Manliest Video Game Characters #1

Welcome to my very first entry of "Manly Video Game Characters". The point of these posts is to educate you on the awesomeness inherent in the personality traits of certain males in the Vidya. I figured I'd start this segment off with a lesser known character, and work my way up from there.



Ronixis J. Kenni
(Star Ocean: Fantastic Space Odyssey)

Where to start? Ronixis, commander of the Starship "Calnus", of the Earth Federation, ends up getting involved with the affairs on the primitive planet of Roak. In the process, he's essentially given the leadership over the group of ragtag members who end up restoring order to the planet, and saving the future they came from in the process.

Ronixis is your normal Military-type Anime Character; Strategic, cocky, and sarcastic. He drags his second-in-command, Ilia Silvestri, along with him for the ride they take when they discover all the weird "petrification" shit going down on Roak.

Ronixis figures out that there's only one way to reverse the petrification, and that's to retrieve a sample from the monster from whose blood it was created; The Archfiend. The only issue? - It was killed centuries ago.

So Ronixis comes up with a plan; They use the Forbidden Time Gate on planet Styx to go back in time, and stop the disease from taking the planet over. They state clearly that they don't know how it works, why it works, and that it might have a mind of its own. And the entire planet is sealed off to keep people from attempting to use it.

This stops Ronixis for approximately three seconds.

... The man encounters a TALKING Time Machine, and says, "Well, Fuck it. We ready? TOO BAD!", and jumps right on in. He disobeys direct orders from the Leader of the Federation, and risks a Court Marshal; That's ASSUMING his ass won't get torn asunder by jumping through AN UNKOWN PIECE OF TIME DISTORTING EQUIPMENT, WHICH TALKS.

Not only that, but they're forced to leave their space-age equipment on the planet they traveled from. Ronixis ends up downgrading from a Laser Pistol?... To a Crossbow. And somehow STILL manages to do insane damage with it.

Moving along in the story, he helps the others defeat the Archfiend, and becomes one of the legendary members of the party who defeated it in the legends of the future. After being sent back to his own time in the game, he proceeds to knock Ilia up, and they pop out a child whom - in the sequel - goes on to become the greatest swordsman on planet Expel. Greater even than Dias Flac, who I consider nearly equally as manly as Ronixis.

And to top it all off, when faced with certain death in the sequel? The man goes down with his ship, after telling his son it was up to him and his friends to save the universe. He could have easily ordered a retreat, or even had the crew eject? But the man purposely takes a particle cannon shot to the cockpit.

This said, Ronixis marks the first entry on my list of "Manly Video Game Characters".

Deus Ex

Deus Ex
"If there were no God, it would be necessary to invent him."

Plotline:
Terrorism, Conspiracy, Extremely Stalker-ish A.I. Systems!!!
JC Denton - Augmented human, and member of UNATCO - gets caught up in a web of secrets, lies, and betrayal. All whilst attempting to figure out who's telling the truth, whose side he's truly on, and whether or not the world will benefit from the plans in place by the Illuminati, an organization called "Majestic 12", and the A.I. systems attempting to manipulate him. And while sporting a leather trenchcoat, as well. Conspiracy theories have never looked so stylish!!!

Review:
Today!? I REVIEW A PC GAME. Well, at the behest of my best friend. I got ahold of a copy of this wonderful lil' slice of PC Gaming awesomeness, and installed it at super-speed. Deus Ex pulled in a "Game of the Year" award, and the praise of a very dedicated fan-base. It has spawned a sequel (of lesser caliber, however.), and a prequel is on it's way; Of which my friend and I are certain will be just as bastardized, if not more, than the sequel.

Now, before I get started on this masterpiece of political intrigue, and stealth-actionan' (I always tend to sneak. Just how I am.), let me first explain to you that I am NOT reviewing the vanilla version of the game. Indeed... I have broken a rule of mine, and installed a mod. Mainly, a mod that allows you to THROW EVERY MELEE WEAPON IN THE GAME. You see, there are Throwing Knives in the game. Very sparse, however... I loved these little fuckers SO much, that I felt the need to install a mod that allows you to throw EVERYTHING. So this entire review?

Is centered around me using nothing but Throwing Crowbars.

That's right, people. I spent the entire game tossing crowbars. THE WHOLE GAME. And I enjoyed it. Every second of it. You'll never understand how beautiful life can be, until you chunk a crowbar at an unsuspecting guard. Hearing them scream in agony never gets old, when a crowbar hath flown directly into their cranium. It's a wondrous sight. Now, I'll admit.. Once I obtained the Spybot Augmentation (Augmentations are upgrades to JC's systems, allowing new abilities), I used it - along with EMP grenades - to tackle larger robotic enemies. I'm sorry, but no matter how many crowbars you toss at those bastards, they refuse to go down. It was slightly disappointing, actually...

ANYWAY! On to the meat of the review. Let me first start with the game's "weakest" point; the graphics. Now don't get angry just yet, people. I'm not going to trash them. I'm just going to state that they haven't aged well, through the years. Keep in mind, this game ran on a heavily-modified version of the "Unreal Tournament" engine, so to the graphics-whore, this game is going to be hard to stomach these days. Me? I'm the kind of guy who replays games like "Mystic Quest", just out of masochism. So the graphics don't bother me in the least bit. In my honest opinion? I'd say this game sported some of the best specular effects of it's time. The lighting is fantastic, for an older game. And enemies do respond to shadows, so sneaking in them is a near-necessity. I say near, because there *are* augmentations for Cloaking, but they drain immense amounts of energy.

