While the story is top notch it still isn't the crowning achievement of this title. Its greatest strength is the extent to which you can decide how to accomplish something. In previous first person titles, if you found a locked door you had to find a key. Pure and simple. And unrealistic. In Deus Ex, if you're presented with a door you can find a nano-key to unlock it, find a security panel and hack into it to open the door, pick the lock on the door, find another way in through a well concealed crawl space, or even place an explosive to just blow a hole through the door. This freedom in how you accomplish various tasks extends well beyond this simple example with close to every task offering multiple solutions to cater for different playing styles. You can even complete the whole game in a number of different ways, taking the stealth approach, running into every situation with guns blazing or even a combination of the two. I chose the silent but deadly tactic with a lot of sneaking, sniping (with either a silenced Sniper Rifle or a silenced Pistol), and lock picking, switching to a shotgun only as a last resort if things got a bit sticky or if my favourite tactic of throwing a gas grenade into a crowded room failed. I pretty much avoided messing with electrical control boxes to disable laser sensors and the like and still managed to complete the game, a testament to its thoroughly open-ended design. Giving the player so much freedom is a first in Deus Ex and although it no doubt takes more effort to implement, I seriously hope more developers do start giving the player more choice in how to accomplish things. It isn't a gimmick, it is a fantastic feature that takes gameplay to a whole new level where the designer isn't clever for hiding a door key particularly well, but for offering the player a number of creative solutions to a problem so that they can gain greater satisfaction by solving a puzzle the way they want to.

Skill points are awarded for reaching a key location, completing a certain task or even for exploring and finding hidden secrets in the various locations. These can then be spent on improving your sniping ability in order to steady your initially shaky aim, bettering your hacking skills or even making you a better swimmer. In addition J.C. comes with a few tricks up his sleeves, or rather in his blood stream and body tissue. Starting out as the first person to be augmented with nano-technology, Denton can then receive further augmentations beyond the simple in-built torch you start with. These allow him to run faster or quieter, absorb greater damage or even disappear from view. Each body slot (eyes, heart, legs etcetera) can take one of two augmentations once you find an augmentation canister so you have to choose wisely, although the two choices tend to favour different play styles so it isn't always a hard decision. Mastery of your augmentations can make all the difference to your chances. You have to carefully manage the energy they drain when they are in use, and activating an augmentation at the right time can often save your life or make the going a little easier for a short period.