Post by Sesshoumaru on May 19, 2003 10:45:11 GMT -5
First Impression
With stunning graphics, excellent game play and a compelling story line, Deus EX will be a definite hit. A first person shooter, Deus Ex has raised the bar for every other 1st person shooter out there. Combining stealth, strategy and unique character developement wrapped around a graphic rich environment Deus Ex has shown the genre is no where near dead and is in fact very alive and kicking. You can bet your sweet ass I'll be buying me a copy!
Kick ass graphics
Excellent textures make up a rich environment that by itself would be sufficient but Ion Storm threw in some lighting effects leaving you breathless. Polished marble floors shine with the reflections of their surroundings and the shadows are dark and concealing giving precious cover from the bad guys. I'm not sure if this is a modified engine from a previous game or something Ion Storm created on it's own but either way the graphics are great! The only bad part I saw was the close-ups of peoples faces, which were undetailed and blurry.
Pretty cool story
You're a cyborg of sorts working for an organization called UNATCO. UNATCO is a high level/high tech US government police force designed to handle terrorist situations and you're their new toy. You and your brother that is! Set in the near future, terrorism is on the rise within the USA and they are armed to the teeth fighting for the same baseless causes as always, but now the terrorists have come to America. UNATCO stresses stealth and minimal death to achieve the objective(Yeah right). UNATCO sends you in to those situations that have gotten out of control or cannot be resolved by normal means, lucky you! The first mission has you assaulting the Statue of Liberty to free a fellow UNATCO officer and to interrogate the leader of the terrorist group responsible who is supposedly holed up in the top of the statue. The officer that was captured had ignored orders and gone rogue, attacking the terrorists head on. You pull up in a police boat, get out on to the dock, meet your brother for a briefing, pick up some supplies and then its killin' time! I've played the first mission about 5 times on the easy level and have yet to even enter the Statue of Liberty. In other words this game is extemely challenging even on the easy level, something you don't always see in this day and age.
Character and game play
With so much to discuss its hard to pick a place to start but I'll start with the character stuff. You are an augmented humanbeing with cybernetic and nanotechnologic enhanacements. The story has it that you volunteered for the operations necessary to add the hardware, hopefully so you can kick some ass! Anyways, you have 'Skills' like 'Low-tech weapons', 'Heavy weapons', 'Computer' and 'Electronics', etc. that you can add points to to increase your level of ability. Unfortunately, the points come few and far between so using them wisely is a major key to your success at the game. You also have a utility belt and small inventory on your person to store various items you might need along the way. This too has limits as the utility belt holds 10 items and the inventory is finite, very finite. I found myself picking up everything I came across but in the end I had to drop items inorder to carry the more important things. There is also a detailed screen of your health and of the augmentations installed inside of you. Both screens break the body down into it's major parts, so if your leg is hurt you can heal just your leg. I have to applaud the game developers on making this system detailed yet easy to use and understand!
Movement was typical of 1st person shooters but with stealth playing a pivotal role I found myself in permanent crouch mode, aka stealthy movement mode! Aiming, shooting and sniping will be familiar to you as it follow 1st person shooter traditions, although Ion Storm threw in some motion while zoomed that makes it difficult to aim. I guess this is to emulate real life since no one can truly hold a sniper rifle completely motionless while crouching or standing.
Deus Ex employs dialog boxes at critical junctures to move the story along and sometimes you get to make choices about your conversation. Your choices can affect the out come of the conversation as well as the outcome of the game so choose wisely. Also, if you get close enough to your enemies you just might hear them talking, maybe discussing something pertinent to your mission.
Some hints
Inorder to speed you along on your first mission I'd like to give you some parting wisdom. Be stealthy, I can't stress this enough. I started out stealthy like my orders suggested but I soon realized that I wasn't being stealthy enough. Stick to the shadows, move slow (crouch) and by all means avoid the robot, security camera and security gun! I stunned more than I shot, I tranq'ed more than I stunned, one because I didn't have alot of 10mm ammo and also it was quieter. Its definitely easier to enter the statue from the back side than it is to try and fight your way in through the front doors. Once you make your way to the 'North dock' do your business then come back out and head to the left you'll see a guard patroling near some really tall crates. Get to the crates take the guard out and then look for a ladder on one of the crates. Climb up the ladder and jump and climb your way to the top of the next level. From there it should be easy to reach the statue but beware at the entrance. Two guards are there and they have put gas bombs on the wall that are activated by proximity. Once inside you can head down or up, down is a mess of guards and up there are two more guards and then the terrorist leader.
Final thoughts
This short description in no way covers every aspect of this great game, but I hope it has wet your appetite. If you're the kind of gamer that likes to just run around killing everything that crosses your path you might not like Deus Ex. If you're into thinking and planning your moves, and being sneaky then this game is for you. As of the time of these last few sentences, I have completed mission 1 and I have one thing to say, DO NOT SHOOT WHILE IN THE UNATCO HEADQUARTERS this is a sure fire way to get yourself killed. I know this game took along time to get out and for as long as it took I thought it would be better. But, this game still rocks and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes 1st person shooters!
