Half-Life Vs. Deus Ex

Ivan

Not fair?
Tough

Both games of the year, both excellent in my opinion, although I prefer Deus Ex if I were forced into it.

Just settle an arguement

Please, if you havent played both, dont vote?

Swifty

Deus Ex was great, but nothing can beat the years of entertainment I've gotten out of the forty quid spent on HL(that's mostly online though). Also Deus Ex played like poo on my nvidia card.

Ivan

Bah, thats the problem.

Half-life's success is clearly in a large portion as a result of online mods most importantly Counter-strike, DOD, Firearms etc.

Its silly.

The_Bullman

I was comparing the single player aspects of each and I had to say that I prefered deus ex. It was less linear. Had different endings and most importantly it didn't have that really crappy zen thing at the end of it.

Multiplayer, it has to be halflife, though only for the mods

Swifty

Even still, I actually preferred HL's singleplayer when I think about it.

Lemming

Two somewhat different games, so almost a case of apples & oranges.

I liked Deus Ex for the freedom it granted you and the whole improving your character thing combined with the storyline.

But HL just had the pace to make it truly memorable. The scripted sequences were timed & executed to perfection to keep you in a permanent state of "WTF was THAT?!!!" or scaring the hebe-jebes out of you. And the level layout was quite frankly sweet (including *the odd* parts of Zen)

Oh, and I went back to playing the single-player game for the first time in a couple of years there a few days ago, and with all the patches & mods/add.packs, the game has been changed graphically. It's much more detailed and some of the weapons have changed .......

BKtje

voted Deus Ex. I however didnt play HL when it first came out (only about 8 months ago tbh) and i think the oldness if the gfx detracted from it a bit for me. I played deus ex when it was first released tho.

Overall I preferred Deus Ex, slightly.

Balfa

I love the depth and story of Deus Ex, but Half-Life is simply the best. Especially considering how long ago it was released. The balance was superb in singleplayer. It has some of the best moments i can recall in any game....
When you first realise the marines are trying to kill you, rather than save you. When the scientist gets dragged out the window by the big bad ass plant. The bad ass plant itself! An enemy that size! an enemy that's blind but -hears- you! An enemy you have to kill by doing a little mini-puzzle thing. The continuity of the levels, never really stopping play. That goddam helicopter that shot me to pieces and had me crawling with 3% health for most of the remainder of that damn level.

Remember, back when your mission in most games was to Get The KeyCard And Run To The Exit, valve had you hiding behind whatever cover you could find, blowing up choppers, running from the good guys, scared sh!tless of aliens the size of your arm falling from the ceiling, etc. All because of an experiment that you buggered up.

And Gordon wasn't some big bad mutha with biceps taller than me and teeth gritted so hard they protrude through the top of his head... he was a beardie physicist, with glasses. Valve truly are geniuses.

And yes, Counter-Strike is brilliant, and people will say Half-Life wouldn't be what it is now without CS or the other good mods about. But it's all Valve's doing. They embraced the modding community, they gave us SDKs, and patches, and held conferences on modding. They hired guys who proved themselves worthy in the modding community.

I really did enjoy Deus Ex, and it is one of my favourite PC games... but come on... do you really think it comes near the almight Half-Life??

(btw, i think all the gossip about HL2 might make Half-Life's vote on this poll artificially high)

Zombrex

Deus Ex is a better game, due to the higher level of interactivity and less linear nature of the levels and story ... BUT I have never played a game I enjoyed more than Half-Life ... for sheer moments of oh-my-god-that-was-the coolest-thing-ever no other game has ever come close to Half-Life ... it is one brillant set piece after another and the closest anyone has ever come to putting the player inside such exciting and scary worlds as movies such as Aliens

Balfa

Originally posted by Wicknight
Deus Ex is a better game, due to the higher level of interactivity and less linear nature of the levels and story

Depends on how you define "better" :P

How's about this? Half-Life is a better game, due to:

I have never played a game I enjoyed more than Half-Life

I think that makes a lot more sense, now

amp

wehhhgggh! From my mostly single player pov, it's a hard choice. Half-life's weapons and fight sequences are works of genius. But Deus-ex's immersive storyline and RPG elements counter that.

