Well what made deusx Ex sooooo great was the magic touch of the ex-Looking Glass team that john romero hired for ION STORM....
The game simply was more then the sum of its parts.Especially in the Hong Kong part everything just clicked.A large very detailed city area (made by many interconnected levels)with hundreds of things to do and people to speak not necessary about the main goal.Slowly you got to your objective but the trip was its own reward here.Great story,great voice overs and dialog trees,a huge skill set that affected the way you tackled with situations and the outcomes of those.And last but not least a memorable techno -classic music worthy of a score of Vangelis or Vasilis(if he was still alive...). Classic Looking Glass stuff here...If you have not played it go buy it immediately -BUT REMEMBER THERE IS A HD TEXTURE
MOD AND ALSO SOME ENGINE UPDATES THAT REPLACE THE RENDERER WITH A DX9/DX10 RENDER AND THERE IS ALSO A HDR ADDON !!!!!!!!!!!!! DONT FORGET THOSE !!!
Also remember to check some other games by those people(including irrational games-another ex looking glass team) like Terranova Strike Force Centauri,SYSTEM SHOCK 2,thief 1,2,3,Tribes vengeance and biochock....also remember Anachronox.
Deus ex 2 was a big dissapointment for one simple reason....They cut the levels to make the game playable on xbox.....And when i say cut.....i mean the imaging a school of 3 students with 3 rooms....coffe shops with 2 tables,bars with 3 stools,clubs with 4 people inside,and citys with 10 like people......hhehheh....
I am really puzzled about Deusx Ex 3..From the one hand it is clear to me that the team that makes the game really love the original game and constantly talk in the forums with the fans-even inviting some to their offices...Yet.....
On the other hand they are too stubborn about things that many fans cryed out loud....For example the covers system which everybody thinks its not necessary in a first person shooter...(though it could lead to some better enemy ai? who knows...) Also the auto health regeneration takes a good game mechanic away...(In the original game if you got shot in the leg with would limp or even crawl on the ground!!,loose your aim or even the ability to wield 2 hand weapons and that led to some memorable fights.....Still they have a lot of interesting ideas so i want to pass my judgent for a later time...
Also remember to check games like stalker clear sky,stalker call of prypiat,mass effect 1/2(upcomming) ,fallout 3 -game of the year,mafia and the upcoming MAFIA 2..