The last time we were here we had just completed basic training with Dr. Reyes. We now know how to move, how to use keys and bash wooden crates with a crowbar to goodies. But we can't counter terrorism with our new-found piñata-bashing skills, we need guns. Luckily, a kind German man will teach us how to use them.
Say hello to Gunther Hermann, probably one of my favourite characters in the early-game. His voice alone wins me over every time.
Pistols, as you would expect, are our basic gun in the game. Once upgraded with mods they can actually become incredibly useful, especially with the scope (basically turns it into a sniper rifle making headshots so much easier). For now just take a gun, release a target and...
...just take my word for it, a glass pane with a target man on it comes forward. With the pistol, the aiming reticle will shrink if you're aiming at something while sitting still for a few seconds. The littler the reticle, the more accurate your shot will be. After a second glass-pane man (from now on, I'll refer to him as Max. Max Pane.) gets shot, we're off to the next section.
Oh, sniper rifles! Here he's going to show us not only how to use the scope (press the '[' button) but also how skill can affect our performance. But first...
You can't tell through a still image, but with no training in Rifles, JC does not have a steady aim, instead the rifle moves about like he is trying to conduct an orchestra. This makes it rather difficult to hit Max here.
Gunther somehow makes us a Rifle Master, meaning...
...the picture was rather unnecessary but now JC has a steady aim, making it incredibly easy to hit Max here. That's all for guns. Now is it time to make things go boom?
IT IS TIME TO MAKE THINGS GO BOOM!
See the dot on the middle of the target there? That is a LAM. Here it is being used as a mine. Gunther asked us to press a button to send a robot to its doom.
BOOOM! MUHAHAHAHAH! AGAIN! AGAIN! Well, actually Gunther does ask us to place our own LAM mine, and it goes the same as the last three images, so just re-look at them for effect. LAM's are not just mines though...
...they are also grenades. There are three doors in this room. Two cannot be breached, but one is made out of wood. This is where the 'Door Str' comes into play from last part. If the 'Door Str' is less than INF. then it can be destroyed with some explosives. I've already thrown one into the room, so...
The door is in pieces. Grenades can also help blow up cracked walls.
However, we are not the only ones who can set up LAMs like mines, the enemy bases will occasionally be booby trapped with them, but there is a way to disarm them. You can run into them and let them blow you up.
Thus ends Deus Ex.
...oh, okay, you can also double right click on them.
Clicking once disarms it and clicking it again puts it in your pockets. It's usually nice to have a few of these on your hand, they only take one inventory space anyway. That's the end of Gunther's training session. Now is it time to meet accent #2 as we go to...
Covert training! This is where we learn how to be a ninja!
Anna Navarre is Russian, so you can already form an idea on how her accent goes. Yes, a big part of this game is that if you prefer you can be a sneaky snake and sneak your way through levels. You can also be stealthy yet kill everyone at the same time, if that appeals to you.
We get Tech Goggles. I never used it, so I could be misremembering, but I think they are similar to night vision goggles? The data cube just contains the instruction manual for the goggles. I'll be putting all the DataCubes at the end of updates in case anyone wants to read them.
This is actually really easy. It's also very easy to accidentally get caught. One person patrols one side, the other patrols the other. There are crates to hide behind, crouch behind one and just wait until one passes you (their peripheral vision is very bad) and make a run for it.
There is also this camo which pretty much turns you invisible for a short period of time.
We have one last test, we have to use everything we know to get to the exit.
It's literally a case of find the code behind some barrels, avoid the patrolling robot (it sees you and it will shoot) and get to the bridge. You'd have to be an idiot to get caught by the robot though.
...I got caught that's why there's no pictures of the rest of the course because I was panicking. This is just the training mission. This won't end well.
When we make it to the end we get a chance to learn a bit more about the Deus Ex world.
UNATCO are an arm of the United Nations. If any peace needs to be kept then it up to us. These are the generic UNATCO trooper we'll see quite a lot of.
The NSF are our main baddies, at least at the start of the game. You will see, and potentially shoot, a lot of these generic soldiers. However, this game wants you to stealth for a reason - even a couple of these can potentially overwhelm you. They usually have simple enough patrol routes though.
This is the bastard who shot at me earlier. They will generally patrol an area and will shoot any enemy that enters its sight. Useful if they're on your side. Deadly if they're against.
These are the robots we'll most likely see early in the game. A rocket would blow these up easily. Again though, stay out of the sights of these, even the baby ones can wreck you big time.
High-level UNATCO soldiers, like Anna and Gunther are basically half machine, with very visible machine parts. However this is the old technology. WE are the new technology.
This is our bro, Paul Denton. He is the first of the new augmented agents with no wires sticking out of him. JC is the second. Paul is however very human, many people at UNATCO are constantly disappointed in his insistence in not killing people, an idea far beyond the intelligence of most UNATCO troopers. That's all the holograms for now. Well...except one. Meet Mr. I'm Totally Not Evil - BOB!
Thanks Bobby! Finally, it's time to get a taste of some actual field experience! See you next time where we kill a bunch of people instead Lady Liberty!
