Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Sep 27, 2021

  With the change of technology, this game is no longer novel and fun. This game missed the era. It's not that you're late, but that we arrived here 30 years late
• gamedeal user

  Mar 12, 2015

  Wow, this is an interesting piece of history. The original Deus Ex Machina, released in the 80s, was one of the first games synchronised to music. (Edit: just to be clear, this is nothing to do with the Eidos/Square Enix series "Deus Ex". Deus Ex Machina 1 was way before that.) Back then, the only way to actually achieve this was to have you load the game, then tell you to put a cassette in your cassette player and hit the PLAY button at the right moment. After that, a sequence of mini-games would play, roughly timed to line up with the events on the cassette. It was quite an intriuging experience at the time, so what could the creator do given modern technology? So, in this game you listen to a continuous piece of music in sections representing the stages of life, while playing a series of timed minigames. The music is synchronised with the changes in the games, but for some reason they've kept several of the old limitations. First of all, you have a health bar/score called "degree of ideal entity" which goes down when you take damage. Unlike the old game, some actions heal it; but like the old game, going down to zero doesn't end the game or have any effect at all. You just carry on with a zero score. Originally this was because the cassette player wasn't controlled by the computer so it couldn't change anything or shut off the tape; why on earth this limitation was retained I have no idea because it seriously harms the replay value - you will complete the entire game on your first run, guaranteed. Even throwing in Steam Achievements for finishing with certain % scores would have helped, but that's not implemented, although it could be added later on. The other odd thing is that the sync with the music isn't that strong - several of the minigames have actions that synchronise with the words or shifts in the music, but most of them just look like they are planning to play forever and at the end of the music they just fade out with the continuation of the level still visible in the background. Again, there seems to be no reason for this on a modern system where the computer can track every part of the music as it plays. Regarding the music, it varies from kind of dull up to fantastic, depending on the style of music you like. It's almost a shame they didn't provide a soundtrack, but since the main point of the game is the music, it's understandable they wouldn't. The minigames are all third-person 3D endless runners (again, not clear why since in the original they varied). Unfortunately, they vary from "not that great" to "what were they thinking?". Part of the problem is the controls - in the early levels it's clear that the controls move the camera, but you won't clearly see how your character is moving, and it varies between levels. The graphics also aren't great - in some sections, like Danger Warning and Old Age, their simplicity works well, but often they just look like unnaturally cornered indoor environments of the type you expected from 3D games in the 90s. And there are blatant design flaws, and they get worse as the game goes on. School has you touching matched pairs of objects, but there's no feedback when you've gotten it right or wrong other than your % meter changing. Adolescence has you collecting pubic hair. Um. In Love and Betrayal, you're supposed to move a cursor to collect or avoid certain objects but at least sometimes you'll inevitably fail because you couldn't see the object behind the spinning body of your character. The Soldier has you running towards the screen hopelessly trying to dodge mines and bombs that appear too quickly to be reacted to (and it seems they haven't adjusted the game engine properly to be running in the other direction because the bottom of the screen flickers and tears). War Crimes Are Easy involves.. slowly and tediously walking through a bunch of images in a courtroom which don't do anything. Another has you slowly walking through doors pressing the up and down arrors to do.. well, nothing apparently. Pain has you flying through a hospital building trying to collect medicines and avoid harmful drugs, but your character is so large you'll have pretty much no choice about what you pick up sometimes. And the final "old age" section contains a playback of some of the previous games.. but rather than using the game engine they run them in low-resolution FMV. Huh? The plot is a simple walk through of stages of life, with no real clear connection between them. The text suggests a cyberpunk setting, and there's some suggestion that your character was born of "a machine", but nothing really comes of it. Oddly, some of the plot-related material has been removed from the game compared to the original. The ending is quite satisfying, although it lacks some of the charm of the original ending, in part because of the new actors. So, I can't really recommend this at this stage but there is a base of an intriuging game there if the design flaws should be sorted out and a bit more replay motivation added in. At the low price it's sold at, it might be worth a flutter if you understand that what you're getting is roughly an hour-long music album with some interactive backing, but judged as a game it doesn't stand up in its current state. Edit: turns out that the soundtrack is on Spotify. Double Edit: there are a lot of comments about how this game is meant to be a piece of art, and don't get me wrong - I really love the "games as art" idea, and there is some excellent artistry here, but it's all in the music. The lyric at the end of Old Age, "I really miss my Mamma / but I don't know who she was" and the following Lee speech can still make me tear up. But. But. That's artistic music, and as I said, if you're happy to be paying for an hour-long soundtrack then go ahead and buy. The _game_ just doesn't reflect this art at all, and it ignores the fact that games-as-art have evolved since back then to involve the game much more. If you want to say that war is scary in an art-game, look at Spec Ops The Line or This War Of Mine. Doing it by having a naked guy running through a landscape while a voice shouts "TERROR TERROR TERROR" is the artistic equivalent of a mallet to the head. And I'm not sure what the overall artistic statement is supposed to be - it just sort of describes life in a rather cynical way and that's it. Even listening through all the lyrics, it's more or less just a description of a life, not anything special about it.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 12, 2015

