Deus Ex, the game that should have changed everything but didn't

I can still remember the first hours I spent playing Deus Ex back in 2000, thinking- "This is it, the bar has been raised, from this point onward games will be different."
But looking back over the intervening years, I still haven't encountered another game like it.

There have been plenty of uninspired, unoriginal, strictly-FPS titles... and I've lost count of the number of generic World War 2 first-person shooters I've yawned at.
We've seen the same game mechanics re-hashed and recycled over and over again...
you get to jump, duck, strafe, shoot, walk, run... and if you're lucky - climb ladders, open doors and use a gun that has a scope/zoom.
This, by and large, is FPS as we know it.
The settings and plot change, the graphics get more fancy, but we're still playing the same old game.
Hasn't anybody actually noticed?

People are always keen to point out that Deus Ex isn't strictly an FPS, sure, but nor is it strictly an RPG.
It's a game that doesn't adhere to the minimum expectations of the FPS genre... it (along with System Shock 2) took RPG elements that could work in an FPS (such as having an inventory and spending points on skills) and added other elements not specific to any genre, such as having many ways to complete a task, giving you the option of how you wanted to gain entry to an area.
Deus Ex was more than just a fusion of FPS/RPG, it showcased a new level of interactivity and became the very embodiment (in my mind at least) of what FPS games could become.

I suppose the problem is how much these games cost to develop, it makes business sense to keep cashing in on the same formula for as long as people will buy it... and as the stunning visuals get more stunning and development costs rise, it's only going to get more risky to release a game that's not based on a proven concept.

I haven't completely lost hope though.
Grand Theft Auto is similarly genre-busting, and I'd even go so far as to say it's become a genre of its own.
The Hitman series has brought some interesting new game mechanics, as have the Metal Gear Solid games.
Resident Evil 4 had purchasable weapon upgrades that offered some extended strategy and personalisation.
I'm seeing a rise in the use of cover systems in third person shooters (eg. Press X to hide behind this wall), which makes things a little more interesting.

I think gameplay ideas are improving and evolving slowly, I guess it takes more than one game to raise the bar for the others.
And I suppose there's always a growing number of gamers who haven't been around since Wolfenstien and perhaps aren't as jaded by the repetition.

- R1