Deus Ex

Rating:
Summary: Definetly a Game of the Year
Review: Deus Ex has an excellent 3D engine-the Unreal Engine-which gives beautifully 3D rendered images that will win your heart. Though its 3D renderuring is not what I really like about the game.

One thing that I found most interesting was that there 'is' a story in the game. Most 3D shooters are just running around with a gun blowing things to bits, who knows where the enemy came from, who cares as long as you can kill it and see blood. With Deus Ex it's different there is an excellent story of government conspiracies and revenge. By the end of the game when you think about the first mission you'll wonder how it all happened.

The soundtrack for the game is excellent at amplifying the emotion in the story.

If you're used to 3D shooters such as Quake (I, II, or III) and Unreal Tournament you probably really ... at this game, at first. Don't expect to run into a room full of soldiers and blow them all to bits. But don't let failure discourage you from this great game, you'll eventually learn tactics.

Rating:
Summary: Go buy this game. Don't read this! Go buy this game!!
Review: Deus Ex is not a flawless game. It has bugs. The graphics are not quite top-of-the-line. It doesn't run too well on a Direct3D accellerator card.

Guess what. I played it on a Geforce card (which is Direct3D). And it was the single best gaming experience I have ever had in my life. From the openness of the missions, to the insanely complex story, to the RPG-style character development, to the off-the-scale fun factor: this is the best game I have ever played.

Rating:
Summary: The (almost) perfect FPS/RPG
Review: This is perhaps the only FPS that lets you accomplish goals however you want to. Use stealth, use force, use tactics - whatever you want. The combinations of skills (wow), augmentations (oh my), weapons (cooooool stuff), weapon upgrades (holy hell), information gathering (whats a Greasel and why is everyone running in terror?), and choice of tactics (like selling drugs for info) is absolutely endless.

Some of the augmentation upgrades are absolutely sick. Imagine blowing up an enemy missle before it even leaves their launcher or being able to look through walls. Sick, I tell you. Careful, though. Some of your enemies have similar upgrades, too. The fun is finding out which ones.

With all these upgrades, you can still change your tactics depending on the situation and solve each goal any way you want. One mission you can just waltz in and kill everyone. Another, you just sneak past them and pick locks. Then the next one, you hack their security systems, unlock all the doors, and turn their gun turrets against them. Maybe another one you will flood the ventilation systems with poison gas. More likely, is that you will end up doing all of these things in one single level. You can do anything you want to - including running amok and killing NPCs. Boy is that fun. That's right... yeah... shoot her... she wouldnt sell you that newspaper... she deserves to die... hehehe. Enemy AI is good, but not Unreal quality. Of course, the enemies do so much more than in Unreal so a few little quirks are to be expected and dont bother me. Believe me, its plenty challenging as it is. The first time you discover that certain enemies blow up when killed... well... lets just say you'll learn how to use the sniper rifle.

The story is good and can be as deep as you are willing to search for. Talk to everyone if you want to and find the whole story. Search every nook and cranny to see secrets. Read every file. Browse other people's email. Read every book and newspaper. Overhear conversations. You dont have to do all that, but you can. The story is really cool and pretty deep, but a tad predictable for this genre. Then again, we who enjoy it dont really care. The story is still long and involved. I also give the story bonus points for creating suspense and paranoia without using demons. It seems wierd, I know. An FPS without demons? Whats this world comming to?

Word of warning: this is full of little bugs. Graphical glitches are scattered throughout this one, but a downloadable patch is on the way (so you "eye candy only" types wont have any excuses). Plus there is the afore mentioned AI quirks. Im betting Eidos pushed Ion Storm to get it out too soon. Im sure the patch will solve alot of those problems.

Bugs and all, this game is amazing. I havent gotten this engrossed in a game since Zelda for the SNES. This game will set new standards in the FPS and even Role Playing genre. Its already blurred that line forever. Im excited by all the possiblities of other companies who learn from this game. Buy it. Be a part of history.

Rating:
Summary: A Freaking Blast!
Review: An awesome blend of action and story. The graphics are well done, but I am playing on a 1000MHZ with a Geforce2. I liked it better than System Shock 2 and maybe even Half Life. Weapon selection is not that wide, but running and gunning is not such a large part that this was an issue for me. The individual map areas are not large, but it pays to explore every inch.

Rating:
Summary: In My Opinion the Most Successful Atempt at a ...........
Review: In My Opinion the Most Successful Atempt at a First Person RPG. This game will keep you playing with all the hidden secrets and the wonderful enemies that you will face in this game. The thing that makes this game shine is the fact that you may have to use a brain cell or two to figure things out unlike a lot of the games out where you just have to shoot things =). You start the game out at Liberty Island, and you must stop a terrorist group that has taken over the Statue of Liberty. The plot continues and thickens, but that is for you to find out. Pick this game up at your local game store for sure.

