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Game Title: Deus Ex
Platform: PlayStation 2
Developer: Ion Storm
Publisher: Eidos Interactive, Square Enix (PSN)
Genre: First Person Shooter/Role Playing/Sci-Fi Cyberpunk/Nanopunk
Age Rating: ELSPA: 18+ (Europe), ESRB: M for Mature (North America) PEGI: 16+ (UK for PlayStation Network)
Release Date: March 25th 2002 (North America), July 7th 2002 (Europe), May 16th 2012 (Europe for PlayStation Network)
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Game Score: 8.0/10
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Summery:
Deus Ex is an enjoyable masterpiece that is held back by some technical issues that thankfully don't ruin the experience.
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Back in 2000 Ion Storm and Eidos interactive launched Deus Ex for the PC and become a universally acclaimed and high selling game with many game awards just like with Value's Half Life. It led to being to being console ported onto the PlayStation 2 with some technical limitations, being it was a PC game back then it still makes it a great game that every FPS/RPG gamer should experience first hand.
Deus Ex is a story set in a cyberpunk world full of conspiracy, regret and technology with Nano-augmentation. JC Denton, a rookie agent who is equipped with the latest in Nano-augmentation technology is tasked to retrieve shipments of a vaccine known as ambrosia which is the cure for the citizens as they've been inflected with the plague known as the Grey Death. Later on in the game the plot builds into something bigger then a simple theft of the shipment. It involves the corruption of powerful governments and political troubles that threatens the entire world. It will leave JC himself to try and believe who and what he believes is right as the plot thickens.
Deus Ex has a handful of interesting characters that JC will interact with throughout the course of his mission, by interacting with them each characters provides information about the events that are happening in each area of the game. All of the game's characters you meet are fully voiced, their voice performances aren't bad but when a character gets angry the pitch is very poor quality, that aside Deus Ex's storyline is compelling and the cast is solid as well. Your main character JC Denton is also very solid character, not just because of his looks or voice but how he goes through the events and understands the situations that each character is suffering through. By interacting with each NPC in the world you can gain information about your current objectives and/or about other events that are happening in the world around them. This helps breathe out life into many of the characters and their surroundings.
Deus Ex's gameplay is completely different compared to other First Person Shooters released. While you do get to break down boxes to reveal collectable items and fight a group of enemies which is what the FPS genre is standard for but Deus Ex goes why deeper then that. The game allows you to deeply choose how you wish to handle each situation, on the surface you can either find hidden passages to sneak around your enemies or you can go in guns blazing. Shooting down enemies is nothing new for the genre but however there are different tactical ways to advance, you can interact with data cubes that can give you passwords so that you can use computers to gain access to other people's logins (not talking about real life people's accounts online) when against enemies, this helps to disable cameras, open locked and secure doors or to program the turrets against the enemies. When you want to avoid enemies you can find various shafts that you can crouch into which is very helpful. You can also enter an area from either the front or you can take the backway and surprise your enemies which can also be helpful.
Of course you got various objectives that you can do and how you can do them is up to you. Either sneak around other enemies to avoid detection or you can just go in at full force as mentioned and depending on your approach with the right skills you can make your situations easier or harder, if one solution does not work out you can try another route and see if that works in your favour. Sometimes going in at full force tends to get you killed if you are not careful because some enemies may come prepared with a heavy weapon and at some portions the enemies will have hostages around so taking it slow is always a safe solution. There are plenty of possibilities to completing them that you just stick with one tactic and will leave the mission satisfied, even for the last mission at the end of the game which will give you objectives which can let you decide from 3 possible endings that you can unlock.
Your objectives range from deactivating generators by either shutting them down or using explosives to blow them up, wiping out enemies and occasionally help out other people in their troubles. Again helping out over people gives you clues to your main objective. Completing objectives and finding secrets earns you experience points which you can use to upgrade your skills. These skills range from Computers, Multitools, Melee, Heavy, Pistols and Rifle based weapons, Environmental Items, Medikits, Lockpicks and explosives. You can distribute these points however you wish because it will then allow you to hack computers for longer times, improve accuracy, range and effectiveness against enemies with different types of weapons. There is plenty of depth with the customization and it makes you interested to see what each upgrade will do. The upgrades also apply to augmentations, JC can equip different canisters which holds a different type of augmentations that can be equipped to one slot, these choices are permanent so you are forced to choose carefully in which ones that you will want to use throughout the whole game. Augmentations range from Combat Strength, Muscle Strength, Toxic Resistance, Targeting, Speed Enhancer and Health Regeneration which is one of the most useful in the game. They can be upgraded with upgrade canisters and improving a single augmentation gives out better functionality in the long run. Using Augmentations drain your bio-electrical energy and getting by loose bolts of energy will a lot of it and you will have to relay on recharge cells to refill the meter. Guns that you can get can also be upgraded with weapon mods like accuracy, clip, range, reload, and depending on which weapon add a silencer or a scope, which many of these are just as effective as levelling the weapon skills.
