Deus Ex™ GOTY Edition

I listened to the positive ratings and I regret it. Pass on this one. I don't know how or why this game is so revered. The only explanation I have for the adoration this game receives is its conspiracy-heavy "love letter to Alex Jones" plot that some fans are convinced is a reflection of our "deep-state" world in game form. I'm pretty sure they see it as the one game that "red-pills" you with the "deep truth" about the Rockefellers & Rothschilds controlling the govt, etc. Generously, the game is just OK. But if I were being even-handed and measured in my rating I would skew towards calling this game BAD. The combat in this game is HORRENDOUS. The graphics are pretty bad (not TOO bad for the time, but not to the levels of Half-Life). General game mechanics are clunky and AWFUL. The missions and story are BORING. I'm honestly at a complete loss as to why this game is so revered. The one fun/novel aspect of the game is the minutiae of hacking and data log tie-ins to create traps/reveal secrets. That's it. That's all it has to offer. I pushed myself halfway through the game before relenting to my better nature and giving it up. The game is SO BORING. I wake up in the mornings with no desire to ever finish or play the game again. Deus Ex is often compared to System Shock 2 in tone, mechanics, overall greatness. Which, after playing Deus Ex, is a comparison that makes absolutely no sense. System Shock 2 absolutely blows Deus Ex out of the water. SS2 is a MONUMENTALLY better game and they're not even close to being in the same tier. This game is like if Perfect Dark & Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 had a REALLY clunky, poorly designed software baby, and that baby was the Q'anon Shaman. Except that it's more boring than that and harder to control.

I would like to point out right from the start that I gave the game a fair chance to win me over. I had read the reviews and heard the praise, so I had high hopes for Deus Ex. After an agonizing playthrough I had to admit that, instead of the much-hyped Messiah of a game, what I had got was the worst game I had played in about ten years. Deus Ex may have come across as a bad game for me, but I am also the first to admit that it does have it merits. I've heard that some choices make a considerable difference to how the game plays out, which would sound intriguing if I could be bothered to play through the game again. I really liked the initial setting, and the way PDAs, newspapers and other people's e-mail were used to deepen it further. The beginning was the best bit of Deus Ex for me, and I concede that I did enjoy it for a while, apart from the clunky combat system and terrible stealth. Unfortunately things went wrong very quickly and never recovered. The story is pathetically ridiculous all the way through; after the first clichéd conspiracy theory popped up, I wrote a list of others, and I was right literally every single time and then some. I'd guess the idea was to make the story seem mysterious or full of surprises, but when you cram every surprise you know into a single game, they eventually stop being surprises as the player starts expecting the unexpected. Ultimately the story was what ruined it all for me. Everything else was jsut extra. Secondly, the combat system. It is dreadful compared to almost every other shooter game I have ever played. You can avoid combat by sneaking, but there is no way of telling who can or cannot see you, so it's very challenging (especially to someone who sucks at stealth games anyway i.e. me). Whether you intend to sneak or shoot, you'll likely have to do some hacking, lock picking and electronic lock bypassing, every single one of which is a matter of pressing a button. I managed to utilize the time used to perform the three actions to read a small book throughout the playthrough. I could go on, but I don't think anyone is reading by now. Anyhow, I'm just saying that to you Deus Ex might not be the ultimate game that it seems to be to many others. Want to see for yourself? On you go.

I know that with this review I will annoy players who adore Deus Ex. Most people who rate the game very positively, may be right from their point of view - because the game matches their gaming interests. But for these I have not written these lines. I wrote these lines for all gamers who doesn't have extremely extended patience. To me Deus Ex is boring, very slow paced and what is sold as a 'good' story goes to something that resembles idiotic conspiracy theories. Not even worth to think about it. Yes - it's very complex. To a point I'm not willing to follow... In addition, it is also unnecessarily difficult - or at least it takes patience. Patience in a (for me) very annoying time-consuming way. Who does not have unearthly patience: Do not buy! Neither the 'Revison-' nor the GMDX-Mod make the game any better. They make it even more difficult - and thus boring. But the mods will at least make Deus Ex look quite good - well... for such an old game.

I don't know how this game has 5 stars all around.. My impression of playing this one after playing Deus Ex 2: Invisible War was... Just meh. First of all, Deus Ex 1 does not excel in every areas. This game is like a baker wanted to create a perfect cake with all kinds of unique tastes, but failed to become harmonized when the actual product came out. Secondly, voice actings are absolutely terrible. Well, not only voice acting, but also the title theme and BGMs which just don't seem to fit the atmosphere that much. I found Invisible War's silent themes to be more immersing and fitting. Third, the game becomes tedious after mid level. At first I loved how this game give you many choices to end a mission, but later on I found that the stages become repetitive and you could just clear the game (EVEN IN REALISTIC) by just turning on the ballistic protection, heal, and shoot mindlessly. It is very comparable to how Invisible war kept with consistant amazingly designed, yet short and brief maps. Finally, the most important one: Story. What the hell? The story is just another typical conspiracy that is not even as innovative as many good SF novels out there. I don't get how people are so mesmerized by dull J.C. Denton and cliche filled story. Invisible war, on the other hand, had unique deep story that explores the human's society and how shallow the border is between good and evil. It was totally up to player to finish the game by siding with whoever he/she liked, or just kill them all! Overalll I do not recommend this game for the sake of how incomplete and mish mash the game is. Deus Ex 1 tried to become a unique masterpiece, and it did succeeded.... By making players to think 'oh this game is very different. Who cares if it is not perfect and incomplete? By saying this game is one of the best game ever made, I will look sophisticated!' Good luck to all of you who are just being zealous fanboys by the way.

Vanilla Deus Ex GOTY Blindplay on "Realistic" -- - lore full of anti-Semetic conspiracy bullshit - savescumming possible - can't throw objects wider then two or maybe three meters, even small ones... - climbing is working with pitch move, you need to exactly stand above the ladder to climb - walking speed is slower with heavy weapons, but only when equipt, not when they in your jacket - NPCs are dumb, don't reconize you, when takin a quick look arround a corner f.e. straight into their face and when you have a specific distance from them you can run and jump while they looking at you and they wont reconize you, about 15-20 meters i guess, snipers have a higher viewing range - your jacket can carry as much as a small transporter: 20 medkits, 10 bottles of beer etc. but every weapon only once - some npcs are immortal, i tried killing herman with automatic machine guns and rockets, doesn't work - sneaking looks like crawling - you wont get equipt by the hq (execpt one item per mission), but there is a lot of stuff lying arround for free there - no storage anywhere and if storing stuff in your office, it will be gone after finish the next mission - enemies have overpowered amount of hp, even nearly naked ones, i guess that's the "Realistic" mechanic, just set hp of enemys very high... so cheap - some items have a bar that decreases when in use, but you can only activate them and not deactivate them - when you carry something it will be dropped when you lean to left or right - some objects doesn't make noise when droped while sneaking, but not all objects, no matter how heavy or what size the have - hazmat suite has a gas mask inside, that do not protects you 100% when you dont have enough enviroment skill - jumphight is 30-40 cm, often need crates for even reaching a ladder that reaches down through your face - few ammo for non-leathal weapons but alot for leathel ones - when sneaking and game loads, character stops sneaking foobar and so on...