Deus Ex is a science fiction themed action role playing game that combined first person shooter elements with stealth and role playing elements.
Overview
Deus Ex Overview
Deus Ex is rated as one of, if not the best, PC games of all time. This science fiction thriller combines first person shooter, stealth, and role playing elements as the player plays through real life inspired conspiracy theories. The combat system, the story line, and the game overall has a lot to offer almost all gamers and it is hard to dislike this game. What really stands out about this game is the way it combined the interface of Doom, with the adventure aspects of Mario 64, and role playing elements, and did it successfully. Again it is really hard to say anything bad about this game and it should appeal to pretty much any gamer, except maybe that the graphics are now pretty dated.
Deus Ex Screenshots
Deus Ex Featured Video
Full Review
Deus Ex Review
By, Nimish Dubey
Backdrop
.hack Part 1 Infection (Dot Hack) begins with a bang. Something disastrous happens to your character‘s real world friend, while innocently playing a 20 million-subscriber base, wildly popular online RPG game (MMORPG), The World. To unravel the mystery of your friend’s misfortune, you become an online, ingame rogue hacker, exploring every corner of The World, even some virus-infected ones.
The hero is armed with the special skills of Data Drain and Gate Hack, and some colorful, talented fellow adventurers to fill the two other available party slots. Different adventurers must accompany you depending on the plot‘s development. You have some control over the others in your party, including upgrading them through trades or gifts. You can play only a single class, Twin Blade. Other characters are from different classes, with varied strengths and weaknesses, from a mage type (Wavemaster) to a bully (Heavy Axeman).
Gameplay
Gameplay takes place in three principal areas – towns, fields, and dungeons. Towns house The World’s servers. There, the player can save the game, buy magic scrolls and useful and unique items, store items, buy equipment, and talk and trade with lots of other players in character online. One town has an unusual ranch to check out, a patent homage to an enduring feature of just about every Final Fantasy.
The town’s Chaos Gate provides instant teleportation to a particular wide-open Field, containing monster encounter hotspots, a mystical spring, treasure, and lots of mysterious food. You enter three distinct keywords, some known at the game‘s onset, and others learned through play. Whatever keywords are entered, the difficulty level of the destination is helpfully revealed. This prevents a low-level party from being massacred. Once the keywords are entered, you travel through the Chaos Gate. (You can enter specific keywords learned to continue the plot, do side quests, or do unlimited exploring. Or, you can instruct the Gate to enter random keywords, and take your chances. There‘s also an option to enter any keywords you wish from a word list.) Every Field houses a single Dungeon. The dungeons, where you spend much of the game fighting for your life, are not overly large in size, and always range between three and five average levels.
Many have compared Dot Hack to Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II (PSO) on the Gamecube. Let us gently discredit this. We feel Dot Hack has far better graphics than PSO. The Fields and Dungeons contain many colorful, over stylized backdrops and settings, including weather effects. Dot Hack’s monsters resemble the beautifully-drawn monsters of the later Final Fantasy’s. Dot Hack’s world is gigantic with a seeming infinite number of locations to explore. PSO’s world is relatively small, and plot is threadbare, with meaningless, though fun, side quests, which instill no enthusiasm in the player. Dot Hack’s plot is deep and complex, with each subplot advancing the story just a little bit further. (Remember though, the end of this game in no way comes close to wrapping up the story, to be completed in the three games to be released later this year.) One visual treat, however, was lifted directly from PSO – the cascading rings that accompany the teleportation of characters to and from different areas.
Combat
Dot Hack’s combat engine can best be described as modified real-time. Much like the action-RPG, Kingdom Hearts, button mashing can be effective to beat monsters. Monster combat icons appear as large yellow twirling landmarks. As you approach, the landmark dissolves, monsters come at you big-time, and, undoubtedly, players will feel a healthy adrenaline rush. Some of Dot Hack’s many monsters do not stand around waiting to be pummeled, rather some you need to catch. Dot Hack lets you turn combat almost into a turn-based affair. The player needs only to hit Triangle in the middle of battle to pause the game instantly. From there the player can give orders to the others in the party, anything from healing someone, reviving another, casting a spell, designating a target monster. Without jeopardizing your party from the hailstorm of monster blows, combat becomes a calmer, more strategic, experience. This will help the many action-challenged. Camera angles play a big role in successful combat. You must be facing a monster to do any damage. As in many games, manipulating opposing environmental elements, like fire vs. water, is a key to successful monster combat.
