Quote Originally Posted by DMKA View Post
So does this game require playing of the others to make sense, or does it stand nicely on it's own?

It's been forever since I played the original Deus Ex and I can't really remember what it was about honestly.
The game stands totally on its own. Definitely play it regardless of how familiar you are with the first game. There are some really neat references sprinkled throughout but about 98% of them have no bearing on your understanding of the game world.