Drink More. Think Less.

rated

I'll admit it straight up, I like a game with a story. Your Q3As and UTs are great for a quick action fix, but the games that keep me up at night always have a plot, a story, characters -- a reason to keep playing besides kill count. Unfortunately, designers don't like my kind. Most games' "stories" seem to be stapled on after the fact by marketing guys looking for a hook. Thank god for Warren Spector.

As the man behind games like System Shock and Thief, Spector is obviously on my team. His games have action, sure, but there's always a reason behind it, something driving you as both a player and a character. Deus Ex, Spector's latest epic, raises the bar once again with a twisting storyline, ingenious character development system and a linear game that somehow manages to feel open-ended.

Deus X-Files
To be honest, the story isn't anything we haven't seen before: black helicopters, super-powered Men in Black and murky government conspiracies. But Half-Life wasn't exactly the first game about a one-man army saving the world from aliens, and it was still a landmark game. Deus Ex does the same thing: takes a plot we've seen in more than one X-Files episode and sci-fi flick, and manages to make the experience of living it feel real.

You are JC Denton, an agent for UNATCO, the United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition. You and your brother Paul are the newest weapons in UNATCO's arsenal: humans with nanotech augmentations which are invisible to the naked eye. While hideous, deformed cyborgs are still in UNATCO's employ -- and you'll meet a few -- JC and Paul are the next wave of supermen.

In the middle of the 21st century, civilization teeters on the edge of collapse. A mysterious earthquake has sent half of California to the bottom of the sea, terrorists have taken over the Statue of Liberty and the Gray Death, a lethal plague that can only be countered by a rare antidote, is slowly decimating the world's population. Deus Ex's world is full of questions. Is the Gray Death a man-made disease? Are the terrorists really the bad guys? Just what are they hiding in Area 51, anyway? As JC Denton, you'll uncover the truth behind centuries of lies, and the answers will take you places you may not want to go.

It's a Matter of Character
Deus Ex's character development system finally does it right. Yes, the game is played in the first person, with all of the twitch action and immediacy the genre revels in, but this is an RPG in more than just name. Rather than the usual "I rolled a 16 Charisma!" shenanigans, how you decide to develop your character isn't arbitrary or random, and actually has results you can see. You start the game with 5000 skill points to share over 11 different attributes, from Computer Skills and Lockpicking to Swimming and Heavy Weapons. Each attribute has four different skill levels, from Untrained to Master, and each advancement takes increasingly more skill points.

After the initial 5000 points parceled out at the beginning of the game, you'll earn more by meeting objectives and exploring your surroundings, which adds incentive to undertake the dozens of side missions that arise and spend some time exploring your environment rather than sprinting through it, guns blazing.

The best thing about the system is that you see an immediate, palpable difference in the game as you move from one level to the next in a given attribute; if you train in Swimming, you can instantly hold your breath longer and swim farther, which may affect how you tackle your next mission. Interestingly, the game is designed so you can't "max out" your character, even if you find every secret room and solve every subquest in the game; Spector and his team want to force you to make choices, to make character development an either/or decision.

"Gentlemen, We Can Rebuild Him. We Have the Technology."
In addition to the skills that you hone over the course of a game, you'll also find augmentation canisters, which a Med Bot can use to give you new bionic … err, nanotech upgrades. Again, you're forced into binary decisions. Each augmentation can be used for one of two different improvements, and once you've decided, that's it. For instance, you'll find a leg augmentation that allows you to either run silently, or to run faster -- quieter or quicker, one or the other. And again, the choices you make will affect how you play.

Over the course of the game, you'll undergo up to 12 augmentations, each of which is powered by Bioelectric Energy and activated by one of the function keys. Bioelectric Energy runs out quickly while your augmentations are in use, so you'll have to manage your BE store carefully. The only drawback is that adding the 12 function keys to an already full control system means that using your augmentations in combat is kind of a pain, and in the end I rarely used them, regardless of the undeniable "cool" factor.

Keep It Fair
Beyond the story and character development, Deus Ex also features great level design and hard-to-believe play balance. Because there are so many different ways your character can develop, the designers had to construct every obstacle so that any character, regardless of how illogically put together -- a master swimmer with no computer skills who can't aim a pistol, for instance -- could still solve the puzzle.