Dot Hack’s cyberspace setting provides a wealth of Wow-inducing outbursts. The Data Drain option in combat is a great example. When a monster’s approaches zero, the player can Data Drain to reduce a horrendous, gigantic steel robot, for example, into a sniveling, puny monster, easily defeated with a single blow. Data Drain always results in a nifty, rare item or essential Virus Cores so you can Gate Hack areas of The World now closed, but needing investigation. One bad side effect – if you defeat, a Data Drained monster, but a single experience point is earned. One REALLY bad side effect – if you Data Drain too often without giving the skill a rest, you may overload and explode. Game Over. In the case of Boss monsters, Data Drain works the same, but what remains is no sniveling puny monster, but a full-blooded slightly less tough monster. All of this makes for interesting and captivating combat, a large part of the game.
Fresh Features
Dot Hack is replete with new and interesting features that kept us riveted.
To start, the entire background and story of a real world gamer becoming a rascal hacker, penetrating deep into a virus-infected online game, is quite novel. Combine this with Dot Hack’s emulating the look and feel of an online game universe. (Message traffic on the web shows many gamers mistakenly believe Dot Hack is a real online MMORPG, along with monthly fees! No real Internet connection is required.)
Just like in the real word, Dot Hack replicates your excitement level when “New” appears before a popular forum or on your email screen. Some of the game involves receiving emails as the plot develops, as well as new, crucial information surfacing on The World’s Board. (Look out for emails challenging you to a strange game of Tag.) The online game world looks very familiar with a bunch of characters wandering around the game’s towns, with the ubiquitous balloon icons talking typical “trash” to each other, even criticizing “newbies“.
Combat grippingly called for surprisingly strategic decision-making to succeed, not related to the usual attack or defend choices. Do you go for experience and upgrade your character or try for some special equipment or a Virus Core, vital to Gate Hacking? The innovative control of other party members became second nature to us after some practice. The game rewards a player taking chances, like entering a Field or Dungeon rated 5 levels above the player’s current level. On the other hand, the game scoffed at players entering areas much lower rated the their current level, by awarding negligible experience points for victory.
Dot Hack takes progress reports to a new level, by slowly unlocking books that contain much in the way of statistics and information. There’s even a monster compendium with tips for defeating them.
Some might complain about the minimal “Save Game” ability, but we thrived on it. You explore a very hostile cyberspace environment without the facility to save. Only in a server-hosting town is saving possible at the local Recorder. We may be a solitary voice in the Wilderness, but we like this throwback to the good old RPG days. Those of you old enough to remember the Wizardry series, may recall those fingernail-biting multi-combat treks back to the Castle just to save the game. In case you’re really stuck deep in a dungeon, a common item will teleport you to the outdoor field, from where you can simply gate back to town from the command menu.
Many pieces of equipment come with distinctive powerful attack, healing, and status skills, essential to combat dominance. The player must tradeoff whether to equip something that will raise defense or offense or something less vigorous that lets you use a powerful skill. Trading is the most successful way to upgrade equipment.
In a first, Dot Hack comes with a 45 minute anime video. This gives some great background on what’s going on in The World, as well as provide clues for completing the game. In a nice twist, voiceovers for game speech can be set for Japanese or English presentation. Listening to the authentic Japanese voices really keeps you glued to the game.
Though some may scoff at what follows as meaningless, we liked the game’s unlocking of some nifty new “toys” to like, some only available when the game is cleared. You can unlock many different background music play lists. Tired of creepy tunes, just switch to something more upbeat, or futuristic. Just like real world gamers, who constantly change their desktop wallpaper, new and different wallpapers are unlocked along the way. Some are concept art of characters, while others are full blown anime renditions of the characters. This makes for great fun, and seems to pump additional energy into the game. As you progress over a dozen special cut scenes or movies will become viewable after defeating the game.
