Deus Ex was the 2000 'Game of the Year' and was one of the best RPGs to grace your PC. You took on the role of J. C. Denton, a bio-modified agent working for a government organization called 'U.N.A.T.C.O.' to stop terrorist activities, along with your brother Paul Denton. Deus Ex was a first person shooter with some strong RPG elements. When you started the game you were able to choose your own appearance and also what skills you will have for the duration of the game. During the game you were given the opportunity to use traditional RPG-style text trees to decide what you were going to say to people. You could also complete your objectives in a number of different ways, and how you played the game would affect your allegiance with different factions. As a result, the ending of the game can vary. All these gameplay elements made for a very open-ended game and added a huge amount of replay value.
Now, the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, takes place 20 years into the future. You play as Alex Denton (as he later finds out) and you are a bio-modified clone of J. C. Denton. As 'Alex D' (as he's known) you are at a training academy for bio-modified students when the whole city of Chicago is destroyed by terrorists. It is your job to figure out who these terrorists are and to unravel the mysteries of this conspiracy theory. During the game you will run into many people that you don't know if you should trust or not. You'll also travel to many different locations such as Seattle, Egypt, Germany, and Antarctica.
Deus Ex: Invisible War plays a lot like the original game, but it is missing a few elements that made Deus Ex 'Game of the Year'. You can still choose the way you look at the beginning of the game (and can even play as a woman this time around) but you no longer have the ability to choose your different skills. In fact, your skills are now determined by your different bio-modifications. So your ability to hack into computer systems is now determined by a specific type of bio-mod that you need to upgrade to. You can also have black market bio-mods which are basically illegal bio-modifications. Some of these black market bio-mods include the ability to take control of robots or sending out and controlling a spy drone. Each of your bio-mods can be upgraded to a maximum level of 3, providing you with more advantages. There are so many different bio-modifications to choose from throughout the game that you'll probably end up constantly getting rid of one bio-mod and upgrading to another.
The interface is also now completely different. It is all on the center of the screen and is supposed to resemble looking out of Alex D.'s eyes. This new type of interface may take some getting used too, but after a little while you don't even notice it anymore. By using the interface you can easily switch through your weapons, activate your bio-mods, and look at your mission objectives. You can also go into your inventory which is also set up differently from the previous game.
If you're just starting this series by playing this sequel you might be a little lost. Many of the events are directly related to the original game, so you will also meet many familiar people from Deus Ex. Some of these people include Tracer Tong, J. C. Denton and Paul Denton. You'll also travel to destinations that were from the previous game. One destination is Liberty Island which looks remarkably like the map from the first Deus Ex, but a little modified.
Deus Ex: Invisible War may have even more open-ended gameplay than the original game. You have many different routes to complete your mission objectives including whether you want to use stealth or just go in guns 'blazing. When talking to people you are presented with the traditional RPG text trees from which you can choose many things to say to people. Depending on what you say to people and how you complete your mission objectives, you'll affect which faction you are loyal to. Near the end of the game you'll be asking yourself, "Maybe I should help this group out, because they want to save the human race," or "Maybe it would be more exciting to help these guys out." There are so many different factions that you'll probably get confused about which one is the best for you to join, but it provides for some good replay value.
The AI could have been much better in this game. While they can be smart at times, they usually run right up in front of you and start shooting right when they see you, and won't take any effective cover behind objects. They can also see you too well in the dark. If you are just standing still in a dark area, they usually won't see you, but if you move the slightest inch they will spot you and walk over to investigate. There is a large variety of enemies including human guards, bio-modified agents, humans in combat suits and other various robots and aliens.
The graphics used in Deus Ex: Invisible War will make you drool for more. The relative smoothness of everything adds a high value of realism to the look of the game. There is also an option called the "bloom" effect which adds a sort of blurry effect to the graphics. This effect makes everything look much more smooth and realistic. The real-time lighting engine is what really adds the best look to the graphics. The shadows of every object in the environment will realistically move with the correct motion of a light swaying back and forth. However, this game does suffer from some major performance problems, even when running at a resolution of 1024x768.
The sound was produced very well: details of the speech and sound effects can be heard throughout the whole environment. Every sound can be easily heard when, for example, throwing a can at a wall and then watching it bounce back, thanks to the great physics engine used. Deus Ex: Invisible War uses a modified version of the Havok physics engine. This engine makes everything in the environment interactive. From glass bottles to ragdoll effects on the bodies, it's all interactive.