*breaths heavily* Wow now that is a long review.
With stunning graphics, excellent game play and a compelling story line, Deus EX will be a definite hit. A first person shooter, Deus Ex has raised the bar for every other 1st person shooter out there. Combining stealth, strategy and unique character developement wrapped around a graphic rich environment Deus Ex has shown the genre is no where near dead and is in fact very alive and kicking. You can bet your sweet ass I'll be buying me a copy!
Kick ass graphics
Excellent textures make up a rich environment that by itself would be sufficient but Ion Storm threw in some lighting effects leaving you breathless. Polished marble floors shine with the reflections of their surroundings and the shadows are dark and concealing giving precious cover from the bad guys. I'm not sure if this is a modified engine from a previous game or something Ion Storm created on it's own but either way the graphics are great! The only bad part I saw was the close-ups of peoples faces, which were undetailed and blurry.
Pretty cool story
You're a cyborg of sorts working for an organization called UNATCO. UNATCO is a high level/high tech US government police force designed to handle terrorist situations and you're their new toy. You and your brother that is! Set in the near future, terrorism is on the rise within the USA and they are armed to the teeth fighting for the same baseless causes as always, but now the terrorists have come to America. UNATCO stresses stealth and minimal death to achieve the objective(Yeah right). UNATCO sends you in to those situations that have gotten out of control or cannot be resolved by normal means, lucky you! The first mission has you assaulting the Statue of Liberty to free a fellow UNATCO officer and to interrogate the leader of the terrorist group responsible who is supposedly holed up in the top of the statue. The officer that was captured had ignored orders and gone rogue, attacking the terrorists head on. You pull up in a police boat, get out on to the dock, meet your brother for a briefing, pick up some supplies and then its killin' time! I've played the first mission about 5 times on the easy level and have yet to even enter the Statue of Liberty. In other words this game is extemely challenging even on the easy level, something you don't always see in this day and age.
Character and game play
With so much to discuss its hard to pick a place to start but I'll start with the character stuff. You are an augmented humanbeing with cybernetic and nanotechnologic enhanacements. The story has it that you volunteered for the operations necessary to add the hardware, hopefully so you can kick some ass! Anyways, you have 'Skills' like 'Low-tech weapons', 'Heavy weapons', 'Computer' and 'Electronics', etc. that you can add points to to increase your level of ability. Unfortunately, the points come few and far between so using them wisely is a major key to your success at the game. You also have a utility belt and small inventory on your person to store various items you might need along the way. This too has limits as the utility belt holds 10 items and the inventory is finite, very finite. I found myself picking up everything I came across but in the end I had to drop items inorder to carry the more important things. There is also a detailed screen of your health and of the augmentations installed inside of you. Both screens break the body down into it's major parts, so if your leg is hurt you can heal just your leg. I have to applaud the game developers on making this system detailed yet easy to use and understand!
Movement was typical of 1st person shooters but with stealth playing a pivotal role I found myself in permanent crouch mode, aka stealthy movement mode! Aiming, shooting and sniping will be familiar to you as it follow 1st person shooter traditions, although Ion Storm threw in some motion while zoomed that makes it difficult to aim. I guess this is to emulate real life since no one can truly hold a sniper rifle completely motionless while crouching or standing.
Deus Ex employs dialog boxes at critical junctures to move the story along and sometimes you get to make choices about your conversation. Your choices can affect the out come of the conversation as well as the outcome of the game so choose wisely. Also, if you get close enough to your enemies you just might hear them talking, maybe discussing something pertinent to your mission.
Some hints
Inorder to speed you along on your first mission I'd like to give you some parting wisdom. Be stealthy, I can't stress this enough. I started out stealthy like my orders suggested but I soon realized that I wasn't being stealthy enough. Stick to the shadows, move slow (crouch) and by all means avoid the robot, security camera and security gun! I stunned more than I shot, I tranq'ed more than I stunned, one because I didn't have alot of 10mm ammo and also it was quieter. Its definitely easier to enter the statue from the back side than it is to try and fight your way in through the front doors. Once you make your way to the 'North dock' do your business then come back out and head to the left you'll see a guard patroling near some really tall crates. Get to the crates take the guard out and then look for a ladder on one of the crates. Climb up the ladder and jump and climb your way to the top of the next level. From there it should be easy to reach the statue but beware at the entrance. Two guards are there and they have put gas bombs on the wall that are activated by proximity. Once inside you can head down or up, down is a mess of guards and up there are two more guards and then the terrorist leader.
Final thoughts
This short description in no way covers every aspect of this great game, but I hope it has wet your appetite. If you're the kind of gamer that likes to just run around killing everything that crosses your path you might not like Deus Ex. If you're into thinking and planning your moves, and being sneaky then this game is for you. As of the time of these last few sentences, I have completed mission 1 and I have one thing to say, DO NOT SHOOT WHILE IN THE UNATCO HEADQUARTERS this is a sure fire way to get yourself killed. I know this game took along time to get out and for as long as it took I thought it would be better. But, this game still rocks and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes 1st person shooters!
*breaths heavily* Wow now that is a long review.