Alongside Medikits and Bio-electrical cells you will fine Med Bots and Repair Bots which can be used for quickly restoring which are very helpful throughout the game.
For anyone who has played through the original PC version the game designers have made some vast changes that make the game more user, beginner or autistic friendly. First of all the Health System, on the PC version your characters health is displayed in a body shaped form which turns from green to red as you take damage, if your head or torso meters reached zero you die, if your hands reached zero you would have really bad accuracy and if legs reached zero you will be in a crawls pace. However in the PlayStation 2 version that health system is replaced with the standard health which yes it removes uniqueness that it showed but making it friendly for those how couldn't cope with that system. The Percentage of Health that you start the game off is dependent on your choice of 4 difficulty settings for example Easy Mode starts you with 400 or Realistic which is the game's hardest setting will only give you 100 points of health. When you find other characters computer logins, codes or passwords the game will actually place them in your notes tab and inputs them in for you which saves you inputting them yourself. When you want to equip new Augmentations you do not need use a Med Bot to do so leaving you to equip one freely which saves you just carrying one around for no reason. Lastly is carrying stuff, there is now no limit to carrying recovery and melee weapons and you can add them your equipment cycle at any time same goes for augmentation and weapon mod upgrades. For guns you can only carry up to 4 different guns at a time this includes small or heavy guns so it is best to choose wisely of which ones you are willing to take with you through out the whole game.
These changes to the game are perhaps due to playing through the game with a standard controller, however for PC players Deus Ex on PlayStation 2 is compatible with the Keyboard and Mouse even though the back of the box does not show it nor there is any options to change the controls for it. This means you will have to get used to keys like Right Mouse for using objects in the world or CTRL for reloading which the PC versions default controls. At least you can change the mouse sensitivity which helps in a smooth PC like experience on a console. As for the controller it is playable if you are familiar to PS2 shooters like TimeSplitters and Red Faction and at least there are a few pre-set control options available and also a Auto-Aim option which is very useful. One thing that you should note that the enemy A.I is a little weak to respond which should be helpful for controller users no matter the difficulty setting, they do take a second to start shooting you and they can either shoot either standing still, crouching or strafing around which strafing alone can actually make them a real threat.
As much as the gameplay alongside the changes and the overall core mechanics are well implemented it it is not without faults. While the graphics are pretty decent when you compress the quality to supplement the limitations of the PlayStation 2, the scenery even though downgraded are still fantastic with lush futuristic environments from taverns, government buildings and airfields. However Deus Ex suffers with some performance issues, there is minor graphical glitches in a few spots and also the frame rate can drop really badly when at least 2 or enemies join the fight which can make some fights nearly unmanageable. At spots towards the end of the game there can be so much animation happening on the screen at once that the game can not handle what is happening too much that it will crash. As a sacrifice from releasing the game on consoles the environments have been squeezed down due to memory limitations of the PlayStation 2 which means there are added loading screens but thankfully the loading times are short at least which isn't a big deal. Dispute some performance problems Deus Ex is still a very solid and playable game that has a vast amount of depth towards the storyline and characters, the choices you make throughout the Single Player can have an effect on some of the characters and you customize your characters augmentations, weapons and skills how you would like ensuring that there many different ways to play. The soundtrack for the game by Reeves Gabrels is just superb and it is every bit as worth listening outside of playing the game, best tunes are the combat tune in Hell's Kitchen, exploration tune of Majestic 12 Base and DuClare Chateau and lastly the Credits tune. The sound effects on the environments and weapons are great as well.
Overall once you forgive Deus Ex's weak spots like the A.I, sometimes weak voice acting and some of the technical issues there is plenty to see, do and customize the way you like which can change the gameplay in a very unique way, plus the changes to the gameplay will help make the game more easier for players who couldn't understand the PC version too well. If you a gamer whose does relay on smooth performances and is not convinced by the changes made then you might want to stick with the PC release instead. The PS2 version does not include any Multiplayer but you are still in for a brilliant storyline with excellent characters, solid writing and very deep gameplay once you overlook it's faults. The Multiplayer in the PC version of Deus Ex 't good anyway. You can download PS2 version on PlayStation Network Store for a cheap price (if you live in the UK that is), it is a worth while deal for what the game features.
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The Good Points:
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1. Brilliant Storyline with Solid writing and characters
2. Plenty of different ways to customize and play through each area
3. Vast gameplay changes that makes the game more easier for some players
4. Keyboard and Mouse Support for those who loved the PC version
5. Superb Soundtrack in gaming
The Bad Points:
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1. Some glitches alongside technical problems and limitations
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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