I'm not usually partial to First Person Shooters, especially not ones that are based in modern or futuristic times. There has to be something exceptional about a game of that genre in order to hold my attention. In the case of Deus Ex, it was the RPG element that came from the dialogues and task lists, not to mention the engrossing storyline behind it!

One of my favorite things about Deus Ex was the music. The ambient area music had some structure to it, and I like to be able to memorize the music and hum to it as I play. You sure as hell can't do that with the typical random booming and clicking that is ambient "music" from other games. The battle music was another great part of the game, an interesting blend of orchestral and electronic instruments that created the right adrenaline-pumping atmosphere.

What was unique about this game to me was the fact that there were several ways to accomplish things or get through areas. You could take the forward approach and shoot everyone, which isn't anything new. However, you could also sneak through the shadows and air ducts, hack computers, bypass electronic devices like surveilance cameras and electronic locks, blast doors open with explosives or quietly use a lockpick. Wear environmental suits and rebreathers as you explore areas flooded with radiation or filled with water, and set traps for your opponents with explosives and gas grenades. It sounds complicated when summed up like that, but if I was able to get the hang of it, I'm sure any gamer could. Besides, there's a nice training mission which you can do to get you up to speed.

Something else I found neat was the fact that your health wasn't represented by one fat number. It was split up into several different parts of the body: the head, left and right arms, torso, left and right legs. This also applied to the enemies, so a shot to the head may kill them instantly but shooting them in the foot would make them fight back or run away bleeding. If you lose all the health in your legs, you actually crawl along the ground, which happened to me in an unfortunate mishap with a LAM explosive during the training mission. Oh well, you have to learn somehow. ;)

Being the cyborg that you are, you're able to upgrade your systems by collecting bio-canisters. These can add new abilities or upgrade the abilities that you already have installed. Be warned though, adding new abilities forces you to choose between two alternatives, and once you've chosen, the upgrade is permanent. I'm sure you'd be able to use them all at some point in the game, however some come in handy more than others. And of course, there are always ways to get around things. For instance, you can choose the ability to jump higher or lift heavier objects. So you can either jump up to otherwise unaccessible things, or stack heavy crates to get up there.

Unfortunately Ion Storm, the company that made this game and Anachronox as well, is out of business. A bit disappointing since I thoroughly enjoy their games. *sigh*