A great cyberpunk game that transcends its limited graphics and gameplay flaws with fun, enthralling storytelling.
I found myself continually asking myself, 'why the hell did I not play this game earlier, when the graphics were cutting edge and I would have gotten a fuller experience?' The more I played this game, the more I found myself completely captivated by the fantastic world, the cool characters, the player choices that impacted the storyline, and the generally awesome, albeit campy feel to it all. It uses what limited capabilities it has to provide great storytelling, and it has aged well, despite graphics that reek of the 90s. If I were to pin one fault on it, it would be that it drags on a bit at times, but even then, that is excusable because it's a downright great game that gets storytelling right.
To try to liken this game to any other game out there, I'd have to say it's the teenage cousin of System Shock 2 with it's cyberpunk story, RPG-FPS style character system, and general feel, although I see System Shock 2 as the more mature cousin, akin to the Alien of the gaming world, whereas Deus Ex is more akin to a William Gibson novel. Even so, it stands as one of the most impressive examples of storytelling via gameplay to this date.
The game takes place in the near future, where a genetically engineered plague is ravaging the planet, and the treatment is only available from an evil megacorporation who sells it for ridiculous prices to politicians and rich people for influence and political favors. Your character is JC Denton, a relatively nondescript cardboard cut out UNATCO special agent trying to protect evil corporate interests by stopping urban terrorists from stealing the cure and giving it to the unwashed masses. As the game progresses, you get to know the characters through elaborate conversations that are effected by your actions in game, and despite relatively bad voice acting, you find yourself sympathizing with many of the characters through said conversations, as well as the ability to hack private emails like a creepy stalker. The NPC development is nowhere near the level of depth available in games such as Mass Effect, but it's still pretty good. Despite other characters being fully interesting, your character remains a cardboard cutout throughout the game, lacking any real personality save for the important choices that are left to the character. Furthermore, multiple endings are a nice touch, and the game incorporates very different endings, allowing you to directly choose the path you wish to follow.
As the game progresses, you begin to find out the truth about UNATCO, the organization you've been working for, and the truth about the Versalife, the evil corporation. As you continue to work your way through the game, you are faced with a number of difficult decisions, as well as some interesting consequences for actions- for example, noticing something strange and investigating it may result in a character living or dying, or a more mundane and humorous example involves being chastised by your commander at a briefing if you enter an occupied woman's restroom. The choices and high quality storytelling drive the game forward well through a number of varied locales, with missions ranging from stealthy black ops, free for all combat, infiltration, and even social missions. There are also a number of side quests to follow, although few of them are incredibly relevant to the game, and most of them involve talking to people who are sitting on other sides of the area- you'd think in the future they'd have cell phones, but apparently not.
The gameplay itself is a little clumsy at times, but overall very good. The incorporation of body damage is a nice touch- if you get full damage on your head or torso, you are dead- but if both of your legs are fully damaged, you simply drag your body along at a snails pace until a medkit miraculously restores your severed limbs. Your character is continually augmented by nanotech enhancements, and as the game progresses, you have the ability to customize your character further. Personally, I chose to be a stealth based hacker, but the options are relatively limitless.
The combat is rather good, although there is a full range to the game. There are a number of different weapons, ranging from a guided missile launcher to the Asian equivalent of a lightsaber. Still, at times the combat can be a bit clumsy, and there are enemies that are overly annoying, such as Greasels, which are like the dinosaur that killed Nedry in Jurassic park- little green genetically engineered dinosaurs that spit acid. Not only are they very hard to hit, they have dead on aim, and blind you with the acid. There are also spider robots that are ridiculously annoying to kill due to their small size, but thankfully they are relatively rare, as are the greasels. The AI is not particularly impressive, but it gets the job done.
One of the things that I really appreciated about this game was the freedom. Every problem has about 5 solutions- a door stands in your way. You could hack it, or find a PDA on a guard's desk with his login to the computer lock on the door, or you could shoot a missile at the door, or you could sneak around the vents and find a back way in. Much of the game operates in this way, giving the player a large amount of freedom to find a style of play, and customize the character for it.
The graphics in this game are rather decent quality, although at times they are a bit too blocky. However, the feel of the cyberpunk future is not sacrificed, as many of the areas have a very appropriate, dark feel to them. Some areas, however, in particular Hong Kong, seem just slightly offensive, as the characters all speak with painfully bad Asian accents, and the entire level seems to detract from the whole story by seeming like it was stolen from a 70s Kung Fu movie. The voice acting is another area that desperately needs help- System Shock 2 was the massive success in storytelling thanks to the phenomenal voice acting. Deus Ex, on the other hand, has voice acting that sounds untrained at best, and like a 7 year old with mental disabilities at worst, which ruins the great writing. Despite this, though, you find yourself genuinely caring for the characters, showing that bad voice acting doesn't ruin the game completely.
Another point worth mention is the music- it's quite good. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now, and many of the songs are rather catchy, although the sound is somewhat primitive at times.
For bad points, I can think of very few. For the most part, Deus Ex hits the nail straight on the head. The voice acting is terrible, the game lasts a little too long, and... and... and... Greasels. I hate the little bastards.
In any case, if you haven't played Deus Ex, and you like games that don't suck, check it out. It's definitely worth the time, and while it may drag on at times, it's a great example of in game storytelling at its best.