<\/td><\/tr><\/table>I regret including JC Denton in the list of wooden heroes in my post on The Tough Guy<\/a>. Several people chimed in with defense for the character, and they are right: Whatever his faults, Agent Denton doesn’t really deserve to be lumped in with the likes of Hawaiian Shirt Guy and Masterchief. While his “secret agent” persona always held him at arm’s length for me, he was not a terrible<\/em> character. Jonas Wà\u00a6ver at Narcissism Incorporated sums up my feelings towards JC perfectly<\/a>. He was a fine character, he just didn’t fit me when I tried him on. <\/p>\nPart of the problem was his outfit. I’d be playing the game, immersed, “in the zone”, or whatever you call it when you’re playing a videogame so hard you forget you’re doing it. Then a conversation would start, causing the view to switch to third person and show me my character. The effect was a sudden rift between myself and my in-game persona. Oh right. I’m that<\/strong> guy. <\/em> <\/p>\n I felt ridiculous having these philosophical and political conversations while dressed as a Morpheus cosplayer. It always felt like the NPC’s were just humoring me, and the room was going to erupt into derisive laughter the moment my character stepped out the door. The outfit also put a terrible strain on versimilitude; it’s hard to imagine how I was able to sneak up on people and move unseen while wearing that enormous floppy coat. It would be like trying to creep up behind someone while dragging a tarp. <\/p>\n This is not to say Deus Ex was not a tremendous game. It’s a playground of incredible potential, and I returned to it many times before I at last felt I had exhausted its dialogs and and explored the breadth and depth of its countless locales. It had much in common with my beloved Thief<\/a> and the revered System Shock<\/a>. Lots of freedom in how to approach obstacles. Interesting choices. RPG character development. Large, branching plot. Hours of fulfilling of gameplay just to get to one<\/em> of the endings. (I’d gladly trade in one of today’s eight-hour graphics demos for another 30-hour gem like Dues Ex.) <\/p>\n I would have preferred it if Denton was a bit more approachable to the average Joe, and his costume was unintentionally funny, but he wasn’t a cardboard cutout. He was a serviceable character riding atop a stellar game. <\/p>\n