Deus Ex: Invisible War Review

Having earned widespread critical acclaim for the original â??Deus Exâ??, following up with a sequel must have been both exciting and daunting for Warren Spector and the team at Ion Storm. Mixing an intriguing Sci-Fi storyline with a truly exceptional branching storyline, it was never going to be easy developing a sequel and as the American release displayed, change too much and you risk enduring the wrath of the fanatics.

Being developed on both the Xbox and the PC has resulted in a game that feels, well definitely different to the original; PC fans at the time bemoaned what they claimed was a general dumbing down of the experience, and what they suggested was a result of console development. Whilst itâ??s true that Ion Storm have implemented a number of changes to streamline the experience and wrongly had to release a patch shortly after the US release to address control issues, that type of nit-picking mentality would surely result in missing a gripping, tense, Sci-Fi political storyline and certainly the best game released in 2004 so far.

Set twenty years after the collapse depicted in â??Deus Exâ??, warring corporate governments have had to resort to terrorism as the primary tool to enforce their own agendas.

Players assume the role of Alex .D, a trainee at the Tarsus Academy; roused from his sleep and rushed to a secret airfield to be transported away from the only world that s/he has ever known. Confined to a new training facility â??for his own safetyâ??, Alex learns that his home city of Chicago has been completely destroyed by a terrorist nanotech attack.

Thrust into a world of conflict, conspiracy and doubt, itâ??s up to you to unearth the true secrets behind the attack on Chicago and discover who is to blame.

As with the original, the twisting storyline provides the main pull of the game, as numerous factions come to light and leave the player open to choose between them, working alongside or against them as you attempt to unravel the truth. Whilst the game begins as a separate chapter in the Deus Ex storyline, further progress brings up constant references to the original, so itâ??s likely that Deus Ex fans will gain more enjoyment then those who havenâ??t played the original before.

Ion Storm have done a particularly excellent job with the storyline, so youâ??re never entirely sure who to trust; this type of intrigue certainly lends the game a suitable style and feeling, those who enjoy well crafted storylines will find themselves enjoying every moment of the game.

However itâ??s arguably the free-flowing gameplay that is the strongest element of the game; players are free to choose how they want to progress through the game, and weave in and out of mission objectives as they see fit. â??Deus Ex: Invisible Warâ?? manages to strike the chord wonderfully, and as such you donâ??t get the feeling that all the choices are immediately available to you, rather you make your own way through the game. Thankfully the game does a good job (although not perfect) of keeping the player up to date with what heâ??s doing, so you rarely get the feeling that youâ??re aimlessly wandering around with precious little direction.

This open-ended design is prevalent through the storyline and also how you go about completing mission objectives; for example when tasked to enter the penthouse suite of a Council member to investigate smuggling allegations, you have a number of ways of going about it. The player could use a selection of multitools to break their way in and evade the security system or possibly rig the door with explosives; use the air vents and break in through the roof or meet up with the Council member and become his â??Chamber-Maidâ?? to gain hold of his key-card. Thankfully the game never throws all the choices in your face and refuses to state the difference between right and wrong when it comes to choices; so thereâ??s a real feeling of discovering your way through the game and a smug sense of satisfaction whenever you discover an alternative means to solving the problem, whilst not feeling overly preachy or moral - simply put â??Deus Ex: Invisible Warâ?? is a masterpiece of game design.

Conversation between different characters is familiar to the likes of â??Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republicâ??, however thereâ??s certainly more freedom of choice available then that offered in BioWareâ??s title.

Whilst some have knocked the sense of realism in the game environment, with the player able to steal objects with little objection and factions requiring your help even though youâ??ve double-crossed them; I have to say that my experience in â??Deus Ex: Invisible Warâ?? was completely believable, I have never experienced the sense of tension that surrounded one particular assignation mission. Having broken into the apartment and shot my way through a multitude of bodyguards, the target managed to scramble and set of the home alarm system; having quickly disposed of him, I found myself hearing voices and decided to take cover, thankfully so, as two OCP officers entered the building, reported the murder and then to my shock sent in two bots to search the apartment. This entire experience is prevalent throughout the entire game, and in my opinion creates a believable yet playable gaming experience.

Although â??Deus Ex: Invisible Warâ?? incorporates far more depth then the usual FPS, it certainly takes a step back with regards to the RPG styled elements that featured in the original. As such skills and augmentation have been completely eradicated and replaced with the BioMod system, which allows players to acquire various upgrades such as Cloak, Thermal Masking and Strength Enhancement to mention but a few. I can see why the fans have screamed out aloud at this decision, however letâ??s not allow it to cloud our minds too much, as the result is a tighter experience that places emphasis on the choices players make, who they want to be and how they want to interact with the gameworld. Itâ??s also has allowed Ion Storm to create a highly streamlined and extremely slick user-interface that appears to be mapped onto the playerâ??s eye and more importantly doesnâ??t require multiple screens - ideal for the console market!!!

The BioMod system features five different categories that correspond to parts of your body (arm, cranial, leg, eye and skeletal), each offering three different types (one of which exclusively requires illegal black-market BioMod canisters) of upgrades however you can only use one at a time and have to replace those in the same category. Discovering BioMod canisters allows you to open up these, whilst also allowing you to â??level-upâ?? those that youâ??ve already acquired.

In addition itâ??s possible to improve virtual all of the weapons that come into your possession, with a number of enhancements including silencers, glass destabilizers and additional strength and decreased ammo consumption. Rather bizarrely thereâ??s only one type of ammo featured within the entire game that caters for all of the weapons within the game, however larger weapons consume at a faster rate. To be quite honest we canâ??t understand this decision and feel that it detracts from the game; Warren Spector recently addressed this issue himself in our exclusive Developer Diaries, so we suggest getting the reason on this decision from the man himself.

As a result of Xbox development Ion Storm has had to cut up the levels in to smaller chunks and sadly we have some obtrusive loading times as a result. However it should be noted that Ion Storm have taken this decision and run with it, as the smaller levels are definitely denser packed and feel very extensive despite their smaller size.

The visuals in the main part are excellent with some impressive character models and generally well-done environments; however the main star of the show is definitely the lighting and physics systems. Light is used wonderfully throughout with all manner of shadows used to build up the tension and truly create the traditional look of a moody futuristic environment, whilst the physics engine is as advanced as any weâ??ve seen so far including the likes of â??Half Life 2â??. Sadly few puzzles make use of this however unlike â??Half Life 2â?? or â??FarCryâ??, and as such itâ??s mainly just there for your own amusement. Virtually any object can be picked up and thrown, leading into the entertaining experience of chucking corpses against the wall just to check out the rag-doll effect; however sadly virtually every object doesnâ??t have the feeling of weight correctly and youâ??ll often find yourself throwing breakable objects that strangely manage to survive intact.

Music throughout remains a strong aspect of the game, which remains suitably in the background for the main part but builds up according to whenever the situation becomes tense or more action packed. As weâ??ve said before characters chat to each other and impressively this is based around actions that have occurred, such as the murder report between two OCP officers. Voice acting throughout is of a high standard, whilst special note must be made that a female and male voice has been recorded depending on which gender you choose at the beginning of the game.