I think I may have replayed Deus-Ex more. Simply to try out different ways of doing things, like keeping ma kin alive by blocking his path in the hotel with bins till I could kill all the maj 12 lads.

Hmmm... so it's Deus Ex, by a nanobot.

Pugsley

Half Life, the single player you were constantly on the edge of your seat (until zen came along and it was just a confused 'okie dokey....') never knowing what was happening.

However Dues Ex's freedom made the single player more open ended, but it didnt have the 'wow' factor that Half Life did, which took a bit away from the gaming experience. And Dues Ex had a pap multiplayer.

Ill go for Half Life, the single player was epic and the multiplayer was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Goodshape

I never played Half Life online, or any of the mods...

I'd have to go for Deus Ex. It's pretty close, but Deus Ex totally took me by surprise. HL I had heard about as 'the best game ever'. It was good, but maybe not that good.

spooky donkey

tough call i voted for half life and am wondering if i should have voted for deus Ex. the one i played right after half life and all!

Squall

Thats a tough one but ide probly be inching towards Deus Ex. Loved the freedom and mulitiple possibilities for completeing puzzles(well not puzzles but you know what i mean) and stuff

Moriarty

Deus Ex. My favourite game of all time, by a pretty long distance. Half life was of course brilliant, but the deus ex gameplay appeals to me more. Horses for courses..

Ivan

Originally posted by Pugsley


However Dues Ex's freedom made the single player more open ended, but it didnt have the 'wow' factor that Half Life did, which took a bit away from the gaming experience. And Dues Ex had a pap multiplayer.

Awh come on.

After you've completed your first mission you head back down to talk to manderley, and along the way you apply the "ground rule".

You search each of the rooms and presses whatever, looking for anything worth taking.

Suddenly you see the gents and ladies toilets in front of you.

Without a thought you go into the ladies and look for anything to plunder.

When you get inside there is Shannon and she is disgusted with you. She says she's going to report you to Manderley.

You think nothing of it and continue to trot on down to manderley where you collect your pay check. After which he makes a remark about how visiting the ladies toilets is unsuitable conduct for male agents.

Oh my god, how unexpectant and brilliant can you get?

Half-life is nice and all, but its scripted story system pales in comparison to Deus Ex.

And on another note, I actually enjoyed the Deus Ex multiplayer.

Sigard

Well Deus Ex is my favourite for sure, because of all the 'little things' they put into the game. Wanna hack into an ATM and steal some poor unfortunate's savings, done. About to face Gunther, and suddenly one of your contacts tells you his killphrase, nice!:D. But, I found Half Life to be more 'action-packed'. Sure, you can whip out your customised machine gun and slaughter a couple of guys in Deus Ex, but it's not nearly as satisfying as in Half Life, when you do the same to a group of Marines. I mean, the shotgun looks incredibly beefy with the Blue Shift graphics upgrade, and the 'lock and load' sound is just so goddamn cool. Just my $0.02

Praetorian

Half life by a country mile. Single player – Amazing. Multiplayer – Amazing (still play to this day ffs)

I didn't play Deus Ex for years because of the woeful gameplay. Also, the first level is so ludicrously boring and you are so preposterously inaccurate I honestly thought it was the worst game ever.

I eventually did have my arm twisted into giving it a proper shot. After the initial few gruelling levels, I started to really enjoy the game, and I must admit it is quite excellent.

I’d give Deus Ex 90%

& Half Life 95%

Ivan

Originally posted by Praetorian
Multiplayer – Amazing (still play to this day ffs)

You still play half-life multiplayer to this day, or you play a multiplayer mod for half-life.

Cos if its the latter I think thats where the problem is.

Ok sure valve supported the modding community which was brand new concept and deserved alot of applause but its not what should be taken into account when judging a game.

