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Deus Ex Newbie is Blown Away

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: December 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Let me start with a short introduction.

I never played Ion Storm's original Deus Ex. Or to be more accurate, I didn't play enough of it to be able to make a worthwhile comparison. I read some previews of the new game, Deus Ex: Invisible War, and became really intrigued: it didn't sound like anything I'd played before. I began to wonder if I should play the original first. About this time, word starting spreading about changes made to the game design - changes that many fans of the first were very displeased with. Once hearing this, I decided I'd forego playing the first and dive into IW cold - I wanted to play the game for its own merits without judging it against its predecessor (no matter how superior the original game was touted to be). Since my home computer can't handle the PC version of the game, I played the Xbox version by default. As a result of this process, this may seem like a naive review, as I can't comment on anything regarding the previous game, but on the other hand, I am judging it on its own, without comparison.

Intro over.

It's very difficult to say anything specific about IW regarding the plot, because so much of the plot is tied directly to the actions and decisions of the player. But I can say that the game starts off with a bang. Almost immediately you are wondering whom to trust, which path to take, what items to use. The rules of the IW universe are explained at the beginning, but only in brief terms: for the large part, the player is left to fend for him/herself (you can choose Alex D's sex). The game manual is quick to point out that there are no "right" or "wrong" choices in IW - events unfold, doors are opened and closed, and the story changes depending on what Alex D decides. Should you side with Group 1, knowing it will anger Group 2? How will your decision affect the future? It's very rare that any game allows this kind of freedom to players, and at time it's almost overwhelming (especially at the beginning). But the further you progress, the more sense things make, the stronger your character's identity becomes, and you begin to appreciate more and more what Ion Storm has accomplished.

Alex D. is an agent who is able to be fitted with biomodification canisters, five in all, one for a specific region of the body. These "biomods" give Alex superhuman abilities, ranging from enhanced speed or strength to limited invisibility, among others. Illegal black-market biomods are particularly interesting. The biomods allow the player to tailor Alex to be a stealthy type of agent, a virtual "Terminator", or something in between. Adding to this customization is a range of equipment (firearms, swords, grenades, etc) which can also be upgraded to suit a particular style of play. This system is brilliant because in the world of IW, nothing is straight-forward - there are many ways to pass obstacles. Alex D. can charge into a heavily guarded room with guns blazing, sneak through air shafts, or hack into a security system and cause automated turrets to fire upon "friendlies." And these are just a few of the many options. You never feel forced to take any single path in IW - an amazing feat, especially when you consider the depth of the story - and experimentation is often rewarded.

IW may seem shorter than most RPGs, but you must remember that this game is almost designed to be replayed. You can reach any one of several endings in almost countless ways.

Invisible War is a beautiful game. No, it doesn't run at a particularly high frame-rate, but the environments are so detailed and so interactive, it's a small price to pay - you'll cease to notice it unless you're really making an effort to look for it. The vaunted Havok physics engine can be pretty silly, but it makes the world that much more immersive and allows for a lot of creativity on the part of the player. The lighting is 100% real-time, and is probably the best to be seen to date. Player models are convincing - not perfect, perhaps, but they get the job done very well. All told, the IW engine performs very well. The fact that it can look as good as it does while allowing for so much in-game experimentation is quite an achievement.

Sound-wise, there's little to complain about. There's a lot of voice-acting in IW, and while not Pixar-caliber, it does a fine job of maintaining the immersion. Elevator music plays in elevators, conversations can be heard everywhere, and a nice, dark, ambient soundtrack adds to the mood. Weapons and manipulated items all fit in perfectly.

So there's a newbie's take. Playing IW was some of the most fun I've had in the interactive media, mostly due to the high level of freedom the player is presented with. Is it a perfect game? No - but honestly, what is? I wasn't quite sure what to expect going in, but I came away with the strong conclusion that Deus Ex: Invisible War is not only a masterfully crafted game. It's a personalized experience. It's not only one of the best game's I've played this year, it's one of the best I've ever played.

Now to track down the original. Can it possibly live up to Invisible War?? I can't wait to find out.

As deep and immersive as the first - instant classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 04, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Here's the thing: right now I'm wandering nighttime Seattle, having escaped the opening invasion of my shady spy academy/genetics lab by creepy hooded cultists. I don't know where I'll go next or what I'll do, but odds are it will be violent - I was never a man of peace in the original Deus Ex, and I am true to form this time. During the bravura opening sequence, one of the school's security guards told me to sneak out the back way while she dealt with the cultist in the next room; instead, I followed her out the door in crouch mode, let the cultist riddle her with bullets, then grabbed her gun, snuck around the darkened perimeter of the room, and capped the guy from behind. Of course, I didn't *have* to do that - I could have knocked the cultist out with my nightstick, or distracted him by throwing something at him, or I could have followed the guard's advice and avoided the situation entirely.