The character models are well done, and aside from a few "animation" issues. One that still makes me laugh is Denton unequiping his weapon everytime he speaks. It's like he's trying to kindle a fire in his hands... NEVER gets old. On the whole, the game runs smoothly. I never had a chance to play the game on an older machine, so I have no comparison. However, my PC is old enough to be incapable of running BioShock smoothly. so it's quite "weathered", by today's standards. I'd say the biggest issue with the graphics is the texturing. It's hard to crank out high resolution textures in a game like this, however. I believe the standard back then was 256x256, or so. So you can't really bitch about it too much. They did the best with what the engine had to offer, and I believe they succeeded.

The sound effects are absolutely wonderful. I only played with a gun once or twice, and it had a silencer on it... So, I can't vouch for the awesomeness of POV Gunshot sound effects? But god damn; I could point out to you what the sound of a thrown crowbar meeting a skull sounds like? In an instant. The voice acting is a bit of a mixed bag, really. Certain characters have amazing voices (Jaime, Nicolette, Jock, Alex.), while others are just comical at times. (Gunther, Page, Simons, and Tong.).

Denton has quite possibly the greatest over-reaction to a statement I've ever heard, in the form of shouting, "A BOMB!". It's hard not to laugh at how he talks, at times. But it's great, at the same time, because he brings a real feeling of nigh-emotionless loyalty to the character, and manages to succeed in making you feel like his path is however you choose to play his character. It's kind of freeing to play a game that actually does a good job at making a pre-existing character feel so neutral, that you really do feel like you're guiding him on the path you believe is most beneficial.

Gameplay is absolutely top-notch. In the time-frame this game was released? It offered a freedom of playstyle that VERY few games had offered, up to that point (Outside of text-based adventures, that is.). If you don't believe me, re-read my previous statements: I stealth'd through the game, throwing crowbars. Take that in for a few seconds. Let it sink it. Think about the fact that there is an entire continent of digital enemies writhing in pain on the floor, due to my immaculate crowbar tossing skill. Has it sunk in yet? Are we good? Ok, then. Continuing on...

This is also one of few games I can think of in it's timeframe that allowed a non-lethal approach to finishing the game; There are guides on the net dedicated to teaching players how to bypass the killing of ANY NPC in the game, at Denton's hands. It's a wonderful way to enjoy the game, on a second playthrough. Personally, I enjoy being able to draw a little blood. But that's just me! I'm sure some people out there prefer a less-violent way of finishing the game... Perhaps a way that doesn't involve the launching of crowbars? Absurd, I know. But likely...

The story, I saved for last. Mainly because I still can't think of the right words to use, in order to praise it. The story is really the main reason my friend convinced me to pick the game up. And let me tell you now; I was not disappointed. This game has, by far, one of the greatest politically based stories I've come across in my years of video gaming. The standard it sets for other story-based games is actually somewhat intimidating, when it comes down to it. Even now, games like BioShock - which made obvious connections to Objectivism, and the questioning of ideology - Still have a hard time keeping up with the level of detail this game put into it's story. Newspapers, books, computer terminals; They all feature stories, updates on the world events in response to JC's choices, and even interpretations of possible events in the future of our current government.

On a few levels, it's slightly scary to see a video game's story mirror real-world politics so vividly. I honestly wouldn't be suprised if this game won it's awards off of it's story, alone. Now, clearly the game has more to offer than just story, but the point I'm attempting to make is that the game's story is the real selling point; Something that drags you in, and really makes you think about the consequences of the choice you make at the end of the game.

With all that said, even with it's few flaws, the game is the pinnacle upon the top of the Golden Age of PC Gaming. I can't think of enough words to explain how influential this game went on to be, to other developers and franchises. All I can say is that it deserves ATLEAST a playthrough, if not two, to understand the events of the game to their full extent, and appreciate it in it's entirety.



Summary:
Even with it's aging graphic engine, the game still managed to chug along at a wonderful pace. The gameplay mechanics keep the game fresh, and exciting. You never feel bored with it, in the least. The freedom of being able to play JC however you want is what truly stands out, allowing you to create all sorts of mischief, or just breeze on past the enemies. When you reach the end of the game, you truly feel you've worked to get there; it's not an empty victory.

The sound effects are a strong point: Good voices, good effects, and an AMAZING Soundtrack that fits the ambience of the game perfectly. In an age where games are often without decent music, the days of using an MP3 Player to fuel your needs for music are at a peak, when it comes to gaming. Deus Ex does not falter, and delivers a stunning score that manages to keep your mind in the game. The story is it's shining point, and can't be explained with enough words by yours truly; It has to be experienced to be understood.


What the ... :
I find it slightly funny that I can knock out a guard, and alert the guy next to him. But if I hide? He cares nothing about the bleeding corpse next to him. DO YOU HAVE NO HONOR, GUARD-GUY?! CAN'T YOU ATLEAST MOVE HIM!? Also, one of the boss fights is a little annoying, if you don't pay attention to how he moves/aims; He can literally one-shot you, with his weapon. It gets frustrating, when you can't manage to kill an enemy do to their over-powered plasma launcher...

Story
5

Gameplay
5

Graphics
4

Audio
4