DarkDragoonX
04-30-2008, 02:54 AM
TL;DR WARNING: PEOPLE WITH SHORT ATTENTION SPANS SHOULD PISS OFF, BECAUSE THIS POST IS GOING TO TAKE AWHILE.
It's been a while, so here I am, about to load up Deus Ex for roughly the 382nd time. I remember when I bought the thing. I loved Ultima Underworld and the System Shock games, so when I heard about Deus Ex, I knew that I had to play it. I can't prove anything, but I'm reasonably certain that I broke the sound barrier on my mad dash to the store and back. I may or may not have passed an astonished Kenyan.
This is one of the few times in history that my level of anticipation for the game was not only validated, but actually insufficient. It was so good, I felt slightly ashamed that I hadn't erected a shrine to the game to worship. Upon starting the game, you immediately get to distribute skill points to improve your character's skills, be it hacking, swimming, combat-related skills... so many ways to tweak your character's abilities to your liking.
The skill point system was a vast improvement over System Shock 2's "find the hidden cyber modules" system. Instead of searching every trash bin trying to find cyber modules like some kind of hobo, Deus Ex awards skill points based on solving problems (though you are also rewarded for finding secrets, so it still pays to explore thoroughly). Found a hidden cache of equipment? You just got some skill points! Did you make your way up the side of a building instead of blasting your way through the front? Skill points! The game always offers several solutions to any major problem, and depending on how you solve it, you may get more or less skill points, with more being awarded for clever thinking as opposed to just shooting your way through everything.
Augments were also a brilliant idea. Applying nanotech enhancements to various slots on your body to improve your abilities was a great idea, and the limited number of slots combined with the large variety of augments made customization even more robust. For example, there's a locked sliding gate with a wall about 12-15 feet high in an area swarming with enemies. It can't be lockpicked. Somebody with the Combat Strength enhancement will be forced to kill a guard and get the key, but if you instead opted for the Microfibral Muscle augmentation (allows you to lift heavier objects), you can stack the metal crates lying around the area and hop over the wall without dealing with the guards at all. A player with the augmentations that reduce ballistic damage and energy damage can activate both and charge into battle like an unstoppable tank. Players who instead chose the cloaking enhancement will simply walk right past everybody unseen. Even your weapons can be altered, adding laser sights, accuracy enhancements, sniper scopes... my first playthrough consisted of me using nothing but my Heavily Modded Pistol of Ultimate Destruction(tm) eqiopped with a silencer and a scope, headshotting people from blocks away. How cool is that?
The story and the characters are also bloody brilliant. The writing is just amazing.. it never talks down to the player and is just so damn perfect at conveying the feeling that you're in the midst of some kind of conspiracy. It's hard to describe. The voice acting is also fantastic (well, with the exception of China), something that is frequently difficult to say even about recent games. Many things are referenced subtly, instead of beating the player over the head with them... you can play through the game several times, and still find subtle hints at the plot and pieces of the conspiracy that you always overlooked before. Yet in spite of how subtle many things are, the plot is exposed enough that more... dimwitted players will still understand what's going on. But the best part is how cohesive everything is, particularly in regard to your character's actions.
At the beginning of the game, you'll explore UNATCO headquarters and get to know the layout of our new place of employment. While exploring (and taking any useful items I could find, of course), I entered the ladies' restroom (you never know where you might find some good loot) and the current occupant was quite upset with me. Shortly thereafter, as I was being briefed for my next mission, my boss took a moment to remind me that a male entering a female restroom is not professional conduct. Wow. No other game I had ever played took the player's action into account the way Deus Ex does as soon as you start playing. Some decisions you make have major repercussions later. Some only affect the things people have to say to you. But for almost everything you do, the game world will react to it in some way or another. To this day, I can't think of a single game as good as Deus Ex was about subtly reinforcing the fact that everything you do makes a difference.
