Deus Ex

[Axolotl]

I've just completed Deus Ex for the first time. I bought it when PC Gamer called it the greatest PC game of all time. And now having played the game I find myself agreeing with the sentiment or at least I can't think of any game more deserveing of the title.

So has anybody else played Deus Ex? And if so what did you think of it?

 

[hazabaza1]

Played it, gave it a good few hours, hated it, regretted purchasing it. If it really is "best PC game of all time" then PC gaming is awful overall, at least, in my opinion.

 

[Musicfreak]

Ah Deus ex one of my favorites you should try and hunt down System Shock 2 if you haven't played it yet. If you liked Deus Ex you will probably like it.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

Yuppers. You should try getting "The Nameless Mod" too. Free for download - just need to have installed Deus Ex.

 

[thepopeofatheism]

It shows it's age like hell but the original concepts were good.

 

[Fightgarr]

I can't say I agree entirely at all. I loved its stealth elements and I still think it has the best level design of any game I've played to date. On the other hand, its commonly praised story feels extraordinarily shallow to me. The Illuminati, government conspiracy type of ground has been tread before. Sure, not that often in video games, but it still doesn't feel as deep or meaningful as it was made out to be. In addition, the game makes it out like some massive moral choice whether you kill people or just knock them out, but it seems to me it has absolutely no effect on the game either way, other than you yourself feeling like you're doing something more or less harmful.

Other than that I have to say that it has the most disappointing endings of anything I've seen to date. You get about 15 seconds of dialogue and then a quote. What. The. Fuck. This is a game praised for the story it tells and that's the best it can come up with. The game constantly tries to be more intellectual by throwing the same few excerpts of books at you over and over and ends up feeling overly pretentious. So no. It's not the best game ever.

Bottom line: The game should be praised for stealth gameplay and excellent level design. Nothing else.

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Went in to it with high expectations and came away disappointed. I had initially thought the game offered more freedom than just "Use a window instead of a door."

 

[More Fun To Compute]

It a good game. I've completed it twice and have installed at the moment. There are several games that I like more.

I think that it is unusual that they have picked a greatest game that is hard to get into and has issues that mean it could get a very low review score if marked down for flaws. I guess it shows how the reputation of the thing has held up better than a lot of other FPS games as it has a lot more detail and stuff to do. And that most people who work at PC Gamer are FPS fanboys.

 

[Scrythe]

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Deus Ex was the first game that I ever inadvertently stayed up all night playing, so I have understandably fond memories. It's also the source of my stringent standards for FPS excellence, since that was actually the first FPS I ever played seriously (fooling around with Heretic in multi-player (over a serial cable, hah!) was about the extent of my FPS experiences prior to Deus Ex).

 

[Distorted Stu]

I loved it, got frustrated at times and confusd. But still, a fucking good game!

 

[Cypher10110]

I've just completed Deus Ex for the first time. I bought it when PC Gamer called it the greatest PC game of all time. And now having played the game I find myself agreeing with the sentiment or at least I can't think of any game more deserveing of the title.

So has anybody else played Deus Ex? And if so what did you think of it?

I enjoyed the way the story played out, it was one of few games that I really believed in, it was really immersive. At least for me, at the tender age of the time ^^
I was really into stealth at the time, and I found Deus Ex satisfying.

I'm not sure why this game still gets so much attention. At the time it felt fresh original, and massive. Now most people would tell you that the story is good but the game-play mechanics are awkward and sluggish at best. In this regard it has not aged well.

Occasionally it's nice to revisit the past, but I'm the sort of guy who complains about input lag, non-configurable UI and key-bindings, wide screen support, and more recent "mod con" PC bolt-ons. Re-playing System Shock 2, Deus Ex, X-Wing, and FreeSpace 2, has been very different from what I remmember, but still a good ride ^^

 

[Kayevcee]

I resisted Deus Ex for years because I played the tutorial section of the demo and thought it was arse. It took me 45 goes to get past the stealth bit then I got shot to pieces by a sentry droid 15 times because my ever-so-subtle 'chuck a box of TNT at it' plan resulted in me blowing my own legs off the one time I managed it before death. On a friend's recommendation I played the actual level and found it to be the best thing ever.

It *does* take a while to get into, and starting again after completing it can be hard- the first time you pick up that sniper rifle and the sights flail around like your nano-augmented supersoldier is actually a zyme addict having an epileptic seizure on a toboggan is particularly frustrating.

I recently found out another mate of mine who prefers stealth games was a big fan of Deus Ex and he played it totally different from me. he went for silent running while I was bouncing around like a young Spider-man full of sherbet. I ditched the stealth pistol ASAP and put all my clip upgrades into my assault rifle while he put all his upgrades into the stealth pistol and actually took on the MJ12 dudes with missile launchers for arms with it. He couldn't believe that I charged in the front door of crowded bases like Conan with the Dragon's Tooth and my Ballistic Shielding on full while he snuck through the vents with his gas grenades, or I cleared out half my inventory to carry a GEP gun with me at all times in case I ran into one of those FECKING sentry drones with all the machine guns. I hate them. I hate them so very, very much. And they make a lovely tinkly sound when the shattered remains of their armour rains back down to earth. *cough* He reckons we should do co-op one of these days. MJ12 wouldn't know what the hell was going on.

Deus Ex may not seem like amazing shakes or particularly original now, but I reckon that's only because it raised the bar so high when it was released. Back when it first came out a game with this much depth, non-linearity and strong storytelling was a revelation. If the above-mentioned System Shock 2 hadn't come out around the same time (I'm sure I got demos of both off the same cover disk) then it would have been the only game in its league anywhere. There would be a statue of J.C. Denton at every E3, and not one of your fibreglass dealies either. I'm talking marble.

For any System Shock 2 fans reading, you can get some stonking custom missions on http://www.sshock2.com/ such as Ponterbee Station and the UNN Nightwalker. You can also get updated character models here: http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,8.0.html to replace the 90s LEGO men.

-Nick

 

[Nomanslander]

I've just completed Deus Ex for the first time. I bought it when PC Gamer called it the greatest PC game of all time. And now having played the game I find myself agreeing with the sentiment or at least I can't think of any game more deserveing of the title.

So has anybody else played Deus Ex? And if so what did you think of it?

Deus Ex, Half-Life (NOT HL2), and System Shock 2 are considered the three FPS games that matter.

Personally I could never get into the game since I've seen and read so many Cyberpunk movies and novels Deus Ex really had nothing new to offer as for story.

I still respect the game for what it was.

 

[clutch-monkey]

first game to get me into RPG influenced style of play. loved it.