Conclusion
Overall, Deus Ex: Invisible War plays out like a much anticipated RPG/Action game would. It has all the elements of a great RPG whilst providing some nice action for FPS fans. However, the performance problems will greatly bring down your enjoyment of this sequel. It really doesn't live up to the impact that the original Deus Ex had on the RPG community, but it's still a game worth trying out. Hopefully more patches will be released soon to fix these performance problems, but for now it looks as if Ion Storm was just showing off a sample of what their upcoming Thief III will be like.
Now, the sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, takes place 20 years into the future. You play as Alex Denton (as he later finds out) and you are a bio-modified clone of J. C. Denton. As 'Alex D' (as he's known) you are at a training academy for bio-modified students when the whole city of Chicago is destroyed by terrorists. It is your job to figure out who these terrorists are and to unravel the mysteries of this conspiracy theory. During the game you will run into many people that you don't know if you should trust or not. You'll also travel to many different locations such as Seattle, Egypt, Germany, and Antarctica.
Deus Ex: Invisible War plays a lot like the original game, but it is missing a few elements that made Deus Ex 'Game of the Year'. You can still choose the way you look at the beginning of the game (and can even play as a woman this time around) but you no longer have the ability to choose your different skills. In fact, your skills are now determined by your different bio-modifications. So your ability to hack into computer systems is now determined by a specific type of bio-mod that you need to upgrade to. You can also have black market bio-mods which are basically illegal bio-modifications. Some of these black market bio-mods include the ability to take control of robots or sending out and controlling a spy drone. Each of your bio-mods can be upgraded to a maximum level of 3, providing you with more advantages. There are so many different bio-modifications to choose from throughout the game that you'll probably end up constantly getting rid of one bio-mod and upgrading to another.
The interface is also now completely different. It is all on the center of the screen and is supposed to resemble looking out of Alex D.'s eyes. This new type of interface may take some getting used too, but after a little while you don't even notice it anymore. By using the interface you can easily switch through your weapons, activate your bio-mods, and look at your mission objectives. You can also go into your inventory which is also set up differently from the previous game.
If you're just starting this series by playing this sequel you might be a little lost. Many of the events are directly related to the original game, so you will also meet many familiar people from Deus Ex. Some of these people include Tracer Tong, J. C. Denton and Paul Denton. You'll also travel to destinations that were from the previous game. One destination is Liberty Island which looks remarkably like the map from the first Deus Ex, but a little modified.
Deus Ex: Invisible War may have even more open-ended gameplay than the original game. You have many different routes to complete your mission objectives including whether you want to use stealth or just go in guns 'blazing. When talking to people you are presented with the traditional RPG text trees from which you can choose many things to say to people. Depending on what you say to people and how you complete your mission objectives, you'll affect which faction you are loyal to. Near the end of the game you'll be asking yourself, "Maybe I should help this group out, because they want to save the human race," or "Maybe it would be more exciting to help these guys out." There are so many different factions that you'll probably get confused about which one is the best for you to join, but it provides for some good replay value.
The AI could have been much better in this game. While they can be smart at times, they usually run right up in front of you and start shooting right when they see you, and won't take any effective cover behind objects. They can also see you too well in the dark. If you are just standing still in a dark area, they usually won't see you, but if you move the slightest inch they will spot you and walk over to investigate. There is a large variety of enemies including human guards, bio-modified agents, humans in combat suits and other various robots and aliens.
The graphics used in Deus Ex: Invisible War will make you drool for more. The relative smoothness of everything adds a high value of realism to the look of the game. There is also an option called the "bloom" effect which adds a sort of blurry effect to the graphics. This effect makes everything look much more smooth and realistic. The real-time lighting engine is what really adds the best look to the graphics. The shadows of every object in the environment will realistically move with the correct motion of a light swaying back and forth. However, this game does suffer from some major performance problems, even when running at a resolution of 1024x768.
The sound was produced very well: details of the speech and sound effects can be heard throughout the whole environment. Every sound can be easily heard when, for example, throwing a can at a wall and then watching it bounce back, thanks to the great physics engine used. Deus Ex: Invisible War uses a modified version of the Havok physics engine. This engine makes everything in the environment interactive. From glass bottles to ragdoll effects on the bodies, it's all interactive.
Conclusion
Overall, Deus Ex: Invisible War plays out like a much anticipated RPG/Action game would. It has all the elements of a great RPG whilst providing some nice action for FPS fans. However, the performance problems will greatly bring down your enjoyment of this sequel. It really doesn't live up to the impact that the original Deus Ex had on the RPG community, but it's still a game worth trying out. Hopefully more patches will be released soon to fix these performance problems, but for now it looks as if Ion Storm was just showing off a sample of what their upcoming Thief III will be like.