Even the damn combat was just amazing. First of all, in Deus Ex you can't just run around like Rambo (at least not until you have maxed out your corresponding weapon skill and have your gun modded to hell and back), because you have an accuracy reticle. The reticle shows you you innacurate your aim is (it's hard to sprint and shoot at the same time, after all). As you hold still and/or crouch, the reticle shrinks until your aim is virtually flawless. It encourages you to fight smart instead of charging in like a moron. Deus Ex even had a revolutionary health system. Instead of just giving you 100 HP, like every other shooter ever, Deus Ex gave your legs, arms, head, and torso their own health meters. Get to 0 HP at your torso or your head, and you die (duh). Lose an arm, and watch your aim take a nosedive. Lose your legs, and your viewpoint drops low as you slowly drag yourself across the ground seeking medical attention.
Even stealth is handled well... you can distract enemies by making noise, hit them in the back of the head with with a police baton to drop them (but don't miss the head, or you'll just make them angry), lure them into an ambush... even more remarkable, with the exception of one (there may be two or three, I can't remember at the moment) enemy that absolutely must die for the game to progress, you can actually get through the entire game without killing anyone. And if you've found that guy's self-destruct code phrase (he's a cyborg), you don't even have to fire a shot.
The game has so much variety that it has almost infinite replayability. At this point I've played just about every specialty game you can think of. I've played through the game using nothing but melee weapons. I've played through using only the police baton. I've played through without killing (or knocking unconscious) anybody. I've played games using only explosives. I've played games with nothing bu noncombat skills. I've played games with nothing BUT combat skills... there are so many ways to do things that you can finish the game almost any way you please.
It's just astounding that there aren't more games like it. Deus Ex raised the bar for gameplay, storytelling... it raised the bar for everything a single-player game can be. Is it perfect? No, it has some issues. But it's about as close to perfect as you can get, and to this day, nothing has come close to matching it. Bioshock? Yeah, it's great and all, but so dumbed-down that it doesn't possess even half the depth Deus Ex does. It's a testimony to just how good Deus Ex is that even today it's one of the best single-player experiences you can have, and it also shames the gaming industry that would rather churn out Halo clones by the dozen than take the time to make more truly inventive, brilliant, sophisticated, and above all damn fun games like Deus Ex.
I'm going to play Deus Ex for the 382nd time. And I'm going to love it.
It's been a while, so here I am, about to load up Deus Ex for roughly the 382nd time. I remember when I bought the thing. I loved Ultima Underworld and the System Shock games, so when I heard about Deus Ex, I knew that I had to play it. I can't prove anything, but I'm reasonably certain that I broke the sound barrier on my mad dash to the store and back. I may or may not have passed an astonished Kenyan.
This is one of the few times in history that my level of anticipation for the game was not only validated, but actually insufficient. It was so good, I felt slightly ashamed that I hadn't erected a shrine to the game to worship. Upon starting the game, you immediately get to distribute skill points to improve your character's skills, be it hacking, swimming, combat-related skills... so many ways to tweak your character's abilities to your liking.
The skill point system was a vast improvement over System Shock 2's "find the hidden cyber modules" system. Instead of searching every trash bin trying to find cyber modules like some kind of hobo, Deus Ex awards skill points based on solving problems (though you are also rewarded for finding secrets, so it still pays to explore thoroughly). Found a hidden cache of equipment? You just got some skill points! Did you make your way up the side of a building instead of blasting your way through the front? Skill points! The game always offers several solutions to any major problem, and depending on how you solve it, you may get more or less skill points, with more being awarded for clever thinking as opposed to just shooting your way through everything.
Augments were also a brilliant idea. Applying nanotech enhancements to various slots on your body to improve your abilities was a great idea, and the limited number of slots combined with the large variety of augments made customization even more robust. For example, there's a locked sliding gate with a wall about 12-15 feet high in an area swarming with enemies. It can't be lockpicked. Somebody with the Combat Strength enhancement will be forced to kill a guard and get the key, but if you instead opted for the Microfibral Muscle augmentation (allows you to lift heavier objects), you can stack the metal crates lying around the area and hop over the wall without dealing with the guards at all. A player with the augmentations that reduce ballistic damage and energy damage can activate both and charge into battle like an unstoppable tank. Players who instead chose the cloaking enhancement will simply walk right past everybody unseen. Even your weapons can be altered, adding laser sights, accuracy enhancements, sniper scopes... my first playthrough consisted of me using nothing but my Heavily Modded Pistol of Ultimate Destruction(tm) eqiopped with a silencer and a scope, headshotting people from blocks away. How cool is that?
