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Players of the game take control of a defective machine which has taken the form of the human body. The players would experience the different stages of life, all the way from being a cell to being a senile old being. It is considered to be a work of audiovisual entertainment although the game itself
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Croucher retrospectively viewed the game as a disappointment, saying "I should have sold the game at a sensible price. But I wanted to put a lovely poster in it and nice packaging and a double vinyl gatefold" and that as a result the price of £15 compared to the more usual £8 meant that sales were
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where the tape needs to be played alongside the game. The length of the audio cassette is 46 minutes which is also the length of the game itself. Although the game could be played without the audio cassette, it would make it easier to understand with the help of the soundtrack. The soundtrack
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session vocals. It was eventually released on 11 March 2015. It marked the final performance of
Christopher Lee that was released in his lifetime, being released 4 months prior to his death. Alongside the sequel, a remastered version of the game entitled
398:, and Croucher (who also composed the music). Andrew Stagg coded the original Spectrum version, and Colin Jones (later known as author/publisher Colin Bradshaw-Jones) was the programmer of the Commodore 64 version.
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The game charts the life of a "defect" which has formed in "the machine", from conception, through growth, evolution and eventually death. The progression is loosely based on "The Seven Ages of Man" from the
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includes songs, musical compositions, and also voices of famous actors. As the game comes with a full transcript of the speech, it could at times be played without audio.
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Despite critical acclaim at the time, the game did not conform to conventions of packaging and pricing required by distributors and retailers and the game was sold
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The game was the first to be accompanied by a fully synchronised soundtrack which featured narration, celebrity artists and music. The cast included
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and includes many quotations and parodies of this. The original game would later be rereleased alongside a sequel/remake in 2015.
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only direct to the public. It subsequently gained cult status as an underground
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The Top 7... Maddest
British old-school games - 1. Deus Ex Machina (1985)
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A re-imagining of the game went into production in 2010, under the title
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Deus Ex
Machina, Game of the Year, 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition
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In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book
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Deus Ex
Machina - The Best Game You Never Played in Your Life
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Deus Ex
Machina: The Best Game You Never Played In Your Life
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Sinclair User's 1985 report on game distribution issues
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as The
Programmer, with Chyna Whyne as The Machine,
419:does not have sound. It is separated into an audio
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56:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
675:. London: Quintessence Editions Ltd. p. 79.
648:"The one-hour life of a 1980s video game auteur"
673:1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die
490:1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die
8:
939:Video games developed in the United Kingdom
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116:Learn how and when to remove this message
604:"Deus Ex Machina for ZX Spectrum (1984)"
813:Official website for remastered version
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371:in October 1984 and later converted to
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7:
54:adding citations to reliable sources
521:as the Defect Police, and original
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312:February 20, 2015 (Win, Linux, Mac)
14:
783:"Deus Ex Machina - The Final Cut"
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65:"Deus Ex Machina" video game
884:Android (operating system) games
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556:Deus Ex Machina - The Final Cut
554:. A second remastered version,
41:needs additional citations for
781:Jones, Colin (July 28, 2016).
646:Campbell, Colin (2013-09-25).
1:
740:"DEUS EX MACHINA 2 on Steam"
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845:at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
285:January 30, 2015 (Android)
258:October 1984 (ZX Spectrum)
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934:Single-player video games
825:Official vectrLab website
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359:designed and created by
303:February 14, 2015 (Ouya)
19:Not to be confused with
696:Croucher, Mel (2016).
590:"SFE: Deus Ex Machina"
576:"SFE: Deus Ex Machina"
294:February 2, 2015 (iOS)
530:was released for the
501:Rereleases and sequel
50:improve this article
21:Deus Ex (video game)
722:"Deus Ex Machina 2"
671:Mott, Tony (2010).
899:Commodore 64 games
856:2005-01-20 at the
818:2020-03-19 at the
636:. 19 October 2009.
519:Joaquim de Almeida
447:. You can help by
949:ZX Spectrum games
924:Music video games
894:Automata UK games
762:. Blue Flame Labs
682:978-1-74173-076-0
626:Houghton, David.
544:Microsoft Windows
507:Deus Ex Machina 2
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363:and published by
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61:Find sources:
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39:This article
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792:. Retrieved
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449:adding to it
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377:Commodore 64
361:Mel Croucher
351:
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244:October 1984
208:Commodore 64
189:Andrew Stagg
178:Mel Croucher
161:Publisher(s)
149:Developer(s)
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48:Please help
43:verification
40:
914:MacOS games
909:Linux games
700:. Andrews.
515:Chris Madin
404:Shakespeare
388:Jon Pertwee
369:ZX Spectrum
365:Automata UK
200:ZX Spectrum
195:Platform(s)
173:Designer(s)
165:Automata UK
154:Automata UK
929:Ouya games
873:Categories
860:at Lemon64
657:2018-12-11
634:GamesRadar
613:2018-12-11
562:References
469:mail-order
357:video game
333:music game
276:1986 (C64)
267:1985 (MSX)
76:newspapers
919:MSX games
904:IOS games
889:Art games
836:MobyGames
794:March 19,
766:March 19,
759:MobyGames
608:MobyGames
456:June 2022
428:Reception
106:July 2023
854:Archived
816:Archived
552:Mac OS X
523:Ian Dury
473:art game
421:cassette
414:Gameplay
384:Ian Dury
367:for the
329:Art game
324:Genre(s)
232:Mac OS X
788:Blogger
652:Polygon
532:Android
339:Mode(s)
238:Release
224:Windows
212:Android
90:scholar
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479:Legacy
406:play,
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548:Linux
355:is a
228:Linux
97:JSTOR
83:books
796:2020
768:2020
702:ISBN
677:ISBN
550:and
540:Ouya
375:and
220:Ouya
69:news
834:at
536:iOS
451:.
373:MSX
216:iOS
204:MSX
52:by
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331:,
308:WW
299:WW
290:WW
281:WW
272:EU
263:EU
254:EU
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