Deus Ex released June 17th 2000. I had hoped Bit-tech would honor this. This game meant more to the gaming community than almost anything that has released since. It deserves a little fanfare. How many games were shaped by this one game? It is the Doom of its era. And more. Doom showed us what games could be. Deus Ex took that torch and ran. Still an FPS but with a story that was relevant. Choices that (kinda) mattered. A big deal for the time. And showing us a world where big business called the shots. It's almost prescient of the tone in this world.. The technology aint there yet, but the inhuman politics is. Just give it a few years. Have some soundtrack and reinstall this beauty.
Word. Deus Ex was a milestone. Arguably, you could take any one part of it and point to a game that had done it first, or done it better, or both; there was nothing that came close to putting it all together in as cohesive a package, tho'. I've been playing games since the graphics were in your head rather than on the screen, and there are a few titles that stand out. A Mind Forever Voyaging, for putting you into a unique viewpoint. Id Software's early 3D stuff, through to Quake, for obvious reasons. And Deus Ex definitely makes the list. Hell, I've even got a soft spot for Invisible War, the consolised sequel. I have to confess, though, the reboot left me cold. I finished the first, despite the shoehorned boss fights, but didn't feel much of a need to play the second. And frankly the "push a button to pick your ending" implementation felt weird (though saved me a tonne of time, as I didn't have to replay any of it to see all three endings.) Also, hands up: who went into the women's bogs at UNATCO headquarters and got a reprimand via email? C'mon, fess up.
"My vision is augmented." My brother and I loved playing this at the time. So weird to have such freedom. Want to kill that NPC? Knock yourself out. Bob Page, what an arsehole. Unfortunately, despite a few attempts to replay it over the years, the extremely dated graphics hold it back no end, as well as the rudimentary animations. Also, within a few minutes of starting, I realised the mammoth task ahead. Much like the newer Deus Ex games, I feel that replay value is low. I never played Deus Ex: Invisible War. My brother owned and completed it, but for some reason, I couldn't whip up the interest to play. Guilty! I still try this in modern computer games but they always hide them behind a locked door.
Guilty. If the games was made today, that would be an achievement... err if made in the last 5 year, now the achievement will be complete your employment at UNATCO with out receiving a reprimand from HR. I also remember being absolutes amazed when I I was caught on the business end of a flame thrower and I was able to stop the damage by running into and turn on a shower in the barracks (think it was in the heli base level). As much as I love the game I'd argue that its implementation of stealth was not as refined as Thief's.
Says it all really when you consider the "competition" was Hexen Beyond Heretic, Thief, System Shock etc rather than CoD 455684587.
Thief is another game that makes the list, but not so much as a game per se - for the mechanic. I really, really enjoy the first level of Thief and have played it multiple times. The rest of the levels, not so much - I liked it when I was just a thief, not a flamin' ghostbuster. This makes the list too - in fact, I've a CIB copy of the talkie CD-ROM re-release sat on the shelves to my left, owned since new. System Shock still stands out thanks to the variable difficulty system: crank the puzzle difficulty up and the combat difficulty down, you've got yourself a cerebral puzzler where nothing attacks you; do the opposite, a rock-hard first-person shooter where all the puzzles instantly solve themselves. Also, for years after the game came out I used to wake up to the "look at you, hacker" speech from the sound test. To this day, my phone notification noise is the V-mail sound (not the E-mail sound, tho', 'cos that's too loud and harsh.) "New Atlanta. Sector 11. Building 71G..."
Deus Ex was the only game i spent an ages look at things and reading things there was a ton of stuff you could read in game lots of neat things to explore that really took the time playing the game. i am surprised i remember much of anything from that era and even anything about deus ex. the games i was playing back then. quake3/qwtf/cs beta/tribes 2/ red alert/diablo 2/ baldurs gate 2/ star lancer i was hardly sleeping awesome times and awesome games and the "comunity" around alot of games was way less toxic. also the namless mod should be checked out. fan made game thats almost like an expansion made by spector him self
Fizz, seeing this title made me feel old. Deus Ex was the first game where the demo made me go out and buy it the very next day - UK release day. Bought a copy of PC Gamer because I was stuck at the train station waiting to go home, read the review inside and thought the demo would be worth a go when I got home. The menu music alone said it was going to be something special. The demo was the first level - Liberty Island. Played it three different routes (all guns blazing, stealth and not-super-stealthy-but-non-lethal) before going to sleep that night. First thing the next day went to PC World (yeah, yeah, I know but for some odd reason it was the closest shop near where I lived that stood a good chance of stocking it) and bought a copy. ... I don't really like the Revision Mod... it changes a fair few of things in a positive way, but also changes lots of stuff in ways I don't like. That said, I should try it again as it wasn't even on Steam the last time I played it...
Deus Ex was a victim of its own scope for me, I loved it but never finished it. I believe I got quite far in my first play, but subsequent revisits I get bogged down and bored by about chapter 3. There's a lot of worldbuilding and planting, and I'm sure it pays off in the end but I just don't have the patience. (See also: rewatching The Wire.)
