The stealth/combat genre is a relatively new entry in 3D video games. While PC gaming is still ruled by multi-player first person shooters, games such as Thief, Thief 2 and System Shock 2 remind us that gaming doesn’t necessarily require a ‘run and gun’ approach to be entertaining.  The concept of the stealth genre is that instead of walking into a room or arena with guns blazing, perhaps a less direct approach could be more effective.  Deus Ex is the latest title to have this new gameplay element and, while sneaking is the key to survival, there is still plenty of ‘run and gun’ action for those who refuse to play nice.

Times are grim in the world of Deus Ex.  The future seems to be home of a killer plague called the Grey Death.  Millions have died and, although a cure is available, supply never meets demand and the cure is only distributed to those with prestige and power.  Several terrorist groups, such as the NSF and the French based Silhouette, pose a significant threat to the world's governments in an effort to influence the distribution of the vaccine, called Ambrosia.  You are cast as J.C. Denton, the newest addition to the UNATCO (United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition.)  Your job is to make sure that the United States and other UN members remain free from NSF harm and never bow to their unfair and unreasonable demands.  However, it would seem that the answers to this problem aren’t so clear-cut and everyone has a well-hidden agenda.  Who is the greater threat to the future of humanity?  The NSF, who would easily harm innocent people so that they can have the cure, or the governments, who might have the capacity to make enough vaccine for all?  Only time and your investigations can reveal the true answers. 

Deus Ex is based on the 4.20 code base of the Unreal Tournament engine and, for the most part, it does the job well.  However much like Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex runs best on Glide based cards which creates problems for everyone else stuck with Direct3D and OpenGL.  Fortunately, Ion Storm has released a new beta Direct3D driver that seems to help with those who can’t use Glide.  The graphics are gritty, dark and nicely reflect the general mood of the game.  Subtle features such as detail texturing, which gives a pseudo-bump mapping effect up close and excellent reflections are nice touches as well.  The character models also go one step beyond Unreal Tournament character models by giving them movable lips that, for the most part, match the spoken dialog.  The realistic look of Deus Ex is a refreshing contrast to the overly colorful and alien look featured in Unreal Tournament.  While the reused Unreal Tournament graphics and new gritty look might not immediately turn heads, the sheer size of some of the missions, such as the initial Statue of Liberty map and the Hong Kong scenario, might serve to alter those initial impressions. 

The sound effects in Deus Ex are pretty good, except for a few notable exceptions.  It’s not so much how they sound but the volume level at which they’re played that seems to be lacking.  Although glass shattering, gun fire, and alarms are loud and clear -- as they should be -- weapon sounds seem far louder than they should be even when sneaking around.  The stealth pistol has a convincing silenced report, but reloading it makes unrealistic scraping noises as if you can’t figure out where to put the clip.  It wouldn’t be so bad if it was quiet but it’s easily twice as loud as the gun firing.  The GEP gun also has a very annoying lock-on tone when you target an enemy.  Aside from these minor annoyances, the sounds are reasonable and realistic.  The music sounds a lot like the compositions in Unreal Tournament, with a heavy ambient techno sound.  However, when the action picks up such as when you are discovered by the enemy, the music does indeed switch to a faster paced and more aggressive tone.  The voice acting and voice sound effects are very convincing.  Enemies make comments such as “I see movement” when you’re spotted and “The fluids are still warm. He’s somewhere close” when guards find a body you didn’t hide.  Probably the only real complaint to be had is the main character himself, J.C. Denton.  His voice is the now-clichéd deep, monotone drone that seems as if the actor is reading the lines instead of really saying them.  It’s not really too bad but sometimes it’s hard to follow what is being said when the lines are several sentences long and spoken in one long breath.  Luckily, there is a subtitle option that helps you follow along. 

As for the control, if you’ve played System Shock 2 then you’ve seen this setup before. On top of a standard first person shooter layout, there are additional ‘lean’ buttons as well as augmentation controls as well.  In Deus Ex, it’s a necessity to lean around corners to see cameras, turrets, guards and whatever other dangers might be lurking about.  The augmentations are actually ability boosters such as cloak, healing, and night vision that can be selected with the function keys.  The inventory screen is virtually identical to the one found in System Shock.  The TAB key brings up the inventory screen but buttons on top allow you to switch to more specific displays such as Augmentation, which shows you all the upgrade you have acquired; Skills, which display the various abilities you can improve with an RPG like point system; and Health, which displays your current health status in specific areas such as arms, torso, head, etc. 

Overall Deus Ex is an exceptional game.  If you found entertainment value in games such as Thief and System Shock 2, you’ll feel right at home with Deus Ex. All nitpicks aside, there is very little in Deus Ex to complain about at all. This game is so good that many other reviews have already predicted it to win “Game of the Year” awards. Although I won’t go that far, this is thus far the best candidate for those accolades.  Deus Ex has a little bit of everything and does them all very well.  Take a little action, a little strategy, great storytelling, strong RPG elements, non-linear problem solving and you have Deus Ex.  A must buy if you don’t already have it.   

System Requirements
Minimum Specifications: 300 MHz Pentium II or equivalent, Windows 95/98, 64 MB RAM
DirectX 7.0a compliant 3D accelerated video card, DirectX 7.0a compliant sound card, DirectX 7.0a or higher (included), 4X CD-ROM Drive, 150 MB uncompressed hard drive space, Keyboard and Mouse

Recommended Specifications:
AMD Athlon or Intel Pentium III processor, 128 MB RAM, 3D accelerator with 16 MB VRAM
8X CD-ROM Drive, 750 MB uncompressed hard drive space, EAX or A3D compliant audio card.

Reviewer’s System:
CeleronA 450 MHz , 128 MB RAM, Nvidia TNT, Voodoo2 SLI, Sound Blaster Live! Value