That decision lies at the heart of what made DEUS EX a game for the ages. And that heart is still beating in INVISIBLE WAR, which, like KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC, brings a deep PC-game sensibility to a new audience of console gamers.

DEUS EX is about creating immersive gameworlds that feel like the next best thing to reality; worlds where you make choices that have real consequences. Will you focus on stealth or go in like Rambo? Will you preserve life or end it? No matter what you choose, your actions will come back to reward and haunt you later in the game, as NPC characters remember where you have been and what you have done. Even your initial choice of character gender has repercussions on down the line.

The game feels right at home on Xbox, with solid, intuitive controls and an easily-navigable inventory system. Unlike other roleplaying games, or for that matter other first-person shooters, your inventory is limited to what a real person (or at least a real bionic agent) could plausibly carry.

But even though you can't lug around twelve suitcases' worth of weapons and medkits, you'll never be at a loss for tactical options, because you can almost always improvise your way through situations using the environment around you. Need to distract a guard? Send a beer bottle sailing into the alley behind him. Turret chewing you up? Upend a steel table and take cover!

The graphics so far are absolutely lovely; the fully dynamic lighting, in particular, has to be seen to be believed. Unfortunately, the human characters are animated rather stiffly - though better than in the original game - but watching the light play across the folds in their clothes as they move around is impressive. The environments aren't very big, and apparently none of them approach the huge outdoors levels of the original, but on the other hand the set design is finely-detailed and convincing - the lab, for instance, is built and laid-out like a lab, not like a secret labyrinth fortress of death.

The voice acting isn't up to KOTOR levels, but it's not bad, either. The lip-synching is also done admirably well. Your character has a lot more personality than JC Denton, though I admit that I found Denton's flat inflections kind of endearing.

The writing so far has been first-rate; the mysteries are piled on thick and more keep coming. This is clearly going in a different direction from the original, though: DX1 may have been all about conspiracies and secret societies, but the story was a pretty straightforward good versus evil setup, and you were never really in doubt as to which was which. In DX2, though, your choices are a lot more uncomfortable - right now, for instance, I'm being pulled to either support the big bad capitalist elite or the creepy hooded hippie cult. Neither option is particularly appealing, and of course neither group is exactly forthcoming with its real intentions. Which will I choose? Or will I play both sides against the middle? I don't know, but so far every path I've chosen has been fascinating and rewarding - and I have no doubt that the rest of the game will be as well.

They did it again!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 31, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you played the first Deus Ex you have a great taste in games and if your looking for a great game you have come to the right place. Invisible war is a must have for any xbox owner out there. While looking at the screenshots you may think this game is just a first-person shooter, but you are way off. This game adapts to your playing style, and what you put in, you will get out. Invisible war like its brother, it is completly inovative where anything you can think of doing is in the game. Lets say you want to throw that garbage can at that guard, well you can. If you want to solve all your problems by shooting your way through you can, or if you want to get through all life's problems by finding a way to avoid bloodshed you can do that as well. With 5 different endings based on how you play the game, you can never get sick of starting over and playing through the game differently hoping to get a new ending. No one minds playing a game more then once when the visuals look this good. Everything looks like its real life counter-part, and light and shadow are awesome which can be used to your advantage or disadvantage. The game is action-packed all the way through, never a boring moment, and a story that will prevent you from playing any other games in your collection. Don't let the screenshots fool you this game is deep, with hundreds of NPCs, books to read, and secondary missions to achieve, you could find yourself playing two or three hours in a sitting without even realizing time went by. With a gameplay time of over 20 hours this is clearly worth the 50 dollars!

Buy this game - it's worth it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: December 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I agree with one of the reviewers about why there are so many whiners comparing this game to Halo. No - you can't compare this game to Halo just as much as you can't compare KOTOR to HALO! it's a different game! Halo is a first person shooter game. Deus Ex just looks that way but it isn't! It has a really great (note: unique!) mix of RPG and FPS.

It's a bit like KOTOR because your actions change the way your enemies (or allies) react upon seeing you. You have objectives in the game that you can choose to meet or just entirely skip out. You can go about achieving the objectives by using stealth, violence, or wits! now that's no HALO, right?

About the AMMO thing. Since this game is based on futuristic events