Genre	FPS / RPG
System	PII 300 (3D card)
Year	2000
Developer

This is an absolute stunner. It’s a shooter, an RPG and an adventure all rolled into one. What Half-life started, Deus Ex has taken on to just about the limit of today’s technology (2001). At the time of writing, the PC Zone awards for 2000 aren’t in yet, but if it doesn’t win game of the year, then the game playing public is too stupid to deserve works of art like this.

HISTORY

Deus Ex was produced by Warren Spector, one of the all time greats, who, along with John Romero (Doom!, Quake etc.) broke away from iD to form Ion Storm. The first from the new outfit, Daikatana, was Romero’s baby. Delayed again and again, it became something of an industry joke, so it wasn’t much of a surprise when it proved to be pretty ordinary. Flat, uninspiring, outdated and a bit of a mess. What was a surprise, therefore, was just how superb Deus Ex turned out to be. The question is, what the hell were Ion up to, allowing one product to stink out the place while the other could lay claim to being the pinnacle of 20^th Century game design?

THE GAME

OK, lots to get through, so here’s some basics. Unreal Tournament engine; music by the chap who did Babylon 5; interface very similar to System Shock 2; standard FPS mouse/keyboard controls. Got the picture? The date is mid-21^st century. Draw a straight line between western society 1960 and 2000, extrapolate and you’ll pretty much be there. The rich are fine and dandy and the poor are where they always are, except there’s a new plague, called the Grey Death and, unlike AIDS, you have absolutely no control over whether you get it. You take the part of an operative belonging to a UN anti-terrorist agency called UNATCO, but you aren’t just some punk agent. You are a multi-billion dollar, nanotech' enhanced superman called J C Denton. The game starts with you on your first mission (after the obligatory, very necessary training level). You are briefed by your big brother, UNATCO's first bionic boyo and then you are on your own, free to wander around the extraordinarily large level set on Staten Island, working out how to complete your mission.

This is where the game really scores over the opposition. As in Half-life, the other characters sharing your world aren’t merely targets. They are there to help, hinder or simply add background and you won’t find out which unless you talk to them. Which you will. Lots. There are two categories of interaction: the most common is just some throwaway remark or comment from the other person, but every now and again you will run into someone who can really help (or otherwise) and there then ensues a proper conversation. Choices of response from you aren’t that thick on the ground, but entirely sufficient for the game. For the most part you can either be attentive or aggressive, or even ignore them entirely. Should you do either of the last two, you may well have to get by without some vital information or equipment. During these chats you will be told things such as people to meet, places to go, codes to use and so on. In the case of some of the higher level characters, such as your boss at UNATCO, you will be briefed on the overall mission. It’s always worth making a note of what is said to you, as there are often useful clues that will only make sense some way into the task, or even much later in the game.

The game’s other great strength is that there really are several ways to approach every problem and even different outcomes (including three different endings!). For instance, in one of the early missions, you are told to find and eliminate an enemy leader. Eventually you will track him down, but whether or not you actually shoot him (he is unarmed and has some interesting information), is entirely up to you. Depending upon which choice you make, the game then develops along different paths. There are limits, obviously. This isn’t real life after all, but while there are clear nodes through which the story must pass, you are given more latitude in finding your way between them than in any computer game to date. In many ways, it’s the natural progression from the old "if you smite the goblin, go to page 63, otherwise go to page 89."

THE TOOLS

The interface is truly outstanding. As a nanotech’ enhanced agent, you have a number of important attributes that ordinary mortals don’t. Switching to the interface, you have several tabs to choose from, including inventory, health, augmentations (more later), goals, notes, conversations and images. This means that you don’t have to make a note of every code or hint you are given, as they are preserved within your database, though I still find that I end up with about a dozen stickits dotted around the desk. Health is cleverly handled, in that each area of the body, (head, torso, limbs) is considered individually. This means that you can be killed very quickly with a head shot, or simply take damage to the limbs through falling. Run out of health in the legs and you will be crawling until you can get to a medpack or medibot. Alternatively, you could use one of your enhancements.

