Ion Storm had the most shaky of existences; it's first game, Dominion Wars was a complete failure in the strategy games flood of 1997 (most people haven't even heard of it, a situation Ion Storm wants to keep), and after over 4 years in development hell Diakatana hit the stores to show it's true colours, unfortunately both these games stunk worse then your local garbage disposal facility. Ion Storm was not delivering the quality titles that it had promised their publisher Edios Interactive, after dumping so much money into Ion Storm they are not forced to sell themselves. Ion Storm needs a hit now, this all in a way fell on the shoulders of Deus Ex, a game that that with no doubt in my mind brings success to this ill-fated company owned by ex-ID game designer guru (Maybe not after Diakatana) John Romero.

Deus Ex is a mixture of genres, it combines elements of first person shooters, role playing games and adventures into one, and Ion storm has done an exceptional job of not only combining these elements but also polishing them to perfection, and I mean Perfection. The main story tells of the world in the near future, where a new disease called the "Gray death" is destroying world populations, it's cure "Ambrosia" being in short supply and with new terrorist organizations popping up around the globe, things are not looking good.

The player enters the game as JC Denton, a new 50 million dollar priced, Nano-Augmented, Nano upgradeable human built to fight Terrorism with the newly formed United Nations Anti-Terrorist Coalition, after a while though JC realizes that he is fighting for the wrong side as UNATCO turns out to be just a cover for unknown organization, which is plotting to conquer the world with the help of the "Gray death". The story borrows many elements from the X-Files and popular conspiracy theories: MIB, Echeleon systems, Advanced technology, Nano upgrades, Secret Government plots, Aliens, and much more is included in the intervening plot of Deus Ex. Though this seems like an episode of the X-Files it's really not, the game combines all these elements in one complex and convincing story, which keeps you playing right up to it's satisfying end.

Deus Ex is the natural evolution of System Shock's gameplay, SS2 had the adventure and the FPS action as Deus Ex but it lacked a strong central linked story to keep it interesting for long, Deus Ex has a story, the Adventure and the FPS action, all mixed with surgical precision to make a cocktail of gameplay delight. The best way to describe it's gameplay is by taking the first mission, you've just seen the long intro where some officials talked about "Gray Death", it's cure "Ambrosia", imminent take over of the USA government and some kind of new units being made. Nothing makes sense as you just entered the game, but these are key ideas of the plot, ideas that will have meaning later on as you progress through the game.

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