ic-games Review - Deus Ex - Invisible War - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

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Deus Ex - Invisible War

Information
Reviewer: Travis Hindley
Developer: ion storm
Publisher: Eidos
Reviewed: PC
Genre: RPG
UK Release: 05th Mar 2004
Article Date: 10th Mar 2004
Difficulty: Hard
Retail Price:
Price Comparison:
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Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 85%

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Pros

Fantastic graphics.

Great story development

Immensely open-ended

Cons

Requires top of the line computer

Some interface issues

Screenshots

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What is it that they say that heals broken hearts? Time? Or is it revenge? Well, that is exactly what you need to get through Deus Ex 2: Invisible War from Ion Storm. Time, that is, not revenge. At any rate, the great thing (and my personal nemesis) in this game is how incredibly open-ended it is. Games like this are typically either loved or hated. And the main difference between these two opinions is how long the gamer decides to carry on through the Deus Ex 2 experience. And without further ado, here is the review . . .

The first thing I noticed about Deus Ex 2 was that I rather enjoyed the interface. I thought it was fairly simple and easy to understand. In addition, I found that my environments were very rich and tons of fun to explore (perhaps, a little too fun). These rich environments are shortly what became my pitfall. I found that I had such a “hoot” exploring and what not, that often times I would lose sight of the mission at hand. Of course, this turned out to be the first mission with which I spent an approximate 5 hours of game time just screwing around because whatever struck my fancy was immediately explored and examined. For example:

“Huh, look at that, an open vent . . .”

“So now, does this ATM thingy actually HOLD money?”

“That shotgun won’t be quite so useful WHEN YOU’RE DEAD!!!”

And basically, the majority of this game was me being distracted. But seriously, once you get over the novelty of the open-endedness, you will quickly find that your missions plenty easy to follow, even though some of the choices might be hard.

To get more into the meat and potatoes of things, it could be quite difficult to understand what is happening or why choices are made the way they are, if you haven’t played the first one. Because more often than not you will have to make choices and sometimes, these choices are not pretty. There are numerous groups within the game and the direction you swing as you come to various choices will greatly dictate how the Deus Ex 2 story is played out. And I guess you could say it has a good bit of replayability, and it does, as far as most First Person Shooters go, but it won’t take you any where near as long the second time through. The game starts out with your character Alex who is in a training program for covert ops. Unfortunately, your hometown of Chicago undergoes a terrorist attack and you are forced to relocate to a new location. And so the story goes.

Gameplay is fairly typical compared to any other First Person shooter, except for the fact that there is tons of fun to be had with the biomods. Again, if you aren’t familiar with this concept that was introduced in the first Deus Ex, then it might take some getting used to, but overall they make the game fun and exciting. There are all manner of biomods that the gamer can install, but be sure to choose which you will use wisely. In addition, there were some changes to the interfaces. The weaponry and inventory are accessed quite differently from other shooters. Also, all of the weapons in this game pull from an ethereal tank that you have in your pocket that we will just call “AMMO”. This isn’t really a bad thing; it’s just a little different. Naturally, some guns are more powerful and therefore will draw a larger amount from said “AMMO”, but this doesn’t really get to be too much of a problem. In fact, it allows you to use which ever gun you favour the most for the longest amount of time. Other than that, there isn’t really anything else particularly groundbreaking in this department. Not to say that it was poorly done, because that is certainly not the case.

Now, the graphics on the other hand are a totally separate matter. They are nothing short of beautiful. I was truly blown away with every visual aspect Ion Storm had to offer. In particular, the shadowing has really added a nice effect to the game. Lighting and bump-mapping is also something that will stand out as something that is really being exploited (and well) in Invisible War. However, I must provide a word of caution to all. The PC version requires a close to high-end PC in order for some of these aspects to really be captured. I won’t say anything about the Xbox version, but let’s just say it can get a little laggy at times.

Sound is also an area that should not be forgotten. The important thing to bring out of Deus Ex 2 is the voice acting. The characters really seem to show voice inflection very well. In addition, surround sound is always an added bonus. Effects just sound a little cooler if there is surround sound support.

Overall, Deus Ex 2 is a game of very high quality. This isn’t going to be a game that will captivate you from the start and keep you nailed to your seat for hours, but its more along the lines of romancing a lover. You might take them out to dinner... buy them a fine wine, chit chat about the evening, and then wind up . . . well, maybe too much with the whole “lover” metaphor, but, you get the idea. This is a game that you will grow to love exponentially more than others, but if you don’t give it a chance, you will never know. Let’s just say that this isn’t your typical video game “One night stand”. And we will just leave it at that.

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