Zero Punctuation: Deus Ex

[I forgot]

I've never played Deus Ex but I always get the feeling that I'll be saying it's an overrated piece of shit when I do. Being able to run past enemies and slam the door behind them doesn't exactly sound too good either. All I hear about this game is how you can do anything and not necessarily what the complexity of the design or challenge is behind it which is why I fear I won't like this game.

Aye, mate, should give it a try first and then judge it to be "an overrated piece of shit". Overrated, perhaps. Piece of shit, far from it. "Deus Ex" in a nutshell is a canvas for a creative player to play how he or she likes. There are numerous approaches to a problem, every one being equal and the player is the jury and executioner in every single case.

If you hate the games that force you to accomplish all the tasks in one and only way you will like "Deus Ex", because there aren't many games like it.

That however is not its only strength. A fantastic atmosphere, interesting dialogues, kick-ass soundtrack, very flexible RPG system. Dude, what more can you ask for from a game?

I haven't judged it yet but I'm afraid that that's what I will say because all the praise for this game is in fantastic atmosphere (I don't play games for atmosphere), dailogue (don't care), soundtrack (I like music but there's more to games than that), RPG system (um,so?) and numerous approaches to solving a problem (are any of them fun?). So yeah, there is more I can ask from a game.

I was telling you about the objective qualities of a game. Something being fun or otherwise is entirely subjective. A game could be brilliant objectively, yet you can still be a dick by resorting to "it's just not fun" argument. I guess with your degree of prejudice even a "Häagen-Dazs" ice-cream wouldn't be good, simply because it's considered to be delicious by the majority.

"Universally praised" doesn't automatically mean "overrated" and "overrated" doesn't automatically mean "bad". It this reply of yours you haven't told me anything new, really.

All I have to say is this: play the game first. Right now you're making assumptions out of a thin air. You're not alone, however, since humanity is famous for doing this.

Dude, can you read? I haven't made any assumptions (and any I might, have a reason behind them). The first thing I said was "I haven't judged it yet" so I'm not prejudiced, I'm just stating what I'm afraid might happen. Your "objective" qualities aren't actually objective either and I stated why they don't mean a damn thing about the game being worth anything.
I don't hate on popular games because they're popular but I do get suspicious when all the praise is going to the wrong places as I stated in my first comment.

 

[CrawlingPastaHellion]

...I haven't made any assumptions (and any I might, have a reason behind them)... Your "objective" qualities aren't actually objective either and I stated why they don't mean a damn thing about the game being worth anything...

So did you make assumptions or did you not? Decide on that already, will you.

On one side you are right about those qualities possibly being as subjective as anything else. Yet, simply because there isn't a system of measuring those qualities, doesn't mean they can't be evaluated objectively. In the end it all comes down to definition: "what is good music?", "what is a good story?" and so on. Too bad that those are often too vague.

Well let's just try a relative approach then: those qualities in "Deus Ex" are way above your average run of the mill game, simply due to the fact of a lot more effort put into them in "Deus Ex" (an undoubtedly objective quality). There you go: problem solved.

As for your statement of those not amounting to making a game worth anything. Enlighten us then: what does make a game worth anything? Because contrary to your statement you didn't state a single reason for particularly that.

Before you point me to your original post: no, that is not a definition of a good game either -

All I hear about this game is how you can do anything and not necessarily what the complexity of the design or challenge is behind it which is why I fear I won't like this game.

Besides, "Deus Ex" does have complexity of design, so there you go. Whether it has any challenge... I personally think HR is more challenging on the hardest difficulty. Then again the original is not a walk in the park either on the same difficulty level, unless you're fully upgraded. I am almost fully upgraded in HR and it's still quite challenging.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

Anyone else notice the Engineer hat the Imp was wearing at 1:14?

 

[hyplion]

I really enjoyed DEHR, it not as great as DE1 but better than DEIW.
And if i look back at the past few years this is the first good fps which got released in a long time. To me it is better than bioshock (bioshock is a great game but once the penny dropped ie this game is SS2 only underwater, the main twist in both games being exactly the same).

I am no fan of cover based shooting, but since stealth plays a big role in DEHR is works, you die quickly if not in cover and when shot to a few HP you will not have regenerated all health before the enemies come around the corner.

Compared to DE1 they combines the skills and augs into just augs, but they gave us enough choice to make it interesting. (unlike Mass effect 2)

The story was fun and intriguing, not as epic as DE1 but i have stopped expecting that level of excellence from games, they dont make epic games like that anymore, and its a shame. DEHR however did remind me a lot of DE1 i loved it and am on my 3rd playthrough now.

 

[Balkan]

Does Yahtzee write anything in the forum except "Watch Some shity game review or youll make me cry " ?

 

[FreakSheet]

Me thinks Yahtzee will be slightly disapotined with HR's health system.

To be fair, the original Deus Ex had health regen, it was just an augmentation. I guess Sarif had the foresight to think "Hey, Jensen might need this..."

 

[demouse]

I would love to see Deus Ex: HR reviewed back-to-back with EyE: Divine Cybermancy just for the comparison.

 

[StormShaun]

I really loved Deus Ex: HR exept for the boss battles and the forced stealth aspect of the game, but it is quite an awesome game.

 

[I forgot]

...I haven't made any assumptions (and any I might, have a reason behind them)... Your "objective" qualities aren't actually objective either and I stated why they don't mean a damn thing about the game being worth anything...

So did you make assumptions or did you not? Decide on that already, will you.