Deus Ex stands on its own 2 feet, it doesnt need multiplayer mods to prop it up.

Half-life is a great game, but if it wasnt for the multiplayer mods for it I dont think we'd even still be talking about it, let alone having this conversation.

Lemming

Originally posted by Ivan

Deus Ex stands on its own 2 feet, it doesnt need multiplayer mods to prop it up.

Half-life is a great game, but if it wasnt for the multiplayer mods for it I dont think we'd even still be talking about it, let alone having this conversation.

here's where I think that you're missing a single funamental point Ivan. A lot of people in here are commenting on how good BOTH single player & multi-player is/was/shall-be in HL

The fact that we are still here talking abou the single-player aspect of it is rather telling and flying in contradiction to your above quote.

Without doubt, the mods have added considerable to it, but lets not overlook the single-player because the multiplayer aspect has ALSO proven so successful.

I like Deus Ex, but as I said, HL just had that "memorable epic" feel to it.

Sangre

Exactly, why talk about half-life in such one-dimensional terms, Half-life as a game is both single-player and multi-player. I think the success of the multi-player has some what ecclipsed the sheer brilliance of the single-player game.
In my mind, without a doubt, it was the best single fps I have ever played. One scene sticks in my mind is where you're crawling through the vents and you suddenly hear marines talking. Then out of nowwhere you hear gunfire and shafts of light start piercing their way towards your posistion until the vent breaks and you fall onto the marines.....like c'mon....wow!
After I finsihed the single player game I moved onto the deathmatch multiplayer, at the time it was mind-blowing, the most enjoyable experience on a computer I ever had. Then I moved on to the likes of Cs and DoD which I still play regularly.

Imo THIS is what makes a great game, the ability to hold your attention and to evolve itself to those needs. Btw I consider half-life and all the respective mods as one game.

Vulture

Half-life is a great multiplayer shoot em up
Deus Ex is an great single player game

both are amazing in their own respects

Deus Ex if you get the multiplay mod is still not half as good as half-life multiplayer
half-life is not half as good single player as Deus ex.

not a fair poll, but since my connection sucks i have to vote for Deus Ex.

i wrote "half" 6 time their kinda strange.

Praetorian

You still play half-life multiplayer to this day, or you play a multiplayer mod for half-life

I still play Half Life deathmatch to this day. In fact I played it at a lan at the weekend (Killed Retrogamer 3 times in a row with 1% Hit points, OMG he's brutal at games that require skill)

Deus Ex is almost as good as Half life from a single player point of view...but Half Life was also an amazing multiplayer game...which puts it streets ahead of Deus Ex.

Retr0gamer

Shut up Prae. Who has only ever beaten me in one round in Street Fighter 2 EVER! You!

Shred

Deus Ex is an absolutely phenomenal game, a really excellent game. But I just love Half Life to bits, it really left me with my mouth open so many times. I've gone back and finished HL again so many times, but I've only ever completed DE once - I wanted to go back and see the other endings but never bothered.
I used to play CS etc which I absolutely adored also, but after the 4 month trial of ADSL from Eircom finished I never went back:(

Take the coming sequels to both, I'm absolutely p*ssing meself with anticipation for HL2 but I'm just looking forward to DE2.

Ryo Hazuki

Very different game's though,
Although I would say Deus Ex is a far better purchase.

Massive game and brillant storyline. You cant go wrong wth Deus Ex.

Actually...think Im gonna go play it now!

orangerooster

Half life is my favourite game of all time and guess it will be until a new freespace game comes out(never) or half life two (more likely).The set pieces,the giant bosses,the weapons,the monsters,the marines ai,the story,the g-man,the fights with foes from this world and beyond,barney,the mods,multiplayer and of course gordon freeman the only games character in glasses that kicks ass!You cant go wrong with half life and I never will!

Ryo Hazuki

Deus Ex stands on its own 2 feet, it doesnt need multiplayer mods to prop it up.

