daniel_s on 3/7/2000 at 00:52

---

SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!
.
.
.
.
I just finished Deus Ex a few moments ago, so if you haven't finished it, don't read this!
Anyway, it is a great game, totally addictive: haven't done anything but play the last four days. It's definitely groundbreaking in many ways.Still, I felt like it lost steam (and originality) after the Hong Kong sequence. Here are some pro and con thoughts:

Pro: What does DX do well? First off, I think it is the first game to really pull off an RPG/FPS hybridization. Even though the voice acting and dialogue isn't always great, I was amazed at the different number of responses NPCs would give you. I always try and see how many times I can use the "talk" function on an NPC before he starts to repeat himself. I was amazed at how much even inconsequential NPCs had to say. It really shows the commitment of the development team to creating a game with depth. Combine this with the consequence-based storyline and the character trait-modification and you could call this game an RPG without blushing! (at least in the earlier levels).

The "anything goes" RPG approach extends to some of the map design, as well. Take Hong Kong: when I first arrived in the marketplace, I felt like I could go anywhere and do anything. Not only that, but wherever I went, I felt sure I would see something cool. This was an incredible feeling, akin to the feeling I get when playing an RPG, but more vivid because of the first-person perspective.

The story, too, deserves mention. Even though it is bogged down in a bit too much gratuitous philosophizing and exposition, it is certainly ambitious. I have to give them credit for at least attempting to make a "thinking-man's" FPS. It ain't easy to integrate a story and gameplay as well as Deus Ex does.

The game is also extremely well-balanced. I kind of took this for granted when playing, but when you think about it, taking into account all of the possible traits, enhancements, etc. to both weapons and character, it must have been a colossal task to place all of the enemies and supplies in just the right areas. Playing on hard, I never felt like there were any sudden, exasperating jumps in difficulty. I can only guess how much time they spent balancing the game!

The level design is also well-balanced. I felt the levels combined the best aspects of linear and non-linear construction.

On to the cons:
All of the graphics, 3D accelleration, and sound issues aside, Deus Ex only stumbles when it strays from its own principles. If I could sum up what seems to be the game's mission statement, it would be: "provide the gamer with a world they haven't seen before, allow them to explore it in whatever way they choose, and allow them to interact with NPCs to a greater degree than they ever have in the past"

Sorry to say, the originality of the levels takes a nosedive after Hong Kong. Paris could have been done well, but wasn't. Apart from that, we have a tanker, a missile silo, a gas station, a sub-base, a spooky cathedral...is this Deus Ex, or Rainbow Six? Many of these environments have been done to death in other games (and done better, too). I was bummed that after Hong Kong they seemed to drop the futuristic element, and made most of the environments depressingly contemporary.

At the same time that the levels become more predictable, the gameplay does too. As you progress towards the finish, almost every mission becomes a "penetrate the given installation, get the goods/hostage/whatever and escape to the LZ" type one. How boring! It also becomes increasingly difficult to play a completely stealthy game, as many of the enemies can't be darted or blackjacked. The number of different ways to enter or exit a scenario is also decreased.

Finally, what happened to the consequence-based interactions with NPCs? After I left UNATCO, and hooked up with Tracer Tong, I didn't seem to have to make any really tough choices in the game. I started off with a no-kill approach, because I wanted to play a good character, but after a while I realized I could basically kill every opponent and it wouldn't matter, since they were all evil bots an troopers anyway.

What does this add up to? For some reason, at the midway point Deus Ex becomes a standard, linear FPS. Not entirely, and the ending makes a nod in the direction of free choice, but by and large it's "run-and-gun" through levels that are well-constructed but unoriginal.

Maybe I just wanted something different from the game than most people. It seemed at first that the game was going to use it's global scope as an excuse to show us cool futuristic cities in different parts of the world. Sneaking into nightclubs and tenements, questioning the locals as they go about their business, this is the sort of gaming experience I like (punctuated with moments of frenetic violence, of course http://www.ttlg.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif) As soon as basically everyone/everything you meet tries to kill you, a lot of the fun evaporates. IMHO.

What do you guys think?

daniel_s on 4/7/2000 at 06:53

---

SPOILERS

It's strange, but for a game that prides itself in lies and double-crossing, very little deceit/sudden reversals of fortune take place in the game itself: most things happen in the cutscenes. For all you Thief players, that's what makes that game great: a mission will start with certain goals, and suddenly something happens (eg. your contact is killed) and new goals arise. The only time I felt this thrill in DX was when Maggie Chow started mourning my brother's death, and it was all a front...of course it was patently obvious she was a snake, but still that was a great moment...also the everything-is-not-what-it-seems encounter in Everett's home later on...not enough moments like these in the game...

[This message has been edited by daniel_s (edited July 04, 2000).]

oRGy on 16/4/2001 at 15:40

---

Ah, finished Deus Ex, and I feel like waking the zombies..

I agree, but I actually think the Paris levels were pretty durn good - sneaking around the catacombs was refreshingly sneaky, hanging around Paris investigating all the places and people, exploring the ol' maison with Nicolette, I felt that part of the game was certainly the apogee.

As such, the industrialism of the later environments is slightly tedious, but the gameplay becoming standardised was probably the worst aspect of the later levels. Plus the lack of meaningful npc interaction/ideas/etc. And the end sequences were much too short :-)

------------------
Lead Designer,
(http://www.ttlg.com/thievery) Thievery UT

lunatic96 on 16/4/2001 at 23:35

---

Exploring the DuClaire house wasn't much fun for me because I was constantly expecting MJ12 troops to burst through the door and kill me.

------------------
Who doesn't like Gen!'s Haikus?

Rincewind on 19/4/2001 at 13:42

---

Terve Erkki!

Ont to the topic: I thought Deus Ex was an excellent FPS with RPG elements, but you are quite right; the game loses its focus later on. Kinda like SWAT 3, which had the same problem. Too many missions in both games were "kill all bad terrorists, Baad! BAAAAD!! KILL!!!" and not "arrest this guy" or in DX's case "do something sneaky, like rob a bank or kidnap somebody". It's a great game overall, as the start and finish balance each other out.