Deus Ex 2 and other games

[nulltone]

A (or the) producer of Spider man is probably going to make a movie for a popular computer game called "Deus Ex." This game is a FPS/RPG, which is set in a sci-fi and interesting atmosphere. It is also full of somewhat legitimate conspericy theories.
Just thought I'd let everyone know. I saw an article about it on gamespot a while ago. Has anyone played Deus Ex?

[converge]

Barely got into it, never could stand the Half-Life/granulated graphics games (vertigo or something).. I could see how this would make a better movie though; moreso than Tomb Raider or Resident Evil

[R.J.]

Deus Ex

I've played it quite a bit, and it was game of the year for damn near everyone for a reason. First, the game is immense. If you take your time, and try to take a leisurely stroll of a couple of hours per day, it will probably take you well over a month. Tons of gameplay.

Lots of GOOD gameplay. There is at least 2 solutions to every problem, and usually closer to 4 or 5. And the problems are usually not the "find key, open door" type. For example, the first mission is: "An agent has been captured by terrorists. There are several ways into the building, which is heavily guarded. There is an informer on the docks if you want to talk to him. Now, make a decision about some equipment..."

Decisions made influence future decisions. (I wonder if I got bored enough to make a dynamic program to choose for the least amount of killing... Based on the script only of course, no way in hell am I going to put it onto the game engine.) Past behaviors also influence the way people react to you. Walking around with a gun out is a good way to panic civvies you want to talk to.

Very involved, and your character ends up quite personallized by what you choose to focus in and carry in your limited inventory.

All I have to say about the plot is that it too, is huge. Almost every conspiracy theory I've ever heard of shows up, and alot I hadn't.

I recommend that if you haven't played this, go and do it. At least for a few days in order to see what kind of plot and interactivity it contains.

(It should probably be noted at the end of this kind of review, that I don't work for anyone associated with Deus Ex, and they have not given me anything. But DX2 was just announced.)

[nulltone]

Exactly what R.J. Said. Though the graphics were not state-of-the-art, the game still deserved all the "Game of The Year" awards it has received.
DX2 was officially announced the other day, but screenshots had already been released, so it was not a surprise.
Deux Ex 2: The Invisible War, uses the Unreal 2 engine. It uses its own physics and AI system.
I'll leak a little bit of information, that is somewhat available to anyone who looks:

Main character is Alex Denton (Not JC Denton, the original protagonist)
The game takes place ~20 years after the original.
Paul Denton will return (If you played the game well, he didn't die)
JC Denton, Paul Denton, Tracer Tong, and alot of other people will play important roles in the game, but they will not be played.
It is possible to play with a Female protagonist, but only some small dialog is changed if you choose to do so.
One of the settings (an earlier one, possibly the first) is Seattle, and this will include the needle and a bunch of other buildings.
There will be new “Black Market Augs”, and the Augmentations will be MUCH cooler. (Bot Control, life leech, etc)
A better hacking system is expected.
The plot involves a bunch of military and religious groups which are “invisibly” fighting for power.

I think it'll win Game of the Year, again. It looks great, and Warren Spector promises to expand on dyanmic gameplay. More possibilities, more choices, even a possible branched out plot.

[converge]

From what I saw, the AI was great... what I've heard from friends that played it through was that it only got better. It should be an interesting gaming year, SOF2, Unreal Tourny 2, DX 2... I'm guessing that they'll have a better engine for the sequel of Deux...

Not to mention all the things coming out of E3:
http://news.com.com/2009-1040-918123.html

[R.J.]

Deus Ex

Warren also talked about the new game being shorter, mostly because a majority of the people who played the original just couldn't finish the whole game.

Truthfully, it did run long, but the plot was never boring. Especially at the end.

[nulltone]

Yeah
Warren is taking the angle of "Shorter and Sweeter" for DX2.
I hope they release some type of good multiplayer component (DXMP sortof sucked).
But I think I read somewhere that there are no plans for a multiplayer component.

[R.J.]

Yeah, DXMP wasn't the coolest, but I like a pretty strict line between the two these days. DX was a favorite of mine because it took single player to the level of immersion, reading newspapers and books off the shelf, getting money from ATMs, finding tools and weapons where they would logically be. It was great. DXMP wasn't a disappointment for me, because I wasn't expecting anything that great from it. DX is a tactical shooter/RPG (tactical because I played it on Realistic difficulty), so I couldn't forsee something that took both of those genres and also had an outstanding multiplayer. For my money, it was more than worth it for the singleplayer only.

Now for multiplayer, I'm a Tribes fanatic. Tribes and these days, Tribes2. It's tactical, and large scale, without being as immediate as Rainbow6 or CS. Sierra screwed Dynamix over pretty good, but the game is still being shaped and improved. Another patch is on the way from the original dev team, and hopefully, this will make things even better.

DX2 also has some pretty cool tech coming up, check out some of the neat stuff here: http://www.igda.org/Endeavors/Articles/hsmith_sys.htm

Read the rest of the article as well, but if this particular method of sound propagation is representative of the work going into DX2, I'm all but salivating to get my hands on it.

[Chris]

Originally posted by nulltone
I think it'll win Game of the Year, again.

Sorry man...Game of the Year will go to a little gem called Warcraft 3.

[R.J.]

WC3 will get game of the year if it's good and lucky. There are a ton of good games coming out, and any of them are good bets for game of the year for various magazines.

It might be neat to have a Video Game Acadamy give out little golden statues of the Green Marine, but there isn't any one central authority on video games.

I am personally not too terribly excited about WC3. The 'Craft series for me has degenerated into a few scenarios:

1) Multiplayer vs. Computer.
a) Too few computers. We win without trying.
b) Too many computers. Primary and secondary bases are over run in less than 15 minutes. Resistance is useless.

2) Player Vs. Player
All species attempt to create as many of their great (but not uber) units as possible. (I.E. Siege tanks, hydra swarm, carrier wave o' doom, zealot charge, etc.) Whoever manages to slow down enemy production the most usually gets there first, and begins the ass whoopin. While this is much more interesting than player vs. computer scenarios, and has the possibility for turn-arounds, it still doesn't keep my interest.

[Chris]

RJ...I understand where you are coming from...but have you taken a look at what Blizz has done with WC3? Even though they scrapped the whole RTS/RPG crossover idea, there are still a lot of bleed over elements. For instance, in much the same way you can with Diablo 2, you can co-op on the quests for War 3. I think that in and of itself will make War 3 interesting. Usually, the whole RTS genre is just how you described, build more than computer, beat computer. Or build more than other player, beat other player. I think adding in co-op and shared quests will be excellent. Plus the game looks (graphically) awesome, and I dig fantasy stuff anyway.

[R.J.]

Yeah, I looked at it, and played the beta a while back. It is quite intruiging, but I wasn't too impressed. Most of that is probably because my hardware at the time couldn't run it for shit. My new hardware should be able to work it well, but I haven't had the inclination to play with it yet.

Single player on the 'craft series was always interesting, if only for the plot, but multiplayer always disappointed me.

[nulltone]

I just split the thread, because I felt guilty about starting this tangent.
So, continue gaming discussion here, Spiderman/movie discussion in the original thread.