming up there was suddenly a cryotube there... Playing as Gordon Freeman is one of the best feelings - I love the HL series however still Deus Ex trumps it with it's pure immersion. Besides HL 1 was by far the best FPS ever made.

Sad to say but maybe Deus Ex is the pinnacle to which all games should be measured. The 2nd game was awful better graphics didn't save this linear game...

To conclude: I'd like to see if a game producer has what it takes to rival this classic, bring us into a world of many facets and enough free-roaming antics to make a lost puppy go home... Deux Ex is the package deal. Great action, fabulous locations, Strategy and role playing. You actually feel like you're part of this cyber-punk (NWO) world. If you haven't played it pick a copy up at your local games store, and enjoy the most rounded game that game producers have bought us.