Deus Ex isn't perfect, but its strengths and weaknesses come together to create a thoroughly unique masterpiece.
The central focus of what makes Deus Ex great is it's element of choice, which plays out both in the storyline and the actual gameplay. Throughout the course of your journey as JC Denton, a futuristic anti-terrorist specialist enhanced with nanotechnology, you'll make many tough decisions that force you to think hardly about which route to take. The game has no morality meter, but you'll soon find that it would have been nearly impossible to implement such a thing with such morally ambiguous options placed in front of you. Some choices have obvious pros and cons, while others may not have any visible consequences until several missions down the road.
This may seem like an odd way of directing the flow of the game. After all, isn't a game all about "action -> reaction" / "cause -> effect?" However, Deus Ex prides itself on making you think. By the end of the game, you may even start to wonder just how much of the seemingly absurd things proposed in the story could be true, since there seems to be both logic and factual evidence behind almost all of them.
Of all the choices throughout the game, however, the first one you'll be making is what JC will look like (and, subsequently, what his twin brother will look like) and what skills he will possess. Deus Ex has a large array of skills to choose from, ranging from weapon skills, lockpicking, and even hacking. However, you'll find that some are far better than others and some skills outright become obsolete at later parts of the game. Still, though, it allows you to play the game as you see fit and develop in areas you want to develop in without fussing with unnecessary abilities. No matter how you play, you won't be at any real disadvantage when choosing your skills.
Once you pick up your weapon of choice, it's time to start busting some heads. The game's open-ended environments can be bewildering as first to those expecting a straight shooter, but once you pick up some ammunition from a fellow soldier and pick up an informant's key, it's off to the center of all the fighting.
Combat itself is enjoyable, though leaves a lot to be desired when compared to some of the better first-person shooters on the market. Targeting enemies is based on your skills with the weapon and the upgrades it has (accuracy, laser sight, scope, etc...), but luckily anyone who takes time to aim (a simple endeavor, though difficult in an all-out brawl) will find that this is no random-die-roll dungeon crawler. The bulk of your weapon enhancements only effect how fast you get to your maximum accuracy, which is nicely indicated by four points that converge into the center of the reticule.
The game also features a nice selection of weapons. These include pistols, crossbows, rocket launchers, rifles, and even some unique weapons thrown in for good measure. Though you'll constantly be exposed to newer and flashier weapons, most all of the standards will never become obsolete, so any upgrades made are worthwhile for the long-run of the game.
In addition to skills you can also come across augmentations. These are, essentially, special powers that can be used at the cost of Bioelectric Energy and perform a number of unique tricks. Each canister has two augmentations, but only one can be chosen per slot (eye, arms, legs, etc), with a few exceptions. Like skills, while they're fun to experiment around with, you'll quickly find that some are just outright superior to others, and you'll really only be using a few of the augmentations.
Apart from using brute force and augmentations, the player also has a number of stealth options. However, these play out all too simply. You can duck down to avoid being heard while walking, knock guards out with non-lethal force or silenced weapons to avoid being detect by sentries, and manipulate cameras, turrets, etc. The latter option is especially fun to toy around with, though hacking (be it security or ATMs) is simply a matter of pushing a button and waiting for results.
Graphically, the game is good for its time, though not overly impressive even by the standards of that era. It runs off of the Unreal Engine, and as a result boasts some nice looking environments and an engaging graphical atmosphere, though the character models, backgrounds, and animations are rather simplistic.
Audio, too, has its share of pros and cons. On the plus side, the game's techno soundtrack by veteran video game composer Alexander Brandon is more than worth storing on your mp3 player of choice for later listening if you're at all into the techno scene. However, the tracks simply repeat over and over for each area (which is done seamlessly and never breaks immersion, though it may get old if its one of the less-engaging tracks). Sound effects can seem under whelming at times, and the repetitive death noises of your foes can become almost comical. Voice acting, while spotted with a few exceptional performances (such as Bob Page and Walton Simons, to name a few), overall is a low point. The game's protagonist, especially, suffers from an overly monotone voice and laughable enunciation.
If you want a game that will last a long while and keep you coming back year after year, however, look no farther than Deus Ex. I bought the game of the year edition back when it first hit shelves, and still play it to this day. Even now, I'm still finding new pieces of dialogue I had never heard before and finding new areas I had never explored before. The attention to detail is astonishing, and well worth the price of the game (about $15 at your local EB Games). It's a lasting experience and a lasting value and my personal favorite game of all time, despite its shortcomings.
It can be easy to downplay Deus Ex for having weak individual elements when analyzed like a piece of machinery. But in a world where video games are being considered as much art as science, it seems wiser to look at the piece as a whole and accept it as being great just because it is.
-RoboWizard