Deus Ex™ GOTY Edition

I'm sure all the GOG fanboys and GOG trolls are ready to down vote this review as soon as they see it's not 5 stars. Well off you go, downvote it and move on to your bubble. For the rest who accept those that are different from them and value opinions of variety, here is mine, in a basic review format. THE GOOD The music first and foremost, is very good. It reminds me of music from Unreal and Unreal Trounament. Some games might have one or two tracks that are decent, In Deus Ex all the tracks are great to listen to. I enjoyed listening to the music playing through each of the levels in the game. The choice of how to go about a mission is pretty fun. Being able to sneak, fight, or a combination of both offers great gameplay. I was even able to solve what seemed like a tough mission by bypassing every single guard on a level through a shortcut I found. This didn't happen much for me, but seeing the possible ways to play is very cool. Unlike most people that complained about the voice acting, I liked most of it. Almost all the male voiceovers were done very well, I enjoyed their voices. The female voiceovers I thought absolutely stunk, but it wasn't that bad as a whole. THE BAD The game tries to present the player with choice, but it's only an illusion. Many times in the game you feel as though you can choose sides, that you can play one way or another, but it's only an illusion, as it drags you into only one direction, one path of story. I was confused how to continue at one point, as the dialogue of your brother and story told me that I could fight against my brother. I wandered around the city for a while, wondering where I'm suppose to go, I even tried to kill my brother, but to no avail. It was all a lie, I was forced to go in one direction. Which leads me to another problem, you can't kill anyone you want. NPC's that are part of the story, you are not able to kill. It's a problem that many current games insist on keeping. Why tell me I can solve missions my own way, why tell me I can freely play how I want, go where I want, only to be presented with many NPC's that are invincible. The game will tell you when you can properly kill someone, you don't decide that. Even NPC's you'll have to kill later on, are invincible till then. The game is way too short. I beat it in under 16 hours. This includes searching levels for secrets and opening locked chests and lockers. This also includes taking different paths to reach the same objectives on the same level. I took a combat and stealthy way to advance on levels. Which leads me to another problem, the levels design offer no way of knowing where I'm going or what I'm doing. I ended up taking different paths that reach to the same goal, because I did not know they lead to the same place. I ended up using lockpicks and multitools for different tasks on different routes to compleate a same goal, which resulted in loss of tools that could otherwise have been kept for later missions. I like to explore areas, so this may be my own fault. But it just shows again how short the game is. Speaking of that, this is another problem, the game is too easy when it comes to advancing levels. Combat can be harder if you play on a difficult setting, but everything else is easy. I advanced my character in stealth and combat, raising my skillls in lockpicks, electronics and computer, as well as other non-combat skills. I did not need to raise my computer above trained, and I did not need to raise my lockpicks or elecronics above advanced. I was still able to find enough lockpicks and multitools to get past everything I encountered. Nothing could stop me, I did not need to become an elite hacker or lockpicker to get past anything, I could do it all being adept. Not much of an RPG, if skills don't matter that much. Combat A.I. is dumb. They will always follow you, so how do you counteract that? Go behind a corner and wait for them to turn the corner. You kill them when they pop around the corner with the sword you find. No A.I. is perfect or great, but this A.I.? It's just dumb and doesn't let you play tactically at all. The atmosphere doesn't give off a cyberpunk feel at all. This has nothing to do with the graphics, it's how the world is presented to the player. I like cyberpunk, but this just felt like I was playing in modern day times. Where were the cyberpunk themes at in the cities and landscape? Where were the cyberpunk civlians? Everything seemed so modern. If you told me it was set in present day, it would be hard for me to tell the difference. CONCLUSION In the end, this game just isn't as good as everyone says it is. It's a decent shooter with a few different paths to solve a mission, with very, very RPG-lite features, but one of the best games ever? Not for me. I played through it once, and I doubt I will ever play it again. Combat offers not tactics or planning, being an expert in all skills requires little training into the skills, there is only one story patch to follow. So what is the replay value here? I can't be good or bad, it's all decided for me. I can't play a different character, when I barely train in the skills, I become an expert at them. I can't even play a female. And the story? Not as good as people say it is. It seems to trudge along without anything new happening. A few lines of dialogue for the sole purpose to move you to a new level to solve. That's not bad in general, but a great deep story? Hardly, I kept waiting for something new to come up, instead it was more of the same, with some empty "more of the same" missions, like stopping a missle from launching.

No need for words!

I think nostalgia alone is what stops people from seeing this is one clunky acquired game with the most hamfisted acquired stealth over.

uhh..where is systemshock 2?

I liked this game in 2000. And i was looking formard to play it again. But, too bad, i can't make a savegame. It says that i have -3486....... Bytes available. So it is impossible to make a savegame. So sad..