An arcade shooter with a bit of story sprinkled throughout. The acclaimed AI is worth the praise it often receives. I just wish there was more exposition. I finished this in one sitting and in all honesty I was getting a bit bored towards the last 1/3 of the game and started speedrunning. I did listen to all of the phone and laptop recordings but there wasn't much there. It just felt like a skeleton of a story slapped onto a shooter. The lore had potential but felt like more of an afterthought. Still the gunplay was good. I did get lost a few times trying to backtrack and find the not-so-obvious vent or elevator that led to the next checkpoint, which was frustrating. I will give the sequels a try because this IP has clear potential.
Story direction and gameplay were very innovative, though I wasn't a gamer in the late 90s and early 00s, so I don't have a good frame of reference. Deus Ex does a good job making you feel like your decisions are important. Sometimes minor interactions in game will cause NPCs to have altered dialogue, which I found to be charming. I love attention to detail and this title isn't missing it. Often times I felt conflicted throughout the story - which is intended - and I was relieved to know that I didn't have to kill someone I didn't want to. You feel a sense of freedom. This also applies to level progression. Depending on your character's skills, the items you have, and your playstyle, you will always have at least two, but usually a handful of options for navigating the world and completing objectives. Character progression is also a strong point. In the early game I was mostly sneaking around or avoiding combat due to a lack of overpowered abilities and skills. By mid-game I was confident in most combat or stealth situations, but still died to strong enemies. By the last couple levels I felt basically unstoppable. This also benefits the pacing of the game. If you explore a lot and earn bonus experience and find upgrades when you can, it affords you the ability to move through the later levels at a faster pace if you are eager to finish the story. This is an intelligent design choice in my opinion. There are of course multiple endings. I am definitely going to play through again to see how I can influence the game world with different choices. I'm curious to see what they've written for alternate story paths. The voice acting is in some cases superb, and in others, laughably bad. The main characters were voiced exceptionally well and kept me glued to the storyline. Side characters and minor NPCs often misread the lines or read them poorly. That's a direction mistake. But there is charm in it. And this by no means hurts the overall achievement of the game.
