Yes, many of you might have noticed an avatar change a while ago, and that is because I have decided that Planescape: Torment is not my all-time favorite computer game anymore; it's now Deus Ex. However, even if I am completely addicted to this game, there are a few problems with it. Prepare for a very long post, so don't read this yet if you don't have at least 3-5 minutes to spare.

I will first state what I don't like about Deus Ex so that I can get it over with. So the bad things (in no particular order):

• Graphics: OK, this game came out in 2000, so you can guess how "good" the graphics are. Also, there are no pre-rendered movies (only cutscenes), so the intro movie and the 3 ending movies (plus the secret ending movie) are all pretty low-quality. Finally, the models have barely any actions at all other than shooting, walking, running, dying, using an object, dancing, and talking.
  
• Glitches: Even if patch 1.112f was released, there are still a few glitches in Deus Ex, some of which allow you to pick a lock with only one lockpick when you normally have to use 10 lockpicks (a HUGE difference).
  
• Useless items/skills: Like many games, there are some useless abilities in the game. This wouldn't be such a problem if there weren't so many of them! For example, why do you need to drink a soda that heals 2 HP out of your 600-something max HP? And why do you need the swimming skill if all water routes are always optional and you can survive drowning through a few medpacks or the regeneration augmentation (more explanation about augs later)?

OK, and now the good stuff:

• Weapon choices: Unlike many games, there are a ton of weapons you can choose from, but you can't carry all of them at the same time. For example, you might choose a flamethrower is one of the greatest weapons in the game while the only weapon that someone else uses (because that someone thinks it's the greatest) is a lowly mini-crossbow.
  
• Hacking: You have to love hacking. Not only can you read everybody's e-mail, but you can hack open ATM's (if no guards are nearby, of course) for some major cash or hack a security computer and make a turret machine-gun down everybody in another room! Though the hacking process itself is kind of boring, the abilities you can do with it are very enjoyable, from opening a door to a safe full of goodies to turning a rocket-launcher armed robot against your enemies.
  
• Use your environment: Though not as advanced as Half-Life 2's or Dark Messiah's engine, the heavily modified Unreal Tournament engine Deus Ex uses allows you to limitedly use the environment against your enemies. Low on ammo and near a room full of enemies? Why don't you place that box of TNT in the doorway so it is in the explosion range of other boxes of TNT in that room and blow the place to smithereens? Or why shoot that LAM planted on wall so that it blows up a few barrels of poison?
  
• Try not to lose your head: Instead of the simplified "HP" that almost all games have, each part of your body has a specific amount of health and losing any part(s) can have serious outcomes. For example, if you loose both or your legs, you will only be able to crawl away from your enemies! Or if you loose both or your arms, you will only be able to push obstacles into your enemies' way instead of shooting at them with your weapons! And you can guess what happens if you lose your head... But the enemies have this advanced health system, too, so a headshot is all that is needed to kill an MJ12 Commando.
  
• Bloodthirsty Bill: Though you normally should only kill people labeled as "enemy", you can kill almost anyone in the game, whether friend or foe. Sometimes you need to kill a police officer in order to hack a computer or gain a key to an optional area, but other times you can just machine-gun down teahouse waiters just for the heck of it!
  
• Stealth: Unlike most FPS's, you can choose to use stealth instead of combat to complete objectives. Heck, you can technically finish the whole game by only killing two people! Also, the stealth detection system is pretty advanced, with enemies reacting to sounds of footsteps, alarms, and camera signals. Crouching in a dark location is usually more successful than standing near a lit lamp. Turning your flashlight on will make enemies suspicious, while the sound of a gunshot will most likely have most of the guards notice you in the vicinity. If an enemy dies noisily, the other enemies will be more suspicious than if you just knock him unconscious (unconsciousness has the same effect as death in the game, BTW, only that it's a bit harder to make someone unconscious than dead and unconsciousness produces less noise than death). Guard bodies on patrol routes will definitely make the guards suspect someone than if you throw the bodies into a dark corner.
  
• Combat aiming system: If you swap a weapon in mid-combat, you will notice that the new weapon won't be accurate at all, unless you stand still for about 4 or 5 seconds (as you "tighten your hold"). Also, if you zoom in with a scope to snipe a guy off a cliff a mile away, the crosshairs wander showing how you can never hold a weapon perfectly still. However, the more skilled you are with that type of weapon, the less time you have to spend to get a good aim at the target and the less the crosshairs wander when you zoom in with them. This shows how much harder it is to aim if you are running backwards away than if you try to score a headshot by sniping from behind a box.
  
• Modability: There are literally tons of mods out there for Deus Ex, mainly because the creators made Deus Ex very easy to mod. These mods add and/or improve various things, from adding new weapons and creating genuine rain effects to modifying the entire game's AI and even changing the game's storyline! So if you want something in Deus Ex pretty bad, there's probably a mod out there that adds/improves it, and if there isn't then you can just add it in yourself.

There are many other things that I didn't talk about, mainly because I don't want to keep your reading this dreadfully long post and because my little brother is impatient to use the laptop (we share the laptop, but I use it the most). Overall, this game gets a 91/100, though it would have gotten a 96/100 if it weren't for that awful lockpick/multitool glitch that allows you to always use only one lockpick/multitool, no matter how strong the lock/device is.

I strongly recommend playing this game.

Yup, I had fun playing through it, although I played it back in 2002. It came bundled with my Sound Blaster: Audigy Gamer .

I didn't like it enough to play through it again and again to see each of the different endings, but it held my attention all the way through.

I haven't played much of it; namely the demo.

It looked cool though.