... And even more so if you download the Unreal Tournament OpenGL renderer (Deus Ex was made using the Unreal Tournament game engine), which further improves the graphics: http://cwdohnal.home.mindspring.com/utglr/.
It can still be bought from the manufacturer’s website, Eidos Interactive, on ... Read review
Developers Ion Storm owed us something pretty special and futuristic shoot, spy and ... more
stalk-'em-upDeus Exmore than makes up for the disappointment ofDaikatana.Deus Exis set in a nearby future where a deadly virus ravages the world's populace, terrorists ...
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Developers Ion Storm owed us something pretty special to counter the utter disappointment ... more
ofDaikatanabut futuristic shoot, spy and stalk-'em-upDeus Exwas almost more than we could have asked for. Almost.Latin for that which appears out of nowhere to re...
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Developers Ion Storm owed us something pretty special to counter the utter disappointment ... more
ofDaikatanabut futuristic shoot, spy and stalk-'em-upDeus Exwas almost more than we could have asked for. Almost.Latin for that which appears out of nowhere to re...
Postage & Packaging: £1.94 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Developers Ion Storm owed us something pretty special to counter the utter disappointment ... more
ofDaikatanabut futuristic shoot, spy and stalk-'em-upDeus Exwas almost more than we could have asked for. Almost.Latin for thatwhich appears out of nowhere to res...
Postage & Packaging: £1.94 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Critically hailed as millennium Game of the Year, Deus Ex draws you into a doomed world of ... more
chaos and paranoia. As civilization nears collapse, a conspiracy bent on world domination emerges from the shadows of legend. The conspirator's greatest strength? No one believes they exist. No one but you.
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Advantages: Best game ever. Total immersion, free will, great characters, intelligent story & dialogue Disadvantages: Just none. None. Somewhat outdated graphics, if you're really picky .
...played Superfly plays the NSF commander at the top of the tower in the first level of Deus Ex, and the actress who played Mikiko plays Sandra Renton, daughter of the owner of the 'Ton Hotel, plus a couple of minor characters.
Created by: Warren Spector’s team at Ion Storm Published by: Eidos Interactive Year of release: 2000
This classic PC game, a mixture of First Person Shooter, Role Playing Game, and Adventure Game, is what I (and quite a few other gamers) consider the very best game of all time. It won Game of the Year award in 2001, and even as recently as 2007 was voted Best PC Game of All Time by PCZone (UK) magazine. It spent several years in the planning, going through various transitions and changes of direction, until it finally emerged as the masterpiece that was released in 2000.
This was, as far as I am aware, the first PC game that gave the player what appeared to be almost complete freedom of choice as to how to play it. The actual progression from level to level was still linear, but each situation you encountered along the way could be dealt with by multiple different methods. And whichever means you chose to employ would turn out to be catered for by the way the game was scripted to react. Pretty much anything you might choose to do, even intentionally silly things in an attempt to try to ‘break’ the game, is anticipated, taken in stride and produces a logical outcome. The first time I played this game, this uncanny ability to adapt to whatever I did really blew me away!
It’s an incredibly complex, feature-rich and dialogue-rich game; dialogue is another place it really shines – this game contains the most intelligent, intellectual and deep dialogue I’ve ever seen in a game, with much talk involving philosophy, politics, science, technology and classical history. Your character interacts and speaks with many interesting characters, ranging from street punks to respected scientists. The game is very ‘dark’ in every meaning of the word, including that the entire game takes place at night.
It’s classed as a ‘cyberpunk’ game, meaning that it takes place in a high-tech dystopian near-future (2052, in this case) where corruption is rampant and everything is in a state of disarray. The world has been struck by a virus called the Grey Death, a terrorist group called the National Secessionist Forces (NSF) is causing havoc in America, trying to overthrow the government, as their French sister-organisation, Silhouette, is trying to do in Europe, and conspiracies are everywhere.
Into this scenario arrives the character you play, JC Denton, a 23-year-old graduate from UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition) training academy, on his first day on the job at UNATCO headquarters. JC is a new type of anti-terrorist – he and his older brother Paul are the first ‘nanoaugmented’ agents, meaning that they have been implanted with biological modifications giving them near-superhuman strength, vision, and self-defence mechanisms, plus an ‘Infolink’ which allows their employers to both speak to them remotely and to see what they see.
Paul was the first prototype, and JC is the newer, improved version. JC’s vision, for instance, is so highly augmented that he has to wear sunglasses at all times – removing them reveals that his eyes are solid blue, which would understandably freak out the normal man/woman in the street.
