On one hand you can call the developers out for not being original with a fps cover based health regenerating system.
But to be fair...
What did the original do differently? The health system was your standard at the time. You got shot, you had to find a health pack (or I think there were bio powers you can unlock. It's been a while, but I'll go into that later). There was no cover system back then. Guys shooting at you? Hide behind a wall and strafe. The actually running and gunning of Deus Ex 1 wasn't anything new, and at times was problematic. At one point I had to take out a mech and due to my limited inventory space I had chucked my rocket launcher somewhere back. That sucked.
What the original did well, at least for the time was:
Combining genres! Usually genre's were forced to segregate themselves from each other. If you were playing a game that featured driving and shooting, you probably were only shooting in one section and driving in another. Deus Ex combined the FPS genre with some basic stealth, along with psychic power and rpg development in a manner that worked.
That's not special anymore, for the most part. Looking at games like the Splinter Cell series, the development of Grand Theft Auto and others, combining genre's is almost something that's expected. It's surprising to find a game where you just go from level to level shooting up things without stopping to drive somewhere in some sort of futuristic mech suit.
Another thing that made it original:
It had a story! Most first person shooters back than barely strung one together. If you wanted stories you pretty much had to play and rpg.
This one's an easy one. Most games these days have to have at least a cohesive story. Bungie pays attention to the story in Halo. Gamers are paying attention to it, reviewers are paying attention to it and sometimes game companies.
So, for Deus Ex 3 to stand out (and make money), it would have to be accessible to a large audience (via the currently accepted combat schemes) and bring merit to itself via a well told storyline along with complex character building.
I didn't mention it yet:the first one was also known for allowing the player to accomplish missions in multiple fashions. You can go in guns blazing, you can hack, you can sneak...that's something that a lot of other games haven't figured out. Let's see if that's going to be in part three.
But to be fair...
What did the original do differently? The health system was your standard at the time. You got shot, you had to find a health pack (or I think there were bio powers you can unlock. It's been a while, but I'll go into that later). There was no cover system back then. Guys shooting at you? Hide behind a wall and strafe. The actually running and gunning of Deus Ex 1 wasn't anything new, and at times was problematic. At one point I had to take out a mech and due to my limited inventory space I had chucked my rocket launcher somewhere back. That sucked.
What the original did well, at least for the time was:
Combining genres! Usually genre's were forced to segregate themselves from each other. If you were playing a game that featured driving and shooting, you probably were only shooting in one section and driving in another. Deus Ex combined the FPS genre with some basic stealth, along with psychic power and rpg development in a manner that worked.
That's not special anymore, for the most part. Looking at games like the Splinter Cell series, the development of Grand Theft Auto and others, combining genre's is almost something that's expected. It's surprising to find a game where you just go from level to level shooting up things without stopping to drive somewhere in some sort of futuristic mech suit.
Another thing that made it original:
It had a story! Most first person shooters back than barely strung one together. If you wanted stories you pretty much had to play and rpg.
This one's an easy one. Most games these days have to have at least a cohesive story. Bungie pays attention to the story in Halo. Gamers are paying attention to it, reviewers are paying attention to it and sometimes game companies.
So, for Deus Ex 3 to stand out (and make money), it would have to be accessible to a large audience (via the currently accepted combat schemes) and bring merit to itself via a well told storyline along with complex character building.
I didn't mention it yet:the first one was also known for allowing the player to accomplish missions in multiple fashions. You can go in guns blazing, you can hack, you can sneak...that's something that a lot of other games haven't figured out. Let's see if that's going to be in part three.
My blog:
http://nvracar.wordpress.com/
http://nvracar.wordpress.com/