So very, very true.
Although Deus Ex does have a multiplayer mode, which is far better than Half-Life's

Yes, Deus Ex really destroys Half-Life in every Sence

Lemming

I'm still trying to figure out if Ryo's last posting was a troll .....

Mark

Originally posted by Balfa

(btw, i think all the gossip about HL2 might make Half-Life's vote on this poll artificially high)

Thats a very true point, all the HL2 hysteria is likely to induce some rose tinted nostalgia in quite a few people (Tenner says half the board has started playing Half Life again.)

Now for meh analysis:

Story
Half Life
Average. Dont start shrieking now, its still the old "EVAL ALIENS R TEH INVADE" scenario, but I will admit its exceptionally well implemented.

Deus Ex
Top of the line. It again is very well told, plus the story itself is excellent, containing oh so many memorable moments (Paris for me always does it. Lets not forget Versalife though, that was some damn good mapping)

Winner: Deus Ex

Characters
Half Life
Gordon was teh w1n primarily because he was so different to the norm at the time. He had glasses....go£ him? He didnt say a word the whole game, and the most we got to see was his right arm.

The obsession with Barney I just never got. Whoop dee doo like, theres loads of them, fecker always ended up trying attention anyway.

But the G-Man however was a whole different barrel of pea's. Through small glances of him and minor , yet significant actions, you gradually developed a powerful loathing of him. His speech at the end symbolised what he stood for and overall...well its the G-Man ffs, you cant have a neutral opinion about the man.

Deus Ex
Splooooooooooge! JC and Paul, ahhhhhhh the bai's. Many an interesting banter from our JC entwined you with the character, plus he was just damn cool. Dozens of characters, many with very interesting dialogue (including a few lessons on rather odd subjects half the time if I recall) sucked meh right in.

Walton Simons 0wnz btw

Winner:...Deu...Hal...Half Li...Deus E...*me flips coin*....Deus Ex for today.

Enemies
Half Life
Headcrabs I always found lacking, though the infected scientists were a sight to behold the first thing around. And as for Godzilla (you know who I mean), bejaysus there was a walking lesson in soiling ones trousers.

Deus Ex
Greasels scared the fudge out of meh first time round, must admit the Guards werent up to snuff compared to HL's marines.

Winner:Half Life

Freedom
Half Life
Not much tbh. Basically only one route and One Way of Doing Things most of the time (Theres probaly an exception, its not coming to mind though)

Deus Ex
Buckets of the stuff. You could search basically anything, multiple ways of doing missions, hack computers all over the gaff!

Winner:Deus Ex

Maps/Areas
Half Life
It had the Dam and the 'Hunted' Area. 2 levels better than entire games Ive played.

Deus Ex
Many great ones, but theres only one real winner in this catergory for meh:

Winner:Half Life

Weapons
Half Life
UNF! Now this is teh sort of thing Im talking about. Weapons in Half Life were for KILLING, and they performed admirably. Nice satisfy feel to nearly every weapon (Magnum.....*fap fap fap*), great fun to use.

Deus Ex
Good solid weapons, nothing that'll be remembered for years to come however. Fair bit of fun customising them ,granted, but between the Half Life sub machine gun and the Assault Rifle...well teh latter can suck my knee tbh.

Winner:Half Life

Multiplayer
Half Life
Counter-Strike, Natural Selection, Opposing Force (it WAS good dammit!), Team Fortress 1.5 and on and on and on. You can argue theyre not the pure Half Life multiplayer, but theyre ingrained in Half Life enough to become synonymous with it.

Deus Ex
Never played it that much, just failed to grab me.

Winner:Half Life

Replay Value
Half Life
Ground breaking the first time. Played with a grin the second. Accompanied with sighs at the dull maps early on the third. Played through the fourth after reading something about it and getting pangs of nostalgia.

Deus Ex
Ground breaking the first time. Ground breaking the second time when you relize you can play through the game in an entirely different way. Fantastic the third when you find new datacubes (and even a new Secondary Mission or two) and little tidbits that suddenly make so much sense.