When you start up the game you can choose to play a training mission, which I recommend – this introduces you to some of the main characters as well as how to use your inventory items and your weapons, and how to use stealth, a technique you’ll need for this game. You’ll be instructed by Dr Jaime Reyes, your physician and buddy; Gunther Hermann and Anna Navarre, your colleagues; and at the end you’ll be given a ‘well done’ speech by big boss Bob Page.
Gameplay begins with your arrival on the docks in New York City. You receive an Infolink message from UNATCO telling you to meet up with your brother Paul, who is waiting on the docks to brief you on your first assignment: you have to take back the nearby Statue of Liberty building from the NSF, who have seized it and placed their commander on the top floor.
This is your first experience of how many ways you can carry out your assignments in this game: you can go rushing in with guns blazing killing everything that moves, including the commander, which results in some angry telling-offs by both Paul and your UNATCO boss for being too bloodthirsty and for missing the opportunity to interrogate the commander for useful information, OR, you can go in stealthily by sneaking around not being seen, hit people over the head with your baton rendering them unconscious rather than killing them, take the commander alive and interrogate him, and be rewarded with both praise and a bonus. So, as you see, this is not your common shoot-em-up.
As the very interesting and absorbing story of this game progresses, you become involved with an increasingly eclectic range of people and begin to encounter indications that things are not at all as they seemed when you first joined UNATCO. Conspiracies abound, involving such diverse entities as top scientists, the government, gangsters, various terrorist factions, The Illuminati and other secret organisations, and even your own employers. And you start to discover disturbing things about your brother and yourself, including your origins.
This review would be far too long if I were to go into further detail about the story – I will just say that playing this is likely to give you the richest and most rewarding gaming experience of your life. The game is also vastly replayable – there is so much in it, that you are pretty much guaranteed not to experience all of it the first time through. I’ve played it about 12 times and I still find an occasional conversation or area that I hadn’t seen before!
One warning I will give, is that the first mission in the game is a bit slow and ‘dry’, and can give the impression that the game is not all that good. This was my first impression, and I’ve heard that others have found this too. I bought this game in 2000, played about half the first mission and lost interest, and didn’t go back to it until 2003 when I was off sick with flu for a week and decided to force myself to play some more, as I still kept reading about how great it was supposed to be. Well, I was glad I did, because I spent that week completing the game to the end, unable to stop playing – it was like the best ‘page-turning’ novel I’d ever been unable to put down. I’m still grateful to that case of flu!
And, speaking of playing to the end, the ending is another way this game was great: there are three different endings. In the final level, you have to choose which of three different outcomes you want JC to achieve, and you can play all three endings by saving and going back to that final level.
Just as this is my favourite game of all time, JC Denton is my favourite game hero of all time. As well as being a huge badass, he is the master of the ‘ice burn’ one-liner, delivered in his deep, gruff, gravelly monotone voice. Some classic throwaway lines:
‘Bravery is not a function of firepower’ ‘If I were going to kill you, you’re already dead.’ ‘You've got ten seconds to beat it before I add you to the list of NSF casualties.’ ‘I like to pick ‘em off from a distance.’ ‘What good's an honest soldier if he can be ordered to behave like a terrorist?’
And probably his line most-loved by avid fans of the game: ‘A bomb!’ I’ll leave you to play the game to find out the context and why this is so endearing!
Paul Denton has his moments too, especially his tendency to go completely berserk due to AI glitches. If you’re in a shootout in which Paul is involved, be very careful not to accidentally hit him with ‘friendly fire’ – he will say something like ‘Are you out of your mind?’ and go completely mental shooting everyone including you repeatedly until everyone, including you, is dead.
Although this sounds like a very serious game, it does have many instances of intentional humour as well as unintentional, which provide a few much-needed giggles from time to time. For instance, just try walking JC into the ladies’ restroom during your first visit to UNATCO - if there is a woman in there who expresses disgust and says she is going to report this, wait and see what your manager, Mr Manderley, has to say about it!
Despite its age, this game will run on most modern hardware, though those with dual-core processors may have to disable one core because otherwise the game may run too fast. I play it on a single-core Pentium IV 3.6Ghz Shuttle PC running Windows Vista Home Premium with no problems.
The graphics, which were pretty advanced in 2000, look a bit dated today, especially the character models - they look OK from a distance but awful in close-up. But the maps still hold up well, so it is absolutely playable even now, nine years later, especially if you give it the highest resolution. And even more so if you download the Unreal Tournament OpenGL renderer (Deus Ex was made using the Unreal Tournament game engine), which further improves the graphics: http://cwdohnal.home.mindspring.com/utglr/.
