People which gave a higher score must've been playing the original and mistook it for this one.
Let me be frank. I loved the original Deus Ex. This was back in a time where FPS's were much longer than they are now and almost each one came up with something unique, either in design or in gameplay. Deus Ex managed to do both and the end result was a revolutionary game that is still fondly remembered. Everything that was revolutionary about Deus has been included in newer games. We've had quite a lot of games that blended this shoot/stealth/hack theme just as well and also games with moral choices and a choice of endings. Fallout 3 is a superb "sequel" of Deus Ex, not only incorporating all of the above, but also including an immense world and superior combat system. STALKER is also a worthy successor of Deus Ex. Splinter Cell also gave you the fun choice system. Crysis too. I could go on and on.
So why.. why on earth could a game with a name that begins with "deus ex" fail miserably at something that is so common now? At first glance it all seems to be there, guns, hacking, augments. But this game is just "decent" at best. I'm literally amazed that such games are still being made. A score of just 6 might sound weird, but judge for yourself.
- Small linear levels (smaller than in the original). The city hubs are a painful reminder of how small everything feels.
- Idiotic AI.
- Takedowns done in "pause time" with repeating cutscenes.
- Way too few enemies (if you play stealth you might not realize than you can blast through a level in 2-3 minutes).
- Boring hacking, not the minigame itself, which is fine, but the actual mails that you read. Yeah, I read them and learned NOTHING even remotely interesting. Remember how the mails in Doom 3 added to the atmosphere of the game? Not here...
- Mandatory boss battles. To make you understand just how boring the game is, even on the highest difficulty, you can knock out the 3'd and toughest boss with just one punch.
- Predictable story buuut, even when it suddenly reveals something unpredictable, it's just bad. I kept expecting a smart turn but that never came.
- Broken weapon system. You will only need 2 weapons and one grenade (silenced pistol, heavy rifle and one EMP grenade for robot in the mission where you have to save your pilot).
- Weird upgrade choices. Some augments are useless and you can get everything you need before the second half of the game.
- Experience system that almost forces you to be stealthy and "kind" by giving you more exp for knocking people out.
- A choice system which boldly states that your actions have consequences, as stated in the review. Oh really? Again, which game were you playing?
Play it the "wrong" way and all you have is a short fps with few weapons, few enemies and a static boring lifeless world.