The story and the characters are also bloody brilliant. The writing is just amazing.. it never talks down to the player and is just so damn perfect at conveying the feeling that you're in the midst of some kind of conspiracy. It's hard to describe. The voice acting is also fantastic (well, with the exception of China), something that is frequently difficult to say even about recent games. Many things are referenced subtly, instead of beating the player over the head with them... you can play through the game several times, and still find subtle hints at the plot and pieces of the conspiracy that you always overlooked before. Yet in spite of how subtle many things are, the plot is exposed enough that more... dimwitted players will still understand what's going on. But the best part is how cohesive everything is, particularly in regard to your character's actions.
At the beginning of the game, you'll explore UNATCO headquarters and get to know the layout of our new place of employment. While exploring (and taking any useful items I could find, of course), I entered the ladies' restroom (you never know where you might find some good loot) and the current occupant was quite upset with me. Shortly thereafter, as I was being briefed for my next mission, my boss took a moment to remind me that a male entering a female restroom is not professional conduct. Wow. No other game I had ever played took the player's action into account the way Deus Ex does as soon as you start playing. Some decisions you make have major repercussions later. Some only affect the things people have to say to you. But for almost everything you do, the game world will react to it in some way or another. To this day, I can't think of a single game as good as Deus Ex was about subtly reinforcing the fact that everything you do makes a difference.
Even the damn combat was just amazing. First of all, in Deus Ex you can't just run around like Rambo (at least not until you have maxed out your corresponding weapon skill and have your gun modded to hell and back), because you have an accuracy reticle. The reticle shows you you innacurate your aim is (it's hard to sprint and shoot at the same time, after all). As you hold still and/or crouch, the reticle shrinks until your aim is virtually flawless. It encourages you to fight smart instead of charging in like a moron. Deus Ex even had a revolutionary health system. Instead of just giving you 100 HP, like every other shooter ever, Deus Ex gave your legs, arms, head, and torso their own health meters. Get to 0 HP at your torso or your head, and you die (duh). Lose an arm, and watch your aim take a nosedive. Lose your legs, and your viewpoint drops low as you slowly drag yourself across the ground seeking medical attention.
Even stealth is handled well... you can distract enemies by making noise, hit them in the back of the head with with a police baton to drop them (but don't miss the head, or you'll just make them angry), lure them into an ambush... even more remarkable, with the exception of one (there may be two or three, I can't remember at the moment) enemy that absolutely must die for the game to progress, you can actually get through the entire game without killing anyone. And if you've found that guy's self-destruct code phrase (he's a cyborg), you don't even have to fire a shot.
The game has so much variety that it has almost infinite replayability. At this point I've played just about every specialty game you can think of. I've played through the game using nothing but melee weapons. I've played through using only the police baton. I've played through without killing (or knocking unconscious) anybody. I've played games using only explosives. I've played games with nothing bu noncombat skills. I've played games with nothing BUT combat skills... there are so many ways to do things that you can finish the game almost any way you please.
It's just astounding that there aren't more games like it. Deus Ex raised the bar for gameplay, storytelling... it raised the bar for everything a single-player game can be. Is it perfect? No, it has some issues. But it's about as close to perfect as you can get, and to this day, nothing has come close to matching it. Bioshock? Yeah, it's great and all, but so dumbed-down that it doesn't possess even half the depth Deus Ex does. It's a testimony to just how good Deus Ex is that even today it's one of the best single-player experiences you can have, and it also shames the gaming industry that would rather churn out Halo clones by the dozen than take the time to make more truly inventive, brilliant, sophisticated, and above all damn fun games like Deus Ex.
I'm going to play Deus Ex for the 382nd time. And I'm going to love it.