I wasn't expecting much, but I got a lot more than I was expecting. (Perhaps, though, the fact that Deus Ex was the first FPS I played after Castle Wolfenstein has colored my memories of it.) The order of Deus Ex games I played was: Deus Ex, Human Revolution (HR), Invisible War (IW). Plot: I really liked the plot. In fact, I think I liked the plot rather more than I liked the plot of Deus Ex, which seemed to me to go too weird towards the end. The final choice in IW was a tough one, and I liked the fact that there wasn't a clear winner. (Though the fact that I was playing pacifist did kind of force my hand.) I think it was a tougher selection of choices than the ending of HR. Characters: The characters of Deus Ex all were better developed and more interesting than in either IW or HR. JC was a really great character. Alex, meh. Likewise, the supporting characters in Deus Ex were more fleshed out. There was much more emotional oomph when a character you knew in Deus Ex died. I think IW and HR are on par in character development. Game-play: I found Invisible War much easier than in Deus Ex and HR. With the biomods I chose and enough save and restore, the last quarter of the game was surprisingly straightforward, even playing pacifist. But at the same time, I enjoy easier: it is less stressful, and games are supposed to be fun. Levels: I did miss the sprawling levels of the original, and HR had nice levels, too. Still, there were enough puzzles to keep me occupied. Graphics: I played Deus Ex with a texture mod, and I loved the graphics. (It helped that the only previous FPS I played was the original Castle Wolfenstein.) I installed a wide-screen mod for IW, but otherwise kept the original textures. It looked very good to me, but most of the PC and console games I play are pretty old.
I tried Wolfenstein 3D for an hour or two back when it came out, didn't like it much (in part due to the violence), and since then hadn't tried any FPS games until I picked up Deus Ex last month. And I loved it, particularly the stealth / nonlethal aspects. I did download the Deus Exe version, the OpenGL 10 support, and the New Vision textures, and thought it looked really good. My kids really enjoyed watching me play, too. :-)