Every problem has a number of different solutions, and your job is to find the one that best fits your abilities. Most games can't even come up with one interesting solution to a problem or puzzle; Deus Ex offers three or four. The result is an amazing feeling of freedom. Even though the game is linear, there are so many ways to tackle each obstacle that you feel like you're in a real world.

Where this really makes a difference is in the game's replay value. Most linear single-player games have a short shelf life at best; once you've finished the game, there isn't much reason to go back. But Deus Ex involves so many different solutions, not to mention a host of side missions, that you'll want to play again using different augmentations and developing different skills, taking different routes and exploring different areas.

The game neatly balances straight up first-person combat with Thief's brand of sneaking past guards and sentry robots, which involve more decisions based on your character. If you're a master lockpicker, you're better off fiddling the lock; if you're completely untrained or out of lockpicks, but have a LAM (Light Attack Munition) handy, just blow the door off -- but keep in mind that it may bring guards running.

The game's puzzles do involve a certain amount of "Security Code, Security Code, who's got the Security Code," but I found this totally acceptable -- it's a convention, like the supply crates some people have complained about, that just makes sense in game design. Deus Ex's high-tech world is based on ATM PINs and security codes. OK, I'll buy it.

Is That a Flame Thrower in Your Pocket, or … Yep, It's a Flame Thrower
Yet another of Deus Ex's triumphs is its interface, among the best I've seen in this kind of game. Your inventory is limited to a certain number of squares, and different objects take up different numbers and configurations of squares (which Spector fully acknowledges he "borrowed" from Diablo).

Rather than limiting your number keys to specific weapons or items like Unreal or any other shooter, you fully control your "at-hand" bar. If you want number eight to be a candy bar for some reason, drag it from your inventory onto the bar, and there you go. I found that I was so used to using slot one for a crowbar -- included as an obvious homage to Half-Life -- that I had to put it there or I never knew where it was. Old habits….

The weaponry ranges from batons and knives to pistols, sniper rifles, shotguns, flame throwers, heavy weapons, assault rifles -- literally dozens of different weapons. Many can be upgraded with Weapons Modifications that you can find or buy throughout the game, like adding a scope or a silencer, or reducing kick to help aim, so even the guns can be developed.

Knowledge Is Power
In a game like this, information comes fast and furious. Fortunately, you automatically record conversations, log command lines and even take notes; all data cubes you read are automatically copied, and you can even type your own notes at will. Finally, no more chicken scratches on toilet paper when you stumble across a password.

Throughout the game, you'll also encounter computers you can access. Sometimes you'll have learned a login name and password which will allow you to access them "legally" and read email, disable security cameras and the like; but if you're on your own, you'll have to hack it. Using your trusty ICE Breaker, you can break into any computer. But get your business done and log out before the time bar drops to zero, or you'll set off an alarm, bringing bad guys running. The better developed your computer skills, the more free time you'll have to poke around.

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
Of course, the game has its problems. Probably most annoying is the atrocious load times; saved games can push 20MB, and it takes forever to load one up. The other major flaw is a hard one to explain. I played the game on two different machines, one a P II 450 with a Voodoo2, the other a P III 500 with a Voodoo3, both with 128 MB of RAM. The P II 450 played as smooth as can be; the P III 500 shuddered to a halt whenever more than two people entered the frame, making combat all but impossible. So why did the "slower" computer run the game better? I have no idea. Performance complaints have been common, so it's worth checking out the demo before buying the game to see what graphical goodies your machine can handle. You can download it from File Planet by clicking here, but be prepared to make a day of it -- the demo weighs in at 140 MB.

Deus Ex is an ambitious, engrossing game that succeeds in creating a twisted world where you'll quickly learn there's no one you can trust. Sure, it recycles a few conspiracy theories and sci-fi cliches, but with its convoluted story, intriguing design and addictive gameplay, this is one bout with paranoid dementia you'll be sorry to see the end of.

Game Quick Look overall score: 9  GamePlay  Graphics  Sound  Replayability  Interface