Deus Ex Review

As I mentioned in my last blog, I just recently bought the legendary Deus Ex 1 from the Steam game sale, and oh it's ever so good, way better than I remembered. I used to play this game sometime around 2002, which was two years later the game had come out. I had vague memories of the few first stages in the game like Hell's Kitchen and Battery Park in NYC.

As I was playing Deus Ex, it kinda made me sad too, because I realized the game was so good, that few RPGs today can match Deus Ex's caliber in terms of replay value, storytelling, choices, sound, look and overall feel.

So, incase you've been completely living under a rock and have absolutely no idea what game Deus Ex is, let me get around the basics first.

Deus Ex is a hybrid of first person shooter, roleplay and adventure, which takes place in a dystopian world set in 2052 where illness and a lethal pandemic called "The Grey Death" runs rampant. The virus essentially has no cure, except in a form of a vaccine called Ambrosia that's desperately short in supply, and is only available for rich and powerful. The lesser population is slowly dying out and riots break out on the streets, and during the years, many different terrorist organizations have started to rebel against the corrupt governments around the globe.

The player assumes the role of a nanotechnologically-augmented agent called JC Denton who works for United Nations' Anti-Terrorist organization called UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition).

Just out of training, JC is quickly dispatched to his first assignment that's to locate down members of the terrorist force NSF who have been stolen shipments of the virus vaccine Ambrosia. JC tracks the shipment through NYC into a private terminal on LaGuardia Airport. In between this, JC was also reunited with his brother Paul who had given him helpful advice before his first mission. As JC arrives the airport, he finds out Paul who had joined the terrorist force NSF after he had found out the shocking truth; the Grey Death virus was man-made. After this, JC also quickly betrays UNATCO and is being thrown into a inriquing web of conspiracy which take him all over the world into locations like Hong Kong and Paris as he learns the truth to what's really going on.

As the game begins, you can assign skill points to different areas of expertise, such as Lockpicking and Computers which allow you to hack different terminals and turn sentry bots against your enemies.

You can also decide whether you want to advance in rifles, pistols, explosives, heavy weapons or close-combat and non-lethal weapons, infact, I'm not entirely sure, but I think you can play through the game without killing anyone.

In the picture above you can see the various ways of progressing through the game, lockpicking, overriding control panels, snooping around to find the keys to the doors, or just killing your enemies.

As I said in the beginning, this game has a huge amount of choice involved, but I'm not talking about dialog options like in most games, I'm talking about the ways you can progress through the game.

Every level has incredible amount of different paths to take. You can just bluntly go and kill your enemies, or you can take the silent approach and find a vent to crawl into and get behind enemy lines. You can also hack into their computers to find clues like door codes or by finding the certain terminal, you can actually hack open the doors, and if your hacking skill is high enough, turn off the cameras and turn the defense turrets against your enemies. It's one of the most non-linear games I've played, and I love it.



Even though the game graphics are kind of primitive and the surroundings look alittle blocky, it doesn't matter because there's incredible amount of lore put into the game in form of books and datapads that give you insight into the world you're in. The great voiceacting and soundtrack also help you get immersed into the world.

The biggest thing in Deus Ex for me, though, is the story. The incredible plot twists and conspiracys really make your head spin, but it's presented so well that it doesn't come out as ridiculous. It's also interesting to visit some real world conspiracy locations like Area 51, which, for me atleast, make it all much more believable.

Needless to say, the game is a classic, and I'm glad I got to play it after all this time.