  Basically a hour long music video for multiple songs, some are decent, some are very good and 2 i found were pretty shit. Gameplay pretty much non existent, as much as Controls i would even say. Mistakes don't matter at all, so you won't lose. Don't expect here a game at all, especially for that price tag this is pure robbery. Also if this thing crashes (which happened to me twice) you have to start all over again, so have fun.
• gamedeal user

  Mar 12, 2015

  an interesting experemint though not captivating as the original it still manages to be sureal within it's own message play it or don't you will either get it or not
• gamedeal user

  Mar 12, 2015

  Deus Ex Machina 2 takes the original games and ports it across into modern day computing. Recommended for those who played and enjoyed the original as a game of nostalgia. For those who have no idea what the original is like, this game is a short linear story, mildly guided in a simple fashion by the player. Some wonderful music pieces, alongside psychedelic art and narration by the one and only Christopher Lee. Conclusion: This game is definitely not for everyone. It's really rather more of a short musical story than an interactive game as we know them nowadays. If you've ever watched the movie "Enter the Void" and enjoyed it, then you may enjoy this game. For the Developer; I would also enjoy a Soundtrack of the game to listen to after I've played through the game. :) (Players experiences may vary depending on the levels of ingested psychedelic drugs.)
• gamedeal user

  Apr 10, 2015

  I am a fan of the original Deus Ex Machina (1985) so it helps on this review some. If I never played the original on a ZX Spectrum emulator I am sure that I would of not understood this game. I enjoyed the retelling of the story but this game feels a bit rushed with everything. I kind missed the one-on-one interactions the Defect had with the Machine, the androids, and robots. Like how the Defect asked "Can I be extremely wealthy after I choose to escape? Do we all agree, amigos?" and the others replied. To me all this felt like a musical revision and not as much of a play like the first game was. I wouldn't mind a future patch for this game. Like if the music volume could fade out while The Programmer (Narrator) is talking. Maybe some fine adjustments to the controls. An a edit to a couple of levels. Most of the levels were well done but ones like Adolescence felt rushed and sloppy. Again the only reason I am recommending this game for now is because of the original and how this game is another view of it.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 16, 2015

  A beautiful work of art.
• gamedeal user

  Sep 25, 2015

  It was not what i was expecting. I buy games to have some sort of fun and choice about what happens in the game, but in this 'game' you can beat the levels by just sitting there. it's more like a compilation of random episodes, and completely not atmospheric and somewhat strange music. If you are trying to test your endurance of a game, this would be it. the levels are repetitive and bland. i would not recommend it though, with many other better games out there.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 29, 2016

  This piece of shit isnt worth anyones time! Dont waste your money or your life on this garbage. One of the worst games i have ever played.
• gamedeal user

  Aug 6, 2016

  Interesting concept that was horribly executed.