On one side you are right about those qualities possibly being as subjective as anything else. Yet, simply because there isn't a system of measuring those qualities, doesn't mean they can't be evaluated objectively. In the end it all comes down to definition: "what is good music?", "what is a good story?" and so on. Too bad that those are often too vague.

Well let's just try a relative approach then: those qualities in "Deus Ex" are way above your average run of the mill game, simply due to the fact of a lot more effort put into them in "Deus Ex" (an undoubtedly objective quality). There you go: problem solved.

As for your statement of those not amounting to making a game worth anything. Enlighten us then: what does make a game worth anything? Because contrary to your statement you didn't state a single reason for particularly that.

Before you point me to your original post: no, that is not a definition of a good game either -

All I hear about this game is how you can do anything and not necessarily what the complexity of the design or challenge is behind it which is why I fear I won't like this game.

Besides, "Deus Ex" does have complexity of design, so there you go. Whether it has any challenge... I personally think HR is more challenging on the hardest difficulty. Then again the original is not a walk in the park either on the same difficulty level, unless you're fully upgraded. I am almost fully upgraded in HR and it's still quite challenging.

I didn't make a definition of a good game in my first post and I'm not here to argue what is one. I'm not arguing it isn't a good game; just that I'm afraid this game might let me down because I've never heard people talk about things like the challenge or the complexity in its design but instead the music, atmosphere and doing anything (though like in fable, is any of it worth doing?). That's all.

 

[Irriduccibilli]

That looks familiar...

my computer^
Oh right

Yeah yeah, but where's the large arms and water scooter/jet/whatever you want to call it?

 

[Sentient6]

Which video has the DX song Yahtzee did a while back...? He should've remastered it and put in this review...

 

[Distorted Stu]

Laughted a bit too much on the 9/11 dig for the soul fact its 11/9 today. Hell yeah British dating system.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

From what I have heard, HR combines Bioshock with Gears of War.

I'm certain someone has already responded, but I believe it's a mashup of Mass Effect style questing with Rainbow Six Vegas style combat.
Seriously. Play five minutes of terrorist hunt on Vegas. It's uncanny.

 

[TheUnbeholden]

If people think Deus Ex has bad graphics, they may be pleased to know that the mod came out about a month before DE:HR release that updates like 75% of the games graphics with high resolution ones.. its called New Vision. If anyone loves Deus Ex but can't stand outdated graphics.. you're in luck

It's only for world textures though, not character models or gun models or animations. But its still awesome.

Finally someone points out the correct pronunciation of the title. I know it is evil of me, but a part of me cringes every time I hear "Doose" Ex and a second little part of me loses a smidge of respect from the person whose mouth uttered those words. Alright, I lose a lot of respect.

You know I always pronounced it D-ooz-Ex, only recently did I realize its Day-es-Ex

Its been my second favourite game for a long time next to CastleVania Symphony of the Night, 3rd being Half-Life, and 4th being Max Payne 1 and 2, 5th being Thief 1 and 2 (and the Dark Mod which pretty much recreates the Thief games on the Doom 3 engine) and 6th as System Shock 2.

Which video has the DX song Yahtzee did a while back...? He should've remastered it and put in this review...

Guitar Hero World Tour
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/452-Guitar-Hero-World-Tour

 

[TheUnbeholden]

I didn't make a definition of a good game in my first post and I'm not here to argue what is one. I'm not arguing it isn't a good game; just that I'm afraid this game might let me down because I've never heard people talk about things like the challenge or the complexity in its design but instead the music, atmosphere and doing anything (though like in fable, is any of it worth doing?). That's all.

Well read this for the best analysis of Deus Ex

http://www.jnoodle.com/careertech/files/postMortems/DeusEx.pdf

The game allows you to approach a objective in anyway you want or can think of. Each way can be effective... Whether its worth doing depends on whether you think its fun, so experiment.

 

[I forgot]

I didn't make a definition of a good game in my first post and I'm not here to argue what is one. I'm not arguing it isn't a good game; just that I'm afraid this game might let me down because I've never heard people talk about things like the challenge or the complexity in its design but instead the music, atmosphere and doing anything (though like in fable, is any of it worth doing?). That's all.

Well read this for the best analysis of Deus Ex

http://www.jnoodle.com/careertech/files/postMortems/DeusEx.pdf

The game allows you to approach a objective in anyway you want or can think of. Each way can be effective... Whether its worth doing depends on whether you think its fun, so experiment.

I finally get an answer. I did not read the whole thing since its like 30 pages but am more convinced by just these words alone
"Combat will require more thought than "What's the biggest gun in my inventory?""

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Would it be worth it to grab the PS2 version of this? I've never played Deus Ex and the only way I could really play it would be the console version.

 

[Arif_Sohaib]

Surprisingly, I did like Invisible War(and I played it after Mass Effect 2).
I tried to play Deus Ex 1 up to the end and really liked it but the levels were so ugly it really started to bother me a lot by the time I got to the secret submarine base so I uninstalled it.
It really really needs a remake. But if Alpha Protocol(which I believe is more worthy of being called a Deus Ex title than Human Revolution) is any indication of how complex people want their games, then it might not do too well.

 

[Gremlin-Stenning]

This game is most definitely my all time favorite game I first got it on the ps2 and found the pc version was much better because the health system is different on both platforms same goes for the maps though the pc version is so much bigger and better ps2 version is basically deus ex for dummies. Plus the conspirators in this game actually seem to know what they're doing unlike in every other conspiracy game I've played they appear to be retarded and in most cases announcing it to a handful of people. Plus its great that you get to walk away from boss fights or say 1 line that blows them to shit either way is satisfying.