This is another one of those games that's been in my 'to play' pile for a very long time, and after a couple of false starts I've decided to finally knuckle down with it. After realising the hard way (ie, getting my ass handed to me repeatedly on the first level) that the easiest way to play this game is the stealth approach. Now I'm actually having fun with it.

What I like so far:

The stealth mechanics are very good, but also accessible. I'm not a huge stealth fan - I find games like the early Splinter Cells quite tedious - but Deus Ex seems to be quite forgiving. I like that I'm rewarded for being stealthy, but not punished too severely when stealth fails. It's also really satisfying to get through a section without being detected.

I really like how there are many routes to take to reach your objective - and that within the levels there is a lot of opportunity for exploration. I spent quite a bit of time after dispatching the guards in the Sarif Labs just wandering around, discovered rooms off the beaten path, mentally noting other possible routes I could've taken, hacking computers, etc.

I also love the whole look of the game, the strong black/brown/gold colour palette really appeals to me.

Adam Jensen looks and sounds super-cool and totally bad-ass.

What I don't like so far:

The RPG elements - specifically having to wander around talking to people to pick up side quests. Don't get me wrong, I love a good RPG as much as the next guy, but in this game it feels a bit jarring, like it's taking me away from the action for too long. I'd be tempted to just ignore most of the side quests if they weren't so necessary for that much-needed XP.

Switching between 1st and 3rd person is quite annoying, although I'm getting used to it. Still, I think I'd enjoy it more if I could just pick one and stick with it.

Canned animations for takedowns - this bugs me because it doesn't feel like I'm doing anything, and removes me from the visceral experience of performing a cool stealth takedown.

Character animations during conversations - The NPCs are all really twitchy and puppet-like, like Thunderbirds. It's quite off-putting during conversations. Thankfully they don't have Jensen jerking around like he's having a minor ceasure.

Well, this is the first Deus Ex game I've played, so I don't know if these aspects are common to the series or if it's just HR. Anyways, I like it enough so far to keep going...