Though Dot Hack’s extras and new wrinkles enhance the RPG game experience, much of the gameplay will ring true to those who enjoy RPG‘s. Expect plenty of exploration in a huge 3D world, frequent monster combat, tons of treasure to earn and discover, upgrading your character’s weapons and armor, and needing to level before tackling pivotal story dungeons. The status screens for the characters and all equipment are well laid out and easy to grasp.
Time for Completion
Game length in hours always concerns many purchasers. A short RPG normally takes a lot of flack, and many online are asking about Dot Hack‘s time for completion. (Some have questioned whether Bandai should have released a single 80 hour game for $50, rather than four 20-hour games for $200 for a single story. This matter is beyond the scope of this review, but our high opinion of this game as a standalone is obvious.) Our experience, playing the plot without doing side quests or extra exploration, is in the 12 to 15-hour range. Players side-questing and extensively exploring, aside from the main plot, can expect to spend 25 hours to complete the game. You can even continue to advance your character, after game completion, to get a jump start on Part 2 due in May. In the next game, your character can be imported from Part 1.
Furthermore, imagine trying to explore every nook and cranny of the fields and dungeons accessible by a large number of 3-word combinations. Doing that would put the game in the 50-hour range, if not more. However, at a certain point, new items dry up, and a single experience point is earned for any defeated monster, no matter how tough.
Shortcomings
While, as is evident above, there is much to recommend in Dot Hack, certain concerns to varying degrees deserve mention.
From the “Why oh why did they leave this out?“ File. Pregame game board traffic and information about the Japanese version released months ago had many salivating for replaying the game in “parody” mode. This mode apparently converted all Dot Hack’s game world characters into satirical comedians. Sorry to say, this highly-anticipated feature is missing from the version released here.
The game requires massive amounts of button pressing. Every item or treasure uncovered from combat victories or exploration (opening chests, searching expired adventure remains, collecting food for Grunty’s, as examples) must be confirmed with a button press. When there could be 50-100 such occurrences in a single dungeon or field, over the course of the game, finger cramps seem inevitable. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance also required lots of bashing for buried treasure and chests, but the items literally flew into your inventory, a much better way to handle this.
The manual is woefully terse and lacking in some crucial information and guidance. While the ingame tutorials fill in many of the gaps, one extremely important gameplay feature is missing from both the manual and tutorials – instructions on control your characters directly during combat.
Final Word
We got a kick out of Dot Hack. The feeling of “just one more dungeon” dominated our lives for the 3 days to completion. The engaging environment held our attention without much effort. The strategic nature of combat, plus the convoluted plot kept us going for hours on end. The constant unlocking of both frivolous and important gameplay features created a “what’s next” anticipation. Now, if I could only read Japanese better, Dot Hack Part 2 is already out in Japan!
Final Grade: B
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The time is somewhere in the not-too-distant future (hey, there are no spaceships yet). You are wearing sunglasses and an overcoat that seem borrowed from The Matrix. You are a being that looks human but has implants (nano-augmentations, they call them) that allow you to perform special functions. And you do not know whom to trust – your brother, your friends, your employers or even your government.
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| Well, if that scenario rings a bell, it’s a fair chance that you have already played Deus Ex. |
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Eidos’ futuristic first person RPG marries Doom’s first-person shooting interface with the lurk-and-search approach of Thief. Top that off with a plot that seems right out of the X-Files and you have a potent gaming cocktail. It is this ability to blend the features of many genres that makes Deus Ex so special. So while the interface looks like a first-person shooter, one has to wander around in search of special areas in the best adventuring tradition, and allot points gained from completing missions among different skills to develop one’s character – the classic RPG scenario.
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| Perhaps the most outstanding feature of Deus Ex is its storyline. The game revolves around JC Denton, a special nano-augmented agent working for UNATCO, an anti-terrorist organisation under the aegis of the United Nations. As the world struggles to come to grips with a mysterious disease called the Gray Death, Denton is called in to combat a group of terrorists who have hijacked a consignment of the vaccine, appropriately named Ambrosia, which can fight the disease. Briefing him on his first mission is his brother, Paul, another nano-augmented agent who also works for UNATCO. |
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It is while tracking down the consignment that Denton discovers that all is not well with UNATCO and indeed, the US government itself. In fact, there are rumours that the government is spreading Gray Death. As he goes after the so-called terrorists, Denton gets sucked into a devious conspiracy that sees him switching loyalties, dodging one trap after another and combating a whole host of enemies in a variety of territories as he attempts to save the world from the Gray Death.
