Future Games Network -- Deus Ex Review (PC)

OK, I’ll admit it . . . I’m a conspiracy nut. Sit me in front of a book or website pertaining to the New World Order, "grays", Men in Black, or secret Nazi bases in Antarctica and I’m happier than a Luddite at an abacus convention. So when I first heard about Ion Storm’s conspiracy theory inspired game Deus Ex, I was more than intrigued. And when I then heard that the game development was to be led by industry legend Warren Spector (System Shock), I could hardly wait to get my mitts on a final copy. Well, now that the wait is over, and I’ve spent numerous hours with Deus Ex, I can unequivocally tell you that this title is one of the most immersing, involving, and entertaining computer games I’ve played in almost 20 years of game playing. Deus Ex is an absolute masterpiece!

Well, in a word, yes — you should purchase this combo adventure/RPG/strat game. Emphatically so! This recommendation applies equally to long–time gamers as well as to newbies in the game world. What initially struck us about the depth of game perfection within D2 is the simplicity with which the game is controlled. This will appeal to all gamers, save for those who believe the more keystrokes and key commands used, the better the offering. Such thoughtful design by Blizzard for D2 will certainly enamor this offering to an even "newer" audience than previous offerings. However, realize the game occupies some rather dark nether regions and certainly decorates the landscape with the "red stuff", definitely making D2 worthy of its ESRB "M" (Mature) rating. We certainly would not advise pre–teens engage in playing the game. The theme is quite dark, the beasties are quite voracious, and the action could certainly be too intense for our younger citizens.

The story begins with you as a nano–technology augmented G–Man beginning a career in an anti–terrorist outfit called UNATCO. The forces you’re up against are a rag tag bunch of well–armed militia members called the NSF (National Secessionist Forces), whose idea of a good time is to knock back a couple of brew–skies and annex Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Couple this chaos with a disease called the "gray plague" that is quickly wiping out billions of the Earth’s inhabitants. Simultaneously, the vaccine is in mysterious short supply and you’ve got the makings for a classic conspiracy story that contains more twists and turns than a San Francisco road map. It should be of no surprise that somewhere during the game you begin to question your loyalties, especially when other organizations such as FEMA, the Illuminati, Chinese gangs and MJ12 (Art Bell, call your office) begin popping up in the storyline.

Deus Ex is, at its heart, is a first–person shooter. But simply labeling it as such doesn’t do the game justice at all. There’re more role–playing characteristics in this game than there are in many proper RPG’s, and simply running around blasting everything is not the most effective way to complete the game. As a matter of fact, the most impressive aspect of Deus Ex is how many different ways you can approach your objectives. If you want to go into a situation — guns blazing — you certainly can. If you prefer the pacifist route and wish to simply "disable" your enemies, you can skulk amongst the shadows, sneak up to your victims and zap ’em with something non–lethal such as an electric prod. Or, if you’re a coward, like me, and prefer to take out your victims from afar, simply arm yourself with a zoom–scope sniper rifle and take the baddies out with one well–placed head shot. The way you model your character really makes a significant impact on how the game plays, so replayability for Deus Ex is unsurpassed by any other game in its genre.

Customization of your character is very similar to System Shock 2 — you can allocate training points to different skills such as Heavy Weapons, Computer Hacking, Lockpicking, etc. Your character can also be enhanced by applying nano–augmentation agents to different parts of your body, enabling you to enhance your strength, vision, and other attributes to your specifications. I found that it’s best to decide to specialize in a few areas rather than become a "Jack–of–all–trades", due to the limited inventory space you have in the game. You simply don’t have enough space to carry around every different tool or weapon you come across.

Speaking of weapons, you’ll find PLENTY to choose from in Deus Ex. Those of you who like a little hand–to–hand action can use a sword or a knife. If you’re the type who just wants to knock your enemies out as opposed to killing them, you can use the electric prod, tranquilizer darts, or the baton. For disabling the bad guys, you’ve got gas grenades and scramble grenades. And if it’s guns you like, you’ll be happier than Ted Nugent in a Marine armory because there are enough rifles, assault weapons, shotguns, pistols, and other firearms to serve up death to the enemy in a variety of different ways. And finally, for you Rambo types, weapons such as Anti–Tank Rockets and flamethrowers are available to cater to your more destructive side. While all these weapons are fun to use, none of these comes close to the utter coolness that is the sniper rifle. There’s nothing quite like using the zoom scope to center in on your enemies cranium and fire one nicely aimed lethal shot to take him out (Senator Lieberman, call your office).

There are a few minor problems with Deus Ex. There are some situations that can occur that make it impossible to complete certain mission objectives, so save often. This problem really isn’t as bad as it would sound, the one time it happened to me I was able to solve the problem by reverting to a previously saved game. Another shortcoming of the game is the musical score, which quite frankly sounds as if it was lifted off one of Squaresoft’s Playstation RPG’s. The music is fine for those types of games, but I would’ve preferred something a little more ambient and "spacey" to accompany the X–Files feel of Deus Ex. And finally, unless you’re a Hindu God, you’ll have serious problems with the default keyboard interface. One of the first things you should do is customize the keyboard controls. There are some minor problems with Direct3D compatibility, but a patch has already been issued to rectify this situation.

So the bottom line is this — if you like either action or RPG games, go buy Deus Ex now. Deux Ex has single–handedly restored Ion Storm’s integrity after the Dominion and Daikatana fiascos, and the gaming public should all be grateful that developers such as Warren Spector, who care more about games and less about hair, are still turning out classics. Deus Ex will surely make gamers’ top 10 lists for some time to come, and that’s not due to any conspiracy — it’s just ol’ fashioned gaming goodness.