I finished this game twice. First when I was 19 years old back in 2001 (easily 4.5 star game back then, it really was great), the second time I finished the game was in 2014, 13 years later. After much thought, Deus Ex today doesn't deserve more than 3 stars. Why am I giving you my personal history I have with this game? It's to tell you to read the reviews which claim DE is 'one of the best games of all time even today' reviews with a grain of salt. It simply isn't true. I suspect many of these reviewers have nostalgic feelings towards this game and will not acknowledge the faults this game has. How does the game play today? First off, the story is ridiculously bad. DE is set in a near future reminding me of Neuromancer. It is a quite interesting world, really, and if the writers weren't crazy, they might have been able to tell us something interesting. Instead, the story is full of cliches and boring conspirational theories. It is neither original, or believable. The shooting and fighting mechanics are bit clumsy, but passable. The levelling system is old school - you get experience by completing tasks and getting to hidden or hard-to-reach places and I liked it. You can also level up by upgrading your body with special technology that you find throughout game and it's also well done. What is not so great though, is the AI. Enemies are brain-dead and their incompetence will often ruin your immersion in the game. Also, while you have many ways of solving problems, sometimes the game is just dumb. Why are ventilation systems big enough to fit a human? Why are the cameras so big and noisy? Why put 'electrical' boxes within my reach so I can disable security systems? WTF? So, why it give 3 stars? The atmosphere is great, ambient sounds and graphics (although very dated) pull you into the game. You have a lot of freedom moving around and solving problems. The game is big and you will visit some very cool places. Overall, I had fun playing DE and I recommend it.