It can still be bought from the manufacturer’s website, Eidos Interactive, on Amazon, and as a downloadable Game of The Year edition on Steam.
Just a bit of fun trivia for Daikatana 'fans' - the voice actor who played Superfly plays the NSF commander at the top of the tower in the first level of Deus Ex, and the actress who played Mikiko plays Sandra Renton, daughter of the owner of the 'Ton Hotel, plus a couple of minor characters.
Advantages: great level design, character models, immersive, realistic, stylish, brilliant music, diverse, Disadvantages: graphics somewhat dated, a little complex.
...#SKILLS# Deus Ex is often not given enough credit as an RPG. People tend to forget (because of how well-put-together it is) that it is an Role-playing-game first and a shooter second. Frequently overlooked in reviews is the "Skills" section, something which is vitally important to the game. A form of XP (skill-points) is awarded not for killing people, but completing objectives to certain ends. These points can then be extrapalated and transferred ... ...good idea of how the Deus Ex environment fuctions, and the vast level of customization available in the game, here is a list of all skills which can be upgraded to the players satisfaction, up to 4 levels, Untrained, Trained, Advanced, and Master: -Computer- This refers to computer hacking. If the player is unable to find the password to a computer or terminal, being trained at this skill will allow him to hack said computer for a period of time ...
Mutalisk 20.07.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Deus Ex (PC)
Advantages: a masterpiece Disadvantages: online games lose the feel of the original
...Welcome to the world of Deus Ex. A not-too distant future where conspiracy is no longer a theory and your allies, well, might not be. Things are in a bad state - plague is sweeping the world, and there isn't enough vaccine to reach the poor. You are a new breed of agent, a nano-enhanced man working for an anti-terrorist organisation. But what kind of man are you? Well that's entirely up to you....
Combining elements of many genres, Deus Ex is a ... ...lot more difficult to find. Deus Ex praises an explorer :)
Some weapons can also be upgraded through sporadic weapon modifications covering things like range, accuracy, laser sight and scope. As an example, I put a scope and accuracy modification onto my pistol turning it into a makeshift and fairly adequate sniper rifle. Ammo can be found in many places, the most prominent being the 10mm ammo for the pistol, but if you look hard enough you should ...
littlemissdrunk 25.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Deus Ex (PC)
Advantages: Amazing Gameplay and Graphics... Disadvantages: Far too addictive....
...in equal quantities. To say Deus Ex was amazing would do it a great injustice - it's better than that. It's one of the most entertaining and enthralling games I have ever played.
You play an agent working for UNATCO (the World's leading anti-terrorist agency), in a time of great strife (set in the not too distant future). UNATCO itself is at the forefront of technological advancement, and you are the product of these developments, one JC Denton. ... ...agents for some time, generally by replacing limbs and body parts with mechanical alternatives. You, on the other hand, along with your brother, have been nano-augmented. Your body contains thousands and thousands of tiny robots, that make you stronger, faster, and capable of surviving much more than the average human, or even a 'normal' augmented agent. Having completed your training, you are unceremoniously dumped in the middle of a battle ground. ...
ILoveJackDaniels 12.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Deus Ex (PC)
Advantages: Good graphics, new features like hacking, a big storyline, FPS and RPG mixed Disadvantages: Storyline confusing at times, characters could have been made better-looking
Deus Ex was one of the most stylish and exciting Role Playing Games released at its time. An RPG set to take place in the future is certainly something innovative, as almost all the RPG games were concentrating in the old fantasy lands and mythical creatures and heroes. This outstanding game from Ion Storm Inc and Eidos Interactive also has a sequel named Invisible war, but I don't believe that it has kept the standards of the original game, as long ... ...the best-selling RPG games, Deus Ex is also available in a number of other platforms. I would also define Deus Ex as the game which lowered my extreme Unreal Tournament addiction upto an extent.
REQUIREMENTS
CPU Type: Pentium II
CPU Speed in MHz: 300MHz
RAM: 64 MB
Hard Drive Space: 150MB
Sound Card: DirectX compliant
CD Drive Speed: 4X
Video Card: DirectX compliant 3D accelerator
Graphics Type: 3D accelerated
Video RAM in MB: 16MB
Software: ...
existtoinspire 14.05.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Deus Ex (PC)
Advantages: Multiple playing styles. Good graphics and sound. Excellent plot. Deep. Involving. Disadvantages: Umm...