Rating:
Summary: Not that great
Review: First of all, let me say this game is good. So why do I only see 2 stars, you say? To begin, saving and loading times are insane. While if you're not playing on Glide, forget this game. You'll never run it and have fun. Also, the enemy is so stinkin' stupid. You can crawl in front of them, and they'll say something like,"I think I heard something. As long as you move behind something in a second or two, he'll think it was nothing and move along. You were right in front of him, for crying out loud! I don't want to give it away, but the storyline is great. That's about the only good thing this game has to offer. Voice acting is hideous. JC Denton, which is you, is just a monotone scratchy voice act. It stinks! So much cool stuff is being thrown at you and the voices that do it are so boring they're going to sound like your boss or teacher, no lies. Bottom Line: Get this if you like RPGs or FPS but don't mind slowdowns.

Rating:
Summary: Solid,yet nothing special
Review: The good points to this game are the way the storyline is played out. It is a good game with solid gameplay and if you are a first person shooter fan, I would say it is worth the money. The downsides are it uses the outdated "Unreal" game engine and I would have to say the graphics are unimpressive with a noticeable slowdown in framerates when alot of textures are displayed or when you look over "long" distances. The enemys seem to die easier hitting them with a crowbar than shooting them with a shotgun or rifle. I just run around half the time wacking away with my crowbar. Many times it takes 2 clips of ammo to put someone down. All in all, a good play with nothing great to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Best PC game i've ever played
Review: Now I'll admit I'm not a huge PC gamer, but I am an avid console gamer, and I can tell a good game, and this is a great one. As mentioned before, it does borrow elements from some other games, but it puts them together in ways I've never seen before. I agree the diologue is a bit clunky, as JC is way too monotone, and sounds strange when he tries to add emotion to his voice. The enemies are not dumb at all. They will chase you quite a ways, talk to each other, it's amazing. You can customize your player to any degree you want, and there are enough forks in the road to make it almost impossible to play the game the same way twice through, even if you try. There are always things you wish you could go back to do. The only real complaints I have are the long load times, and the HUGE save files. These things are at least 7 megs, added onto the approx. 700 installed full version, meaning you'd best have a big hard drive to play this. The control is also a breeze, a perfect mix of keyboard and mouse, and the interface is awesome. I have my character a mix between sniping, hacking, and at times up front fighter and it works great. I'd give it more stars if i could.

Oh, and the game isn't pronounced "Due Sex," it's "Day-us Ex"

Rating:
Summary: Redefining the FPS
Review: This is just a really good game. Hands down. I mean, it's really hard not to love it. It has, simply put, everything. I mean, on the back of the box, they should just put "You too can know what it feels like to be a ...!"

It has all the FPS aspects that we all know and love, shooting the ... out of thousands of guys.

And a lot of RPG aspects for gamers that like having a reason for shooting all those people, and eventually want their character to get better at it.

Everything in this game gets an A+ except for the following things that I disliked.

1. Character personalization is limited. You only have a few different skills and some of these are vital to beat the game. 2. Most augmentations must be turned on using bioenergy. For example, when you pick up an aug that makes you run faster, you don't just always run faster, you have to activate it, which eats up energy. 3. Slows down sometimes on my 850 mhz TNT2. 4. Horrible loading times. But what do you want? 5. Although several different ways to beat missions, they're still seperate missions. Not enough freedom to stray from the path. In conclusion, this game rocks. So, unless your computer can't handle it (which is very possible), buy this game right now.

Rating:
Summary: Sleeper of the Century
Review: Why I hadn't heard of this game before I slipped the disc into my computer is beyond me. Don't get me wrong, I can understand why a lot of perfectly good games wouldn't ring a bell in my head--I don't read a lot of PC game reviews--but this is something else. This game kept me up at night just trying to figure out one more clue, trying to get by that one really hard jump from the ledge to the decaying platform, or trying to up my guy's modifications just one more notch. The strongest feature about the game is the non-linear story line. Depending on what decisions you make (don't worry, it's not like those Choose Your Own Adventure Books when we were kids), the storyline evolves in different ways. Kill someone, it'll come back to you later. Leave someone alive, same deal. Character development is awesome--you can tweak your character so many ways it's rediculous--but you can't make a Superman, you've got to pick and choose what strengths you want your guy to have. The only drawback I can see with the game is the graphics. They're good, it's true, but they're not great--I think the game's based on the Unreal engine but I'm not sure. Never fear, I never had any problem dealing with only semi-perfect visuals while being enthralled by this title. Enjoy it, I did.