Caltrops - Reviews - Deus Ex 2 (PC)

Forum Overview :: Reviews

by FABIO 07/24/2004, 3:26pm PDT

Based on 5 hours of play.

I don't get where the "OMFG this game is unplayable and fucked" people are coming from. Maybe before the patch?

Anyways I picked this up for $20, patched it, installed a COMMUNITY-MADE texture package (jesus that's sad) and am now having fun with it.

Yes, it's not as good as the original.

Yes, the levels are small and cubicle-like (remember the area in the demo? That's ALL of Lower Seattle), with long load times between each. This is the main thing that drags it down, but doesn't ruin it. A few of the main "guarded complex you must sneak into" levels are actually decently sized. Downtown Seattle being the size of a mall food court is lame though.

Yes, universal ammo is gay.

Yes, the physics are fucked. All loose objects you walk passed will bounce away along the floor like they were made from super bouncy ball rubber. Shadows are impossibly hard.

Yes, the graphics are lacking. Many of the human models look like they were renderred in Poser with wide open, fucked up eyes. Many levels are renderred in the same drab colors throughout, making it look like Poser meets Quake. The art design of many levels is too similar; the high-rise of Upper Seattle, where all the priviledged and powerful dwell, doesn't look that much different from the decaying slums of Lower Seattle. The only real difference is that the slums have the occasional graffiti sign and flaming barrel scattered about.

The biggest annoyance that I'm running into that no one else mentioned is the annoyingly limited inventory. Gone is the Diablo like "grid based" inventory where each item takes up a certain number of squares, probably because the mouseless Xbox can't handle it. Instead you get about 10 slots. Each item takes up one slot. Period. A lockpick takes up the same amount of space as a sniper rifle. Each grenade type takes up a slot. Forget carrying around more than one grenade type. Forget carrying around more than two or three weapons (why would you want to? You've got UNIVERSAL AMMO!). Make sure to pick what two weapons you want and stick with them, the rest of your inventory is going to be taken up by requisite Deus Ex items like med kits, multitools, and packages of soy.

But the core aspects of Deus Ex are here. You've got an engaging near-future (less so than the original though) tale of conspiracy theories. Despite small levels, you've got multiple ways to reach your goals (yes, air vents).

There seem to be less combat options though, probably because the (gay) universal ammo forces you into using the one most efficient weapon the entire game instead of the more exotic stuff (flash bombs, etc) because they're not worth the increased usage from your universal ammo pool. The stun prod is utterly useless. It takes forever to knock someone out with it (5 hit as opposed to the 2 from the original) and eats up a ton of ammo in the process (yes, the frigging stun prod uses universal ammo).

One of the biggest complaints about the original was that you were forced into joining the rebels and had no options for becoming a jack booted thug for the New World Order. Well here you get that choice between the WTO and the New Order church. Problem: often the objectives of the two involve you going to the same area and sneaking into the same building to do almost the same thing. You don't quite feel like you're an agent of one so much as a freelance child that both factions bitch over for custody.

I think their biggest fuckup with the two factions though was, in addition to not giving each an individual feel, they heavy handedly try to make it so either isn't "right" and each is just a different shad of grey. What they should have done is make the WTO missions turn you into a jack booted thug who's well-equipped and provided more. While your methods seem harsh, it's only because everyone else isn't a part of the inner circle that sees the "big picture" like you do. The New Order church should have made you feel like the humanistic underdog. Although there is a larger plan to the WTO's brutality, you're sick of the common man getting tampled on and dammit you're not gonna take it anymore.

Instead, each side sends you on almost the same missions, provide you with no salary and equipment, and makes you pay for your own transportation to mission zones. The WTO can't even pay your airfare. wtf?

They should have made each faction's just a different shade of grey. They had two interesting factions set up, each with its good and bad points, the WTO with its prosperity and stability at the cost of brutal market control and the New Order church with its answer to corruption and income disparity at the cost of being a crazy motherfucking cult.

Instead, they seem to simply alternate their mission objectives being clear cut good and evil. In one level, both factions are interested in a new weapon being developed at a lab. The New Order church wants you to kill the lead scientist to "send a message", the WTO just wants you to steal the plans. Next level the WTO wants you to burn down an old man's greenhouse that provides food to a poor community because it upsets market prices, the New Order church wants you to clean up a toxic nano-spill in the area to gain the locals' trust. I suppose the next level will switch back to being torn between the New Order church ordering me to blow up an orphanage and the WTO telling me to rescue a basket of kittens.

A worthwhile game for fans of the original, but design decisions keep it from being as good. The two factions system doesn't live up to its potential. Universal ammo is gay.