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Forums > Submission Feedback > Lewis's Deus Ex review

This thread is in response to a review for Deus Ex on the PC. You are encouraged to view the review in a new window before reading this thread.

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Author: zippdementia
Posted: May 21, 2009 (02:51 PM)
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There are some games I'll probably never review. Half Life... and Deus Ex. It's just too hard. They were too big, too iconic. And now I have another reason, as well. I don't think I could write a better review than this for the game. Congratulations.


Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

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Author: Lewis
Posted: May 21, 2009 (03:08 PM)
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Thanks, that's rather kind of you. I'd never have reviewed it, usually. Gary asked me to do one. I wrote it and rewrote it and rewrote it again. In the end, I deleted three whole paragraphs from the beginning because they were just stalling actually talking about the game.


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Author: honestgamer
Posted: May 21, 2009 (03:10 PM)
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Now Lewis can die a happy man! I still have to arrange a few things with Jennifer-Love Hewitt before that can happen for me.


"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

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Author: Suskie
Posted: May 21, 2009 (05:38 PM)
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This is a good review as always, but like Zipp was saying, it's such an over-covered game now that it's very difficult to write a rave review and hit any new territory. It's the reason I skipped this one altogether and went straight for Invisible War.


You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

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Author: Lewis
Posted: May 22, 2009 (02:48 AM)
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It was certainly an intimidating assignment to take on. I'm hoping I managed a bit of a new slant on it, though. It stemmed from a discussion we had on one of the Reso podcasts during GDC, where Heather Chaplin's talk seemed to have totally missed the point in a rather offensive way ("You're all a bunch of fucking adolescents!"). We got talking about what the real reason was why we haven't had our Citizen Kane, and J.D. said "Well, we have. We've had multiple Citizen Kanes." And it got me thinking, 'cause he was totally right. And one of them is totally this.


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Author: honestgamer
Posted: May 22, 2009 (01:01 PM)
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EmP came to Lewis with the suggestion that he review Deus Ex after I noticed that we didn't have a review up for the game on the site, despite it being one of our Top 20 games (according to user ratings). I suggested that we should try to produce reviews for those and EmP was thinking about possibly writing one for Deus Ex, or finding someone like Lewis to write one. I'm glad that Lewis was interested, since this is one of his best reviews to date--perhaps even his best altogether--and really helps me to "get" why Deus Ex is so highly praised.

I don't care how many other sites have covered a game. If HonestGamers still hasn't, it's worth doing so! I think Lewis has proved that rather thoroughly with this review. :-)


"Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." - John F. Kennedy on reality

"What if everything you see is more than what you see--the person next to you is a warrior and the space that appears empty is a secret door to another world? What if something appears that shouldn't? You either dismiss it, or you accept that there is much more to the world than you think. Perhaps it really is a doorway, and if you choose to go inside, you'll find many unexpected things." - Shigeru Miyamoto on secret doors to another world2

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: May 22, 2009 (02:27 PM)
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I have no problems taking credit for this.


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: bigcj34
Posted: May 23, 2009 (06:18 AM)
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Reviewing a well-covered game simply doesn't bother me. I play big games simply because I want to play it and see what I've missed out, but when I finish it I might as well write a review.


There three types of people in this world: those who can count, and those who can't.

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: May 24, 2009 (06:18 AM)
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I don't think I've ever looked at a game and decided that it's too well covered for me to write for -- hence why I already have a review for Deus Ex under my belt for the PS2 and planned to do this one if Lewis had no interest. If I have something I want to say about a game then I'm going to say it. In a way, when covering such games, I'm writing because I want to rather than because I think it will garner X amount of attention in the midst of a huge crowd.

Deus is an awesome game to write about and I still remember really enjoying producing my piece some years later. Lew's topped it as far as I'm concerened, but I think it's cool that we have not only stuff coverage of both the PS2 and PC version, but have an awesome Autorock user review that's probably my favourite review from that author and a solid DE one. It's the kind of game that can bring out the best in a reviewer and if you decide not to cover it because other people already had then you're missing out.

Also interesting to note all four reviwers are European. Maybe we're harder to intimidate!


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: Suskie
Posted: May 24, 2009 (04:15 PM)
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I think some of you misinterpreted what I was saying. I don't mean that a reviewer should automatically dismiss the idea of writing about a game that has already received a large number of reviews. I mean that if I don't have anything new to say about a game, and someone else has already said it better, than I'm less inclined to review that game. In this case, I love Deus Ex, as does everyone else. It's one of the few games we can all agree on as uncompromisingly awesome. If I were to review it, I'd give it a 10/10, and I get the feeling that my review would largely go ignored. People would say, "Yeah? Deus Ex is great? What else is new?"

I was also under the impression that HG already had a staff review for Deus Ex anyway.


You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: May 25, 2009 (03:40 AM)
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We do. For the PS2. Mine!

We didn't have a PC staff review.

Really, I couldn't care less if my Deus review got one hit or one thousand; it was a game I had something to say about, a review I enjoyed writing and an end product I'm very proud of. I'm going to go ahead and assume the same is true of Lewis' effort, the latter points especially.

Though, as it happens, the review did very well for hits, as is Lewis', proving that these things are still relevant.


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: Suskie
Posted: May 25, 2009 (10:57 AM)
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Or perhaps proving that even a nine-year-old game that everyone's played can inspire some attention if it's bewilderingly placed in the focus window.


You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

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Author: EmP (Mod)
Posted: May 25, 2009 (11:22 AM)
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Ah, my cynical chum; the focus window actually garners very few additinal hits. I'm pretty sure that, even if it did, the two or three days a game spends there makes not a massive amount of difference.

Again, hits are nice, but it's not why I write. It's simply a stupid arguement to bring to bear for reviews that do particularly well in the poplarity stakes.

However, here's an interesting fact: my Deus Ex review has garnered more reads than any review you've written for this site thus far.


For us. For them. For you.

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Author: Suskie
Posted: May 25, 2009 (06:33 PM)
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You know what? No. I'm ignoring you.

To continue what I was saying to those non-confrontational users who aren't trying to piss me off, I review because I like writing about games but I want what I write to actually mean something -- meaning that if I've got nothing new to say about a game and I don't have an original way of presenting it, I often just won't bother. Which is more a mark against myself than anything. Lewis did a good job, probably better than I ever could -- which once again is all the more reason why I'll probably never review it.

If you're different, good for you.


You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

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