Here we come to the RPG bit and it works on two levels. Firstly you have a number of skills, such as small arms, computers or demolitions. About ten in all. There are up to four levels of expertise and you spend skill points accumulated during the missions on upgrading them. For instance, if you choose to take a sniper rifle with you and run around without improving your skills, you will find it impossible to hold the sights on your target. As you get better, your aim will become steadier and eventually you will be able to pop your man at quite extreme ranges, especially if you have upgraded your rifle with various enhancements along the way.

The second level is a little trickier. JC’s nanotech’ goodies are implanted via bio-enhancement modules. There is a number of slots available around his poor, abused body, into which one of two modules can be inserted. Legs, for instance, can be improved either for speed and jumping ability, or stealth. Once installed, that’s it. You can’t change, only upgrade what you already have. This might seem to be a bit harsh, but the bulk of the canisters don’t become available until you are well into the game, by which time you have a pretty good idea of the way you are going to play it and therefore which enhancements are going to make your job easier. If you are a gung-ho Quake ‘em-up type, then you can put your resources into speed and durability. If you are more of a Thief player, then you will want to concentrate on stealth and spying abilities.

To aid you in choosing what to upgrade, both in terms of skills and bio-enhancements, there is a comprehensive guide available within the interface and it’s well worth spending a few minutes studying your options before making irrevocable decisions.

GAMEPLAY

Unreal Tournament graphics, Thief / SS2 stealth and enemy AI and the occasional bouts of Quake bloodbath. Add some puzzle solving, multiple paths, large levels and well hidden secrets. Drop it all into a good, coherent storyline and you have Deus Ex. In the first mission, you have to infiltrate what’s left of the Statue of Liberty in good old NY, NY. The place is swarming with terrorists and their robots, covered by security cameras and automatic guns. There’s at least three ways in, but you won’t discover that unless you find and talk to the right people and give the area a thorough scouting. The front door has a security lock, camera and a heavily armed robot just itching to drop you. It can be done, but it’s dangerous and you need all the facts first. You can also go in the back door, which requires a fair bit of creeping around and the odd use of the tazer, but you won’t run into dozens of guards unless you get loud. Finally, you can work your way up to near the top of the statue and drop right on the enemy’s head, but you will take a long time doing it, risking discovery all the way. In the last case, the appropriate use of the many devices available will be required. You might want to lay a wee mine by a door, inside which a couple of guards are loafing and talking. Throw a flare in, run by and they will come after you. For about three yards. Or you could don a respirator, bung in some smoke and then pop the poor buggers in the head while they are coughing and choking. Except you will really need that little combination at the top of the last flight of stairs. All in all, it’s bloody tricky. You can sometimes go for half an hour or more without major conflict only to find yourself in a very tight situation, with limited resources. Time to save. Almost time to go and make a cup of tea, because each save file is around 10 MB and it takes a while. When it all does blow up though, it can get a touch exciting and you discover that the enemy AI is very good indeed. They protect each other, use anything at all as cover and then bung the best weapons at you. Their radius of action varies to a large extent on how you are operating. You can sneak right past a guard’s back by crawling at a snail’s pace, but if he turns round at the critical moment, you are toast. Add in a patrolling and heavily armed robot and you really do have your work cut out.

SUMMARY

Deus Ex is the game that finally melds all the best of computer gaming’s genres and makes it work. The action sequences are right up there with the best Unreal and Quake have to offer, while the RPG takes System Shock 2 to the cleaners. It out-Thiefs Thief and the size and openness of the levels give a sense of freedom unmatched in any game I have played. Where the Tomb Raider series promised freedom of movement unlike anything seen before and then disguised the fact that it was an illusion via some brilliant level design, in Deus Ex there are always at least two ways to get to any target and frequently more. The alternative courses of action mean there is real potential for replaying the whole game with an entirely different strategy, whereas its predecessor on the pedestal of All Time Great, Half-life, was a one shot wonder, at least for me.

Where do Spector and Ion Storm go from here? The sequel is in production and due for release late summer 2003. Obviously there will be new graphical niceties and some enhancements, including the ability to operate with the interface up, as in SS2. More alternative paths look likely and a broadened menu of conversational gambits would be useful. Perhaps a bit of team work, as in Opposing Force and Star Trek Voyager, though rather better implemented. Who knows? All I do know is that as a first person game, this ranks at the top for me and aside from the very best in the strategy and simulation fields, is as good as it gets on the PC.