Deus Ex: Invisible War Review

There are two basic premises that are the alpha and omega of the Deus Ex: Invisible War experience: the story and its open-ended gameplay with emphasis on exploration. The third premise that was the building block of the original game was significantly reduced in the sequel. In line with the designers' decision to simplify the interface and make the game generally more console friendly, the RPG element has been substantially cut back. Calling Invisible War a first-person RPG just wouldn't be right. In the sequel, your character's abilities revolve around Biomods. Biomods are nano tech enhancements that increase your physical or technological abilities and help you deal with difficult situations more efficiently. Now if your idea of an RPG is a gradual and often painstaking advancement of your character, then I can tell you right away that Deus Ex: Invisible War won't be the right game for you. While using black market Biomods like Hacking and Bot Control is very fun and offers quite a bit of freedom in terms of problem solving, the fact remains that it takes just three Biomod canisters to upgrade a specific Biomod to its maximum level. During the game you can equip your character with a maximum of five Biomods, two of which are a must have. One is always present by default, and I don't see how you can finish the game without the Hacking Biomod. I guess my point is that elaborate character leveling and experimentation with numerous Biomod skills just won't be the main focus of gameplay. Sure, you'll still do it, but it's obvious that character leveling is nowhere near as important as it was in the original. This partly has to do with the design principles of the sequel and partly with the fact that the game is geared towards console gaming, and we all know that RPG's don't really have a huge market on the consoles.

Same basement, same elevator...

That's a snazzy suite you got there, doc!

The interface of course reflects this, as it both appears and functions like it was tailor fitted for the gamepad. Is it intuitive and simple to use on the PC? The answer is yes, but for those of you looking for something more elaborate and in the spirit of our superior control system it will certainly come as a disappointment. One has to keep in mind that Eidos and Ion Storm are looking to make a game that will appeal to console gamers who are more used to simply glancing through the interface than spending hours on it dragging and dropping items from one slot to another.

Even so, there are many great sides to this game that deserve mentioning. The sequel's interesting story is further perpetuated and brought to life by the successful construction of an immersive and open-ended game world. The combination of these two elements is what drives the single-player forward, it's what defines it. Deus Ex: Invisible War is a sci-fi thriller adventure that creates the illusion of freedom for players. Freedom to choose their destiny, decide how they want to enter a location, and which means and methods they want to use in doing so. You are given a choice. That is not something you'll find in many of contemporary PC titles. Besides being able to alter the plot, or even completely omit certain segments of the game, you always have at least two entrances to each of the locations. Considering the scope of the project and the sheer number of maps, I would say that's quite a commendable feat in its own right. I used to spend a lot of time just looking for multi-tools that unlock important doors or give access to useful items. Often, successful exploration will lead to important discoveries that will make your task a lot easier - a hidden passageway, a conveniently placed turret that when hacked can help you deal with heavily armored baddies. As was the case in the original, you can choose to shoot your way through each of the locations. Alternatively, you can explore all the hidden entrances and sneak your way past the security posts undetected. What really struck me as amazing was the fact that there are only two or three characters that you can't shoot when you feel like it. Let me explain; usually, when people design games they want to limit your possibilities so that you're forced to take the exact approach to the problem that the designer intended you to take. Not in Deus Ex: Invisible War though. There are certain characters in the game that might be of great help to you in the later stages, but you can shoot them when you get the chance just as well. Though a bit sadistic, this is a good indication of the type freedom given to the players.

But hold on a second. I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel right about now. This isn't anything we haven't seen in the original. Nevertheless, it's VERY good to know that Ion Storm has stayed true to the notions of the original. One true advancement over the first game, however, is the phenomenal implementation of the physics engine. Alex D can knock over just about any object that isn't too heavy to budge. This not only adds a sense of unprecedented immersion, but it also creates numerous possibilities in terms of problem solving. Here are a few examples. Can't pass through a corridor because there is a laser security fence blocking your way? No problem, pick up a few crates, stack them together and jump over the obstacle without triggering the alarm. Want to pass undetected by a security camera? You don't need no fancy Biomod abilities, simply crouch behind a lighter crate and push it across the room while remaining hidden behind it. Neat, eh? The game is full of such examples. My congrats go out to the Ion team for actually putting these fancy physics to good use. It's the first time in a video game that I've used the physics engine to affect the gameplay.

There is no doubt that the level of nonlinearity and exploration in Deus Ex: Invisible War makes it stand out from any other game released this year. However, there were a few gameplay drawbacks that caught my attention. First of all, the weapons seemed unbalanced. The situation gets much better near the end of the game, when you realize that different enemies react differently to specific weapon types, but that doesn't alleviate the fact that I spent a good portion of the game sticking to my silenced sniper and dart gun. Accidentally, I should also mention here that you can mod your weapons, too - two mods per weapon. The good thing about this is that you can make a lot of combinations for each weapon by having two or more weapons of the same kind, but with different mods installed. Sure, I just mentioned another pseudo RPG element in the game, but it's unfortunately not enough to satisfy the wants of the more RPG-oriented Deus Ex fans. Anyway, to get back to what I was saying, it seemed to me that I favored the dart gun and the sniper through a significant portion of the game, without so much as firing another weapon. Dart gun fires poisonous darts - you fire one at an unarmored bad guy, get out of his way and let the poison do the rest. Near the final chapter, the situation will greatly improve in this regard. More armored enemies will start appearing, elite troops that will require you to be more versatile in terms of weapons usage, but I still would've liked to have seen an arsenal that was better balanced throughout the entire course of the game.