Deus Ex Index:
Deus Ex Ion Storm 2000
Ion Storm released Deus Ex for Windows 95/98 DirectX 7.0a in June of 2000. Deus Ex is a first-person cyberpunk aRPG built on Unreal Engine 1 of 1998.
Deus Ex is similar to System Shock 2 of 1999, but I would say that Deus Ex is much easier to get into and play than SS2. Deus Ex is also technically superior to and more fun to play and replay than SS2.
The Unreal Engine employed by Deus Ex is more powerful and efficient than SS2's Dark Engine. On Pentium 200 MHz CPUs Deus Ex also runs better than SS2 even though P-200 is the SS2 requirement and P2-300 is the Deus Ex requirement. Indeed, Half-life GoldSrc and Quake III id Tech 3 also run better on P-200s than SS2 does. The load-times of the above-mentioned non-SS2 games are also much shorter than SS2 load-times.
In terms of mechanics Deus Ex has no analogue to SS2 psionics. In addition, veterans of conventional dungeon-crawlers would prefer SS2's steeper learning curve and claustrophobic multi-decked, maze-like environments to DEx's sprawling, variable environments that range from open-air urban to subterranean maze-like. DEx environments offer more explorative build-based potential than SS2 ones.
SS2's narrative is more backstoried and reflective whereas DEx's narrative unfolds with more immediacy. The other major difference is that the DEx protagonist (J.C. Denton) actively interacts with NPCs in dialogue whereas the unnamed SS2 protagonist is silent, and does not.
Deus Ex and SS2 are the two best first-person aRPGs ever made, but I would say that Deus Ex is the better game, overall. Still, there is no reason to choose between the two when one can enjoy the brilliance of both.
Deus Ex requires Pentium II 300 MHz CPU, 64 megs of RAM, 4x CD-ROM and 150 megs of free hard disk space, but AMD Athlon or Pentium III, 128 megs of RAM, Glide or Direct3D video card with 16 megs of vRAM, EAX or Aureal A3D audio card, 8x CD-ROM and 750 megs of free hard disk space is recommended.
Deus Ex supports software-rendering and 3Dfx Glide and Microsoft Direct3D APIs. Deus Ex 3D acceleration supports 3Dfx Voodoo 1-5; ATI Rage, Fury & Maxx; Matrox G200/400; Nvidia TNT, TNT2 & GeForce 256/2; and S3 Savage4/2000. Deus Ex unofficially supports OpenGL.
Deus Ex displays in 16-bit or 32-bit color depth at 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 resolution.
Texture-wise, Deus Ex world texture detail and decals, detail textures and object texture detail are toggleable.
Audio-wise, Deus Ex supports 4-16 channels, 8-bit and 16-bit dynamic range and sample rates of 11,025, 22,050 and 44,100 Hz. Dolby Surround Sound is toggleable, stereo is reversible, and music, sound and speech volumes are tailorable. Deus Ex supports hardware 3D sound.
Control-wise, Deus Ex supports keyboard, always run, freelook and inversion. Mouse-movement sensitivity is tailorable and hotkeys are fully customizable.
Deus Ex was distributed on 1x CD-ROM and extracts and installs to hard disk drive via DEx installer. The full install size of v1.002 is 691 megs and consists of 262 files whereas the full install size of 1.112fm is 713 megs and consists of 279 files. The final official version of Deus Ex is v1.112fm. Ion Storm released patch v1.112fm in Mar. 2001.