Saturday, September 10, 2011

God From The Machine

     After three or four long weeks, I have finally wrapped up my playthrough of Deus Ex, the Warren Spector created classic first-person RPG/Shooter from Ion Storm. This is a game much hallowed and spoken about in hushed tones around the PC gaming elite. Deus Ex laid out a style of game design not often emulated in games, even to this day. The degree of possibility, and freedom of choice in how you develop JC Denton and how you accomplish his goals are rare in an industry that nowadays seems to be all about the yearly iteration and that next cash grab.
     It's still a great game, even after 11 years, though the graphics and sound are somewhat painful to experience at times. The combat can be quirky, and the enemy AI is pretty bad, but you're not exactly forced into having to deal with those. The best part about Deus Ex is the fact that there are usually two or three ways to get to a given place and do what needs to be done, so if you're partial to a stealthy approach, that option is available. When that approach doesn't work out, you can always decide to go weapons hot. Much like Metal Gear Solid, it is even possible to play through the game without killing anyone save a few rare exceptions.

The VersaLife Building
     Deus Ex is a regular in the top 5 of so and so's Top 100 PC games lists, and even if I might not personally rank it quite that high, I can see the reasoning behind doing so. I'm sure if I had been there playing it back in 2000, I would have come away astounded, whereas now I merely admire the game and can appreciate the grand things it was going for during the heyday of the run and gun FPS. If the recent release of Human Revolution has you curious about the series' history, don't hesitate, it's well worth playing if you can ignore the bad production values.
     Valve's Steam Trading update went life this week, and so I've been again getting back into TF2 to have fun with that and earn items to trade with other players. Now that it is possible to trade items straight across for Steam games, I'm hoping to try that. Maybe I can get someone to trade me a copy of Deus Ex: Invisible War for a highly sought-after TF2 item of some sort.
     Borderlands also got an update this past week, adding Steamworks integreation--basically just cloud saves--and also some stat tracking stuff so that Gearbox and see how people play the game, and use that information in development of Borderlands 2. I remain a fan of the game despite it's lackluster PC port, unplayable multiplayer (GameSpy), and the fact that I've already beaten it once. I've started a new game playing as the Siren, even though my loot-hunting-in-a-shooter time might better be spent on TF2!

9 comments:

Greg said...

Interesting. I caved in and bought human revolution now that the 360 version is currently on sale for $34.99 on Amazon.

Count Elmdor said...

That's a very tempting deal, but I'm trying not to buy stuff until I'm ready to play it. That should help some to wrestle down the ol' backlog.

Greg said...

That takes too much discipline!! More power to you if you can resist.

Count Elmdor said...

I was ready to play Space Marine...

Greg said...

Lol, I'm sorry man!

Maybe this will cheer you up? This is really an amazing band out of the UK I think. Top notch harmonic metal with high fantasy style lyrics. I think it might be up your alley but it can sometimes be a little over dramatic with the keyboards. I've probably recommended other stuff by this band before as these guys are unique.

Give this a chance. It starts out slow but gets really good at about the 26 second mark. The riff permutation at about 37 seconds is one I just can't get out of my head--super catchy. Don't worry, this one is not lewd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFTYPV8Cg3A

Count Elmdor said...

Not bad. For a second there the vox sound like Devin Townsend. It's oddly sedate for heavy music. Also kind of Bodom-esque.

Greg said...

I didn't know who Devin Townsend was so I had to look it up! I've heard of his band, "Strapping Young Lad" but never really paid attention to them. I had no idea Gene Hoglan was part of that group. He is one of the best drummers I've ever heard.

Count Elmdor said...

Gene Hoglan is a legend. Strapping Young Lad is great! City and the self-titled albums are some of my favorites.

Greg said...

Agreed. I became aware of him because of his work with Chuck Schuldiner in the band "Death". I think he also played in Testament, but that group was never to my liking.

Back to games, have you checked out any coverage of Resistance 3? I watched a little youtube video from either IGN or gamespot showcasing the guns and their secondary firing modes. Looks pretty cool so I might have to pick that one up eventually.