Only found out the last time I played it the Soviet Union has been resurrected for example.

Winner:Deus Ex

Overall
Here its a tricky one. I cant even remember which one I voted for ffs. Both games are very very dear to me and Im trying to ignore the nostalgia that arrived with HL2. So, gun to my head and snake to my balls, Id have to go for....





















Deus Ex.

Pugsley

Good analysis Mark, few things I disagree on tho, the story, half life's story is more than just an alien invasion, its the government sending in the marines to capture some of em, but then it turns out to be 'get the hell outta here', and the story has a good few twists on it. I still say Dues Ex wins on story, but half life deserves more credit

I think half life deserve's more credit for replay aswell, Im not sure which I enjoyed more the second time, probably half life tbh, very close call there.

And you can forget which one stays in your memory more, I can remember some classic scene's from half life, but I can only remember some area's in DUes Ex, not really any 'wow, oh my god what was that' moments in DUes Ex at all. The vent scene was genius, 'wait, i hear something', bullets whizzing through the vents, nowhere to run and....... *crash*! scared me sh*tless

Apart from that, all good.

Mark

Originally posted by Pugsley
Good analysis Mark, few things I disagree on tho, the story, half life's story is more than just an alien invasion, its the government sending in the marines to capture some of em, but then it turns out to be 'get the hell outta here', and the story has a good few twists on it. I still say Dues Ex wins on story, but half life deserves more credit

Ok, Im geniunely curious here, as to wheter Im teh only person who knew the marines werent going to rescue everyone? I acknowledge I was a little heavy handed in my condemnation of it however.

Nonetheless I still didnt think it was that big a suprise when the marine laid out the scientist early on.

As for twists, I dont recall any "Well I'll be chuggered!" moments, whereas Deus Ex was rife with them.

Credit where its due though, I change my verdict from Average to Above Average

Ryo Hazuki

I'm still trying to figure out if Ryo's last posting was a troll .....

By definition, It was yeah.

But was it intentional?

It was yeah.

Not in a malicious way though, We have been having this argument offline too.

Pugsley

Originally posted by Mark
Ok, Im geniunely curious here, as to wheter Im teh only person who knew the marines werent going to rescue everyone? I acknowledge I was a little heavy handed in my condemnation of it however.

You always kinda knew that the sci's were buggered anyway, but first the marines come in 'kill the sci's secure the aliens', then it sorta slowly changed to more of a 'lets get the hell outta here'.

i_am_dogboy

this all started with an argument between me ivan havoc and vulture about these games, way to prove your point ivan.......i guess i should agree with your poll in saying that deus ex is better........hold it, im noticing something


half like rocks

Thanx 4 The Fish

Deus Ex does it for me, have played it to completion five or six times, choosing different improvements etc. Sometimes killing the dude on the plane and sometimes the bird. There are quite a few plot twists and the story develops differently dependent upon the decisions you take whereas with HL your choices are kinda limited. Lotsa more cool guns n stuff in HL but that wasn't enough to win outright.

hamster

This is a tough one alright. I tend to lean to Deus Ex as I'd like more of them. A good solid story with an game engine that can be reused after the story has been utilised.

Half Life, though, that was excellent when it first came out.. still is despite it's age. Anyone remember the "They Hunger" addon by Neil Manke? Had a great following and showed what could be done for this game.

Really looking forward to the sequels too. I like a bit 'o sneaking too... so I'll just add a plead for Thief 3 to hurry on too.

Sauron

Deus ex was amazingly deep and interactive. u could pick up any thing and throw it across the room and it would smash...ahh how many times did i smash those flower pots:rolleyes:
but did u ever stand in front of a mirror???? the animation / graphics were a slight conn
hl had that gr8 theatrical feel... when suddenly a soldiers corpse would get dragged behind a corner or into a vent... and u say (gulp) uh oh i know whats coming
gr8 multiplayer too:D