Deus Ex... my personal review
okay, so i am, what, a year behind everyone else, but having just got a ps2, i decided to try deus ex, the game that killed more poor imac trying to run it long ago, and see what it was all about.
now, since i just devoted almost SIX WEEKS of spare time and life to it, i had to give a review of deus ex...
there are not enough stars to give this game. period. (now before some of you disagree, i will admit -- if you don't like your first-person shooters and your RPGs getting mixed together, then this may not be for you. and the game is friggin' LONG).
the only thing it lacks is multiplayer, but the single-player game is soooooo deep and involved, i really could not care less. the graphics are still fine, even by today's standards, you are allowed to develop your character based on in-game decisions, and it even comes with three alternate endings (maybe more, but i couldn't find them), depending upon critical choices you make in the game.
absolutely incredible.
having now played half-life and deus ex, i can honestly say that half-life may have been awesome for its day, but deus ex beats the crap out of it in terms of storyline and single player enjoyment (half-life got dull about -- ironically -- halfway through, and the end characters were so stupidly overpowered i dare anyone to get through it without cheating... unless i was missing something).
the voice acting is top-notch, and there are more NPC's in this game than any other i have ever seen. seriously, if you have only played the demo, it doesn't do it justice. every time you think you're at the last level, the plot changes, the conspiracies deepen, and you're presented with a whole new set of challenges.
my ONLY complaint was that at a certain point towards the middle, i was like "come on, why do i have to be the only one to go do a particular task?" but as the game progresses, you begin to find out that you're the only candidate to get the job done and why. and everything is laid out in a sensible fashion. power-ups are not strewn about in randow fashion, but locked in personal lockers, vaults, cabinets, warehouses, etc. in fact, it took me almost half the game to get out of the "ooh, there's a difficult place to get to, it must have a great power-up" mentality (and the creators thought, hell, if you can't get there easily, why would anyone else have dropped something there), and into the "now, if i were hiding some money, where would i put it???" ;-)
and on top of all that, it even has good inventory management (albeit totally unrealistic -- how my character carried a LAW rocket, sniper rifle and submachine gun in one jacket is beyond me), and skill building RPG elements, reminiscent of diablo ii. choose how experience points are doled out dictates how you get through the game, how you develop, etc. in fact, even after playign the game for so long, i now want to go BACK though it, knowing what i know now, and build up those skills and such that actually did me some good!
again, this game deserves every accolade it may have gotten, and will EAT your spare time, and your evenings. admittedly, i played the ps2 version, which is fine EXCEPT for one major problem... since the ps2 has no hard drive, it can only store the bare minimum level data on the memory card. which means you not only get level loads, but mini-level loads. a MILLION of them. thankfully, they are spread out in reasonable places. a bit annoying, but it didn't stop me.
available for pc, mac, and ps2. and i cannot wait to play deus ex 2 when it comes out!
now, since i just devoted almost SIX WEEKS of spare time and life to it, i had to give a review of deus ex...
there are not enough stars to give this game. period. (now before some of you disagree, i will admit -- if you don't like your first-person shooters and your RPGs getting mixed together, then this may not be for you. and the game is friggin' LONG).
the only thing it lacks is multiplayer, but the single-player game is soooooo deep and involved, i really could not care less. the graphics are still fine, even by today's standards, you are allowed to develop your character based on in-game decisions, and it even comes with three alternate endings (maybe more, but i couldn't find them), depending upon critical choices you make in the game.
absolutely incredible.
having now played half-life and deus ex, i can honestly say that half-life may have been awesome for its day, but deus ex beats the crap out of it in terms of storyline and single player enjoyment (half-life got dull about -- ironically -- halfway through, and the end characters were so stupidly overpowered i dare anyone to get through it without cheating... unless i was missing something).
the voice acting is top-notch, and there are more NPC's in this game than any other i have ever seen. seriously, if you have only played the demo, it doesn't do it justice. every time you think you're at the last level, the plot changes, the conspiracies deepen, and you're presented with a whole new set of challenges.
my ONLY complaint was that at a certain point towards the middle, i was like "come on, why do i have to be the only one to go do a particular task?" but as the game progresses, you begin to find out that you're the only candidate to get the job done and why. and everything is laid out in a sensible fashion. power-ups are not strewn about in randow fashion, but locked in personal lockers, vaults, cabinets, warehouses, etc. in fact, it took me almost half the game to get out of the "ooh, there's a difficult place to get to, it must have a great power-up" mentality (and the creators thought, hell, if you can't get there easily, why would anyone else have dropped something there), and into the "now, if i were hiding some money, where would i put it???" ;-)
and on top of all that, it even has good inventory management (albeit totally unrealistic -- how my character carried a LAW rocket, sniper rifle and submachine gun in one jacket is beyond me), and skill building RPG elements, reminiscent of diablo ii. choose how experience points are doled out dictates how you get through the game, how you develop, etc. in fact, even after playign the game for so long, i now want to go BACK though it, knowing what i know now, and build up those skills and such that actually did me some good!
again, this game deserves every accolade it may have gotten, and will EAT your spare time, and your evenings. admittedly, i played the ps2 version, which is fine EXCEPT for one major problem... since the ps2 has no hard drive, it can only store the bare minimum level data on the memory card. which means you not only get level loads, but mini-level loads. a MILLION of them. thankfully, they are spread out in reasonable places. a bit annoying, but it didn't stop me.
available for pc, mac, and ps2. and i cannot wait to play deus ex 2 when it comes out!
Comments
1) Zelda :Ocarina of Time
2) Deus Ex
3) Escape Velocity
Barto
[ 12-29-2002: Message edited by: Barto ]</p>
Two years.
I was playing it on my Rev. B iMac w/ Voodoo 2 card back in the summer of 2000.
Anyway, it remains one of my favorite games of all time, and right now, Splinter Cell is keeping me sane until Deus Ex 2 hits the Xbox in '03.
If that doesn't motivate me, nothing will.
<strong>Barto's Favorite Games of All Time:
1) Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2) Deus Ex
3) Escape Velocity
</strong><hr></blockquote>
T'hains Favorite Games of All Time:
1) Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
2) Baldurs Gate 1
3) Final Fantasy 8
[ 01-02-2003: Message edited by: T'hain Esh Kelch ]</p>
<strong>the only thing it lacks is multiplayer,</strong><hr></blockquote>
you can download the multiplayer patch from
<a href="http://www.claymorenation.com/mods.html"; target="_blank">http://www.claymorenation.com/mods.html</a>;
it's a zip'd file (unfortunatley), but I have the latest Mac OS9 Multiplayer Patch and I'll upload it and post a download link, if anyone is interested... send mail to [email protected]
DX MultiPlayer beats any other on-line game hands down. The mix of skills and augmentations makes it truly unique.
I host a 16 player Uber Server dedicated to DeusEx MP through <a href="http://www.jolt.co.uk"; target="_blank">www.jolt.co.uk</a>
But there is also a couple of great American Deus Ex Servers hosted by <a href="http://www.deaclan.us"; target="_blank">http://www.deaclan.us</a>;
All in all there are only about 20 DX servers worldwide.
If anyone has any questions about DeusEx Multi-Player, visit <a href="http://www.deaclan.us/board"; target="_blank">http://www.deaclan.us/board</a>; or <a href="http://www.claymorenation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi"; target="_blank">http://www.claymorenation.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi</a>;
hope that helps.
regards
MA.
Quite a good game.
Hope the same is true for DX2...