Now that I've finally played it, I can say that Deus Ex is one of the best games ever made. Sorta like a smart man's Half-Life (crowbar included!), it was one of the first games to combine strategy and RPG elements with an FPS, paving the way for smash-hits like BioShock, Fallout 3 and countless others.

Set in the future, there's a plague called Grey Death wiping everyone out. You play as JC Denton, one of the first people augmented with nanotechnology. Essentially, you're a high-powered killing machine (or stealthy sedation machine if you so choose, it's versatile like that) for a shady government organization called UNATCO. UNATCO is run by the United Nations, and they combat against 'terrorist' groups. Lots of these 'terrorist' groups recently popped up because there's a vaccine for the Grey Death, but it's limited. Limited as in only the rich and influential may apply. So I guess those 'terrorist' groups you're fighting are actually just 'poor people.'

The gameplay holds up well. The shooting isn't Modern Warfare-tight, but it serves. As the game progresses you have to choose various character attributes and upgrade them, depending on how you prefer to play the game. And that's the gist of why the game was so popular: You can beat it however you well please. You can play through it without killing a soul, or you can hollow the head out of every person you see. To get past a door you can hack a terminal, find the code to the keypad, or slap an explosive device on it.

What I mostly got a kick out of were the semi-prophetic qualities in the game. Terrorists have struck New York City (keep in mind this was released in 2000, before 9/11). The world's in turmoil, there's a growing income gap between the poor and the super-rich, and people are complaining that the government AND corporations are in control of everything. Which leads me to wonder: is that how democrats and republicans join forces in the future? Plus they've got datacubes everywhere, which suspiciously look just like iPads. Lawsuit is on the way, Mr. Jobs  Mr. Cook.

There's an iPad under that text box, we swear.

The game design is definitely old school. You're forced to *gasp* follow the story and listen to everything people tell you. Sometimes you'll get a map, but it's not interactive at all. Directories at your local mall are more detailed. So on the one hand, it's kinda awesome: When your next move is embedded in the story and dialogue, it forces you to pay attention. If you're getting your hand held the entire time and you're able to complete four quests an hour, story elements can fade into the background. On the other hand, roaming around for twenty minutes trying to figure out what in the hell you're supposed to do next can get tiresome.

Really tiresome.

There are some negatives to the game. Enemy AI is a little suspect. A few times I witnessed enemies hurl themselves off cliffs for no reason. And when you seriously injure someone, they stop shooting and run around frantically, bleeding to death.

Deus Ex's version of the future is a little strange. People leave their log in information everywhere. Especially on their iPads (err, datacubes), which they leave laying around their offices and have no security measures themselves. To be fair, while it comes off a little unbelievable, it's probably not that far-fetched since most office workers have their passwords stickied to their monitors. Also, underboob is in. So in, even homeless women flaunt it. Plus, everyone's diet consists of soy food, candy bars, wine, liquor and 40's. Where's the future already?

I enjoyed my time with the Deus Ex, but probably not as much as I would have back in 2000. While I recognize it was at the forefront of game design, there's been a lot of games since that have improved on the original formula, and they got to me first. But that in no way is gonna stop me from picking up the prequel Human Revolution, which, huge coincidence, came out today. Maybe in it they'll show how that wonderful underboob craze got started.