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| For such a complex plot, the gameplay is refreshingly simple. One does need both the keyboard as well as the mouse to make the most of it, though, and getting the two in sync takes a bit of time. But once that is sorted out, the experience is pure magic. The basic interface is very much like the classic first person shooters like Doom and Quake, with a few innovative touches, such as a health bar which shows the hammering taken by different parts of your body and a datavault that stores important messages and mission goals. And potential storekeepers can rejoice, there’s an impressive inventory to manage as well. Amazing how much one of those huge overcoats can hold – at one stage I had a pistol, a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle, a sword and numerous other odds and ends tucked away in its recesses. |
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Speaking of the inventory, although Denton can wield a whole assortment of weapons and tools, his ability in using them depends on the points you allot to different skills. So if you decide to upgrade his low-tech weapon skills, he will be deadly with throwing knives. Mind you, it is very difficult to upgrade the many skills at his disposal (there are eleven in all), so one has to be judicious in allotting upgrades. In most cases, the allotment of points boils down to one’s approach. Those looking to blast their way through will try to upgrade combat skills while those seeking to be a tad less obtrusive will opt for improving skills like lock picking and computers.
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| For, mark you my words, there is more than one way to succeed in Deus Ex. You can either go in with all guns blazing, like your run-of- the-mill shooter or stealthily move into key areas by hacking computers, picking locks, disabling guns and alarms, and even exploring the odd hidden passage, sewer or air conditioning duct. The choice is entirely yours. In either case, the game provides you with more than enough hardware to pack a decent wallop with an assortment of weapons and other tools. What’s more, Denton can also add augmentations that give him special abilities for a period of time. Once again, the player has to choose between options that vary from adding physical strength to protecting Denton from radiation. Let’s face it, one is spoilt for choice by this game. |
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While Denton gets clear-cut instructions on his receiver from time to time in the game, he does have a license to wander. So he can go just about wherever he wants and sometimes even ends up picking additional missions. In fact, the game even rewards players who sally forth into uncharted areas, awarding area location bonuses and also helping them stumble across the odd goody. Talking of goodies, there are lots lying around for those wishing to smash up crates with a crowbar!
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| Then there are the bad guys. As with most games, these vary from the routine to the difficult. The easiest to deal with are the human agents and troopers while the mechanical robots and augmented agents are a different matter altogether, and often take some stopping. Most areas are also littered with poison gas barrels and TNT-laden boxes, making for literally explosive battlefields. And while the temptation to use heavy artillery is always there, killing innocent civilians often results in a tongue lashing, so one has to watch one’s steps. |
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While Deus Ex is a terrific experience, it does come with its share of bloopers. Perhaps the most glaring is the fact that the enemy seems to behave in a rather irrational manner. Many is the time that I have shot down a soldier only for his companion to continue walking past whistling. In fact, if you are crouched, it is a fair chance that you will escape detection even if you walk within a few feet of the enemy. Then there is the rather irritating habit of getting messages when one is in the thick of action. Sure, they get stored and can be read later but it is rather annoying to have someone telling you that you are near an enemy camp when you are busy exchanging fire with some bloodthirsty folks!
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| The game’s graphics are also a bit of a disappointment. The indistinct and fuzzy faces might be popular with the Unreal community, but look out of place in today’s era of slick graphics. That the game still managed to tax my PC (a 128 MB, Athlon XP machine) quite severely did not improve matters. Worst of all, Deus Ex is buggy. Let’s face it, the game does have a tendency to crash when you least expect it. |
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But all these are mere niggles when one gets down to playing the game. Ever since I started playing it, many is the time when I have paused in front of my front door and wondered whether it would be best to open it with a nano key, use a lockpick or just send a rocket through it. And my wife is still puzzled as to why I call the TV remote a multitool!
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