Deus Ex 3 - getting to the top of the high score list

I take it back.

Those stupid achievement icons drew me in. They're so meaningless... and yet I missed the Scholar achievement and it bothers me. So why not start over, on hardest mode this time, just to see what its like. And while I'm at it, why not try lethal play, see what that's like.

I'm somewhat hooked again. Its kind of fun to just run amok, not stopping to read the literature or listen in on people's conversations. I've heard it all before, so I'm speeding towards the exit. And if a guard makes the unfortunate choice of standing next to an explosive barrel on my way there, that's just too bad. This time I'm not going to spend 15 minutes figuring out how to knock him out safely without setting off the alarm.

Its fun to play with all the upgrade modules for all those lethal weapons I never used. The Deus Ex authors spent years coming up with this stuff, I might as well enjoy playing with all the cool accessories.

I look forward to facing those end level bosses now with something more than a dart gun and a taser.

Deus Ex 3 - finished

It was a beautiful game, if a little empty-headed.

It's basically Deus Ex with better graphics, except the concepts and game mechanics are a decade older, and not so fresh anymore. Getting back the original spirit of Deus Ex is laudable, because Deus Ex 2 really blew it, but without doing anything new what is this really but a remake?

I'm not complaining too loudly here - there's so much garbage out there, that a remake of a good game is still a nice thing. And its hard not to hold the Deus Ex series to a higher standard. Think of the difference between Half-Life and Half-Life 2; same game but they really moved things forward.

Another thing that is not so good - when I finished the original Deus Ex, I couldn't wait to start over and do things differently, even more so than that feeling you get when you finish a good book and go back to page one. On finishing Deus Ex 3 I felt like I had finished some chore, and if anything I'd rather go back and play the original Deus Ex again.

Deus Ex 3: boss battle room [spoilers]

You can always tell when you are in a end-level boss-battle room. It's big and open, with lots of places for you to dodge and hide behind, and its quiet - a little too quiet. There is some trigger you need to activate (usually walking past a certain point), then there will be a cut scene, some frantic action, then you get your end of level reward, and you are carted off to the next level.

I just got to the second major boss, and its even worse than the first.

Spoilers? Spoilers.

The first boss battle requires you to kill. I'm OK with that actually. As much as I like to play non-lethal, and which is what this type of game seems to be really geared for, its not that realistic that you can get away without sometimes being cornered and having to force your way out.

But the second boss battle (more of a confrontation, really, but same purpose) crosses the line into truly shitty story-telling. You've got augments, implants, weapons, skills, experience, talent, and a burning need to find out what happened to your ex-girlfriend, but you let the end-level boss caress your face and push a dunce hat onto you and make you sit in the corner. I love the franchise, and so far I still like the game, but this little plot-point is a turd floating in the punch bowl. It's sheer laziness. I know you have to move the plot cart along the plot rails, and I'm OK with that, I want to get to the next level as much as anyone. But you can't just make me lie down on the tracks while you roll the cart over me.

Some other game mechanics bother me, though not as much as the aforementioned. Why does every other office drone's desk have ammo for my weapons? More laziness, more stupidity. I know you need to funnel in-game tools to the player so they can play, but put a minute of effort into this, and at least place the tools in a logical place, like a security office, or something. You're the game maker, this is your job to think of these things. It's not my job to justify why office workers are all keeping a small amount of various ammo types in their desks.