Released to unanimous critical acclaim on the PC in 2000, this first person shooter sets you in the role of J.C. Denton, a cyborg special agent with UNATCO, a government agency that deals with a variety of covert missions. The vision of the future is bleak: the population is suffering from the plague and you must recover a stolen shipment of the vaccine from a terrorist organization. But that's only the surface of a deep and twisting story.

Deus Ex takes the basic concept of the FPS and adds some depth to it by adding more role-playing elements to the mix. You can find items to augment certain abilities, like strength or aim. Also, you can pick up ammo and weapons off of fallen enemies. Talking to NPCs can get you passwords to unlock doors or even give you opportunities to purchase Med-Kits or ammo. Unlike most other FPSs, there is a higher degree of choice in what you can do. Instead of just blasting your way through the game, you can choose to use stealth and even non-lethal methods to complete objectives. With a good variety of weapons, including a bow-gun, pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle and even a LAW (light antitank weaponry), you won't be in need for something to kill with, though. Just don't get gun-happy, because ammo doesn't grow on trees. Picking up bullets off of fallen foes will help replenish your stock, but if you do run out, you can always switch to a melee weapon to finish the job. What it boils down to is that the path through the game may be "point A to point B", but the manner by which you make the trip can be different every time you play.

Graphically, the game looks as old as it is. Deus Ex makes no attempt to update it's graphics, visual or lighting effects. Character models are adequate, but look blocky. Except for the main characters, a lot of the same character models are used over and over again. Textures are decent, but seem to be overused and the environments are detailed just enough to not look bad. Sad as it is, Deus Ex looks like a two-year old game. The game looks good enough not to be an eyesore, but it really doesn't show off anything for the next-gen console market.

Audio-wise, the game's world is realized well. Both sound effects and music are done decently enough to be a nice accent to the central gameplay. Voice acting is pretty good. It may not be top of the line, but it's a far cry better than most games. Considering how many NPCs have talking parts, the voice acting is good enough. Fortunately, the script for the game is pretty well done, so you won't fall prey to too many poorly scripted lines.

Besides the graphics, Deus Ex suffers from two flaws: 1) There is no multiplayer. People spoiled by other FPSs that have excellent multiplayer modes need to understand that this game is a single player game and nothing else. 2) The enemy AI is pretty lame. Rarely do the enemies do much but run directly into your gunfire. Some times they do call for back-up, but for the most part, you'll be mowing them down with little trouble.

Deus Ex is a great single-player experience. I can understand why this game was so popular two years ago, but without a graphical update and multiplayer modes, it just falls a little short in competition with games like Halo and the new breed of FPS coming out on the consoles.

- - Kinderfeld