Between the GameCube games and the countdown lists, we've spent the last month mostly talking about the Nintendo Classics app on Nintendo Switch Online. Now it's time for a change, because it was just announced that Deus Ex: The Conspiracy will be hitting the PlayStation 5 next week, via PlayStation Plus. That's cool news, but is this game actually worth playing? To answer that question, I decided to flip through the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Edge, Game Informer and other magazines that reviewed this game when it first came out. I sure hope you have a cyberpunk dictionary handy, because we're traveling about 30 years into the future to bring you this episode of PlayStation Plus Review Crew.


INearly a decade after Wolfenstein 3D and Doom brought first-person shooters into the mainstream, the genre had shifted away from mindless shooting and monster closets to well thought-out adventures with real stories and characters. Warren Spector's 2000 classic Deus Ex took the genre even further, adding stealth mechanics and a whole bunch of role-playing elements, making it one of the deepest and most involving first-person games on the market. Two years after wowing both critics and fans, Ion Storm retooled and ported the game to the PlayStation 2, now with a new subtitle – The Conspiracy. Some said that this was a game that could never be done properly on a home console. Let's see if the critics agreed.

We're going to kick things off with Electronic Gaming Monthly, who sits right in the middle of the pack with an average score of 8.2 out of 10. Mark warned gamers that Deus Ex is not a first-person shooter: “Sure, gunpowder junkies can get their fill of shotguns and sniper rifles. But if that's all you're looking for, the graphics here are so choppy and blocky you'd be better off with ... well, just about any other PlayStation 2 FPS. Deus Ex is more like a first-person adventure: You infiltrate compounds, hack computers, pick locks, disable cameras – the game offers a refreshing number of different methods outside the usual ‘kill, kill, find key, kill' mold to accomplish goals.” Jonathan agreed, arguing that “Deus Ex is more first-person strategy than shooter. Ex affords you a kind of gameplay latitude I haven't seen from any other action shooter, and your character's stats and storyline are extremely responsive to the way you play each mission. I really love being rewarded for voluntary exploration, stealth and minimal hostile engagement – a lot of games force these tactics on you in an almost scripted fashion. The control pad's a bitch for navigating menus and aiming, but FPS purists can always use a USB mouse and keyboard.”

Believe it or not, EGM wasn't that far off from the lowest score. When it comes to Deus Ex, no magazine scored the game lower than an 80%. Computer & Video Games went with a straight 8 out of 10, which is the same score we got from Edge. “No straight port, the developer's insistence that its vision run properly on a format it wasn't designed for has caused delay after delay of the release of Deus Ex on PS2. And even so, sometimes the illusion jars. The instant-hit ballistics of enemy weapons don't suit the slow turning speed of the DualShock 2, the low-level texturing will make Halo's tourists wish they were back on the ringworld, and regular loading times spoil the coherence. But all problems melt away in the face of the game mechanics. Traditional FPS fans may find it lacks pace and there are technological limitations, because it's still a PC game at its core – but above all, there is the freedom, and that's why it excels.”

On the other side of the EGM divide are magazines that gave Deus Ex a 90% and those who gave it a perfect 100%. I'll give you one of each. The Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine ended up being one of the magazines that gave it that 90%, with a 4.5 out of 5. Game Informer was the other, giving it a 9 out of 10. Justin called it “one of the first FPS games with this many RPG elements. The previously mentioned exploration often leads to gaining experience points, as do many other merit-worthy activities main character JC Denton does in the game. None can deny that Deus Ex is showing its age. While some of the models are decent, the overall look of the game is a murky one. Even with the outdated graphics, it still has long load times, and they occur more than once per level. Deus Ex: The Conspiracy may not look like much at first, but it's crazy deep, and a welcome change from the stereotypical console first-person shooters. You will shoot, sneak, and – most importantly – think.”

When it comes to the top scores, GameNOW gave the game a perfect 100%, while GamePro went with their usual 5 out of 5. They concluded that “while Deus Ex certainly isn't without its flaws, none are even remotely crippling. As in Red Faction, the tedious load times as you move between areas are a mild annoyance, and lame A.I. sometimes makes combat ring false. The serviceable graphics miss a golden opportunity to make this game unstoppable, but the audio scores big with a massive amount of well-acted dialogue. Condensing a keyboard into a controller is never an easy task, but Deus Ex slickly pulls off everything from inventory management to strafing. For PS2 gamers who are new to the series, it's absolutely one of this spring's must-play games.”

While pretty much everybody agrees that the PC game is better, the scores were strong for Deus Ex on the PlayStation 2. The overall average gives this game an impressive 89%, making it one of the best-reviewed games of 2002. This is a good time to check out this first-person adventure that, at one time, was adrift in a sea full of first-person shooters.