A long journey however the end justify the means.

User Rating: 9 | Deus Ex PC
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Sounds: 8
Value: 10
Tilt: 10
Actual Score: 9.3

I'm surprised that no one heard me moaned when first booted up Deus Ex. Actually it's my second attempt playing this game because storylines based on diseased ridden society is a total copout. Now add government cover up to this equation then you'll have a totally worn out model. This time though I've done a little more investigation (especially to the meaning of Deus Ex Machina) and like a good soldier, marched on to complete the game. Now looking in hindsight my apology goes to developer Warren Spector and his team as Deus Ex, even though the 'disease – government - cover up' is used extensively in many other fictional stories, this idea was more sinister than I realised.

Initial impression of this game is your typical first person shooter. You know – aim, shoot and whatever else. However all of this changes in a blink of an eye as Warren brought RPG elements that encourages players to play their style. That said the game caters for all walks of life ranging from stealth approach to all out gun a blazing using the heaviest weapon/s available. Not only this, even though the game follows a linear pattern (e.g. go from point A to B) there are many paths to take. For instance: a heavy bot is blocking your path; you can activate your augmentation to stealth your way past it, search for a terminal to hack and disable it or simply show who the real boss is. As you can imagine, people love being in control and this game enforces this rule.

Yet the key element to this is the character creation. It's a pretty bazaar concept for a FPS however it's very simple to understand. Without going into details, the game has an excellent training module that eases the learning curve. Also through out the game you are awarded experience points (XP) for completing missions and if you go for a little exploration you can also be rewarded for locating hidden rooms. Of course spending XP will increase your character skills and yes even the swimming skill has a role to play – you have been warned! Yet being a cyber dude there are augmentations that increase your human abilities like run faster, absorb more damage or even have infrared vision. Lastly the game uses damage indicators around your body meaning that if your arm is severely wounded, it will be harder for you to aim and so forth.

Visually is the game's weakest point. By all means it's certainly not ugly at the slightest however because it uses the Unreal Engine I expected more. Right from the get go, the game play takes place at night. Actually it's one very long night so the colour palette is dull looking with greys, blacks and whites with the occasional colour splashes. Naturally there's nothing wrong with that however being in the future, I was hoping more of those flashy neon signs, graffiti abound or something similar to that effect. Yet the entire cast ranging from the local prostitute to the bar tender to the soldiers are all top-notch with believable motions like walking, running et al.

Sound wise the game really shines. From the main title screen with its catchy tune to the entire locations all presented with the appropriate scores to match. So in Hong Kong you'll have a certain Asian flavour or Paris with a slight European tang. Environmental sounds like birds flapping, footsteps, cats meowing or even a jackhammer bolstering (yet I cannot locate the person doing this) all bring immersion to that melancholy backdrop. The voice acting, even though convincing enough with excellent speeches, is a little too stereotypical for my liking. For example, your alter ego Denton sounds like your typical gruff type, the German cyborg Gunther Hermann all too Arnie like and even the foreigners (for example residents of Hong Kong) way too American. Yet because of the impressive storyline this can be forgiven.

I didn't realise how long this game was. X-Fire stated a whopping seventy six hours of game play therefore you'll certainly get your dollars worth. However this can also be on the negative side as there are some gamers who want results real fast. So to counter this long game, you can easily divide the game in five chapters (for which I did) so ending one chapter rest a while before embarking the next. Just think of it as 'DLC' upgrade for every chapter. Considering the game was made for single player only, the multiplayer component didn't arrive until later in the form of patches. Yet the multiplayer only supports three game play modes being death match, team death match and advanced team death match. But all is not lost as Ion Storm (the publishers) also released the self development kit (SDK) that even today the modding community is still strong. So strong, that the award winning 'The Nameless Mod' was made specifically for Deus Ex.

Like all conspiracy theories, on the surface it all seems hogwash bogus stuff however when start digging further, new beliefs will arrive on the surface for which entices further questioning or conspiracies. Naturally this will cause a spiral effect where the loop doesn't really meet at all. And as human beings, we are always looking for answers to these uncertainties, no matter how outlandish they are. Dues Ex is just like that: the more you progress into the game, questions will be answered but only poses further questioning. That said Deus Ex will start off slowly however once digging into the storyline, and just like a spiral, you think it's going to end only poses further questioning for which expands the curiosity. Yet in this game, there are three possible endings all which are too real not to ignore…