...most people? Yeah? Not anymore. Deus Ex is here, and it rocks big bells. Erm. Where to start? Well, let's get one thing straight, Deus Ex has loads in it. If you want to emphasise the fact, then it has shitloads in it. If you want to be crude about it, then it has f**kloads in it. But whatever way you put it, it's a huge game. So, I'd better go on with the review hadn't I? Fitting Deus Ex into one specific category is difficult, it's an RPG, but ... ...as well you should, because Deus Ex is THE game you've been waiting for. It's taken all the best bits from those games and put them together well. VERY well. Having developed the diabolical Daikatana, Ion Storm, needed to redeem themselves pretty damn quick, and what a way to do it! But with Warren Spector masterminding the action, I think we had little to fear, for he was the man who brought us System Shock and Thief. We have a lot to thank this ...
WolfMan81uk 22.10.2001 (23.10.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Deus Ex (PC)
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Advantages: Decent storyline, impressive level design, good graphics Disadvantages: Short game, 'dumbed down' for console owners
Here's a puzzle for you: how do you create a direct sequel to a game which itself had three distinct and possible endings? This was a problem which Ion Storm faced when trying to create the sequel to the original "DeusEx". DeusEx was, at the time, one of the most innovative games of recent memory and arguably one of the all-time great PC games and Ion Storm have a lot to do if they're to better the original.
The sequel takes this formula, adds it to some new technologies and adds a storyline which somehow makes sense after the previous multiple endings of the first.
It is twenty years since the events in DeusEx plunged the world into a global collapse. The aftermath of J. C. Denton's involvement with a worldwide conspiracy has left the world devastated and a few groups are vying for complete control over the world's population ...
Advantages: Though widely not considered perfect, is really a very good game Disadvantages: Could have been a bit longer, not a patch on the original but nothing ever will be
particular offering were that it had an awful, circular heads-up display that was too 'in your face' (but can actually be tweaked to push it further to the edges of the screen and made more transparent as well, which is what I had to do to make it bearable!), and that all of the weapons used the same ammo. Basically, this was all down to the fact that the game was unfortunately originally developed for the XBox rather than the PC, to cash in on the then-new XBox's release, so it suffered from having a very 'games console' look. DeusEx purists never forgave them for this, and the game sadly suffered a lot in both sales and reputation as a result.
The story begins twenty years after the original game ends. The world has been recovering after being plunged into a new dark age at the end of the original game, but fanatical terrorists have sprung up ...
Advantages: Good plot Disadvantages: Doesn't live up to the hype, could have been a lot better than it is
Overview
DeusEx: Invisible War is the sequel to DeusEx: The Conspiracy. It follows on the story from the original, taking elements from each of the three possible endings and mixing them into the basis of the plot for Invisible War.
It's now 2072, 20 years since JC Denton's actions in DX1 cause the Collapse and the world is now beginning to recover and rebuild. You play JC's brother (or sister, yay for gender selection) who is also biomodified. After a terrorist attack on Chicago wipes out the whole city you are forced to flee to Seattle's Tarsus Academy, and so begins your journey to deciding what becomes of the world.
A number of factions will each try and enlist your help to recreate Earth in their image. These include the WTO, The Order, The Omar, The Templar and The Illuminati. Each have very different ideals and beliefs, which ...
Developers Ion Storm owed us something pretty special and futuristic shoot, spy and stalk-'em-up Deus Ex more than makes up for the disappointment of Daikatana. Deus Ex is set in a nearby future where a deadly virus ravages the world's populace, terrorists are bent on exposing corrupt governments and conspiratorial elites are ready to wade in and wreak havoc. You play a techno-enhanced agent tasked with getting to the bottom of it all without cashing in your chips. Immediately noticeable is the attention to detail; there's no end of objects and characters to interact with--too much, were it not for the consequences that arise from almost every interaction. Such random actions as killing a guard or "accidentally" walking into the ladies' toilets can significantly affect mission outcomes. The best game will result from stealthy inch-by-inch exploration and you'll be glad you did. Considering that Deus Ex has gameplay in bucketloads, it could look like Commander Keen and get away with it. Thankfully though, the Unreal engine does a more than passable job of rendering some beautiful locations and although models may look a little blocky compared to games using more sophisticated engines, the minor flaws melt away as the game gets going.By no means a perfect title, Deus Ex, as its name implies, has come from nowhere and lifted the FPS role-playing adventure out of its hybrid quagmire of genres. With a richly detailed story and great visuals, it boasts a seamless, technically accomplished and truly engrossing game world for those wanting to flex so much more than just their trigger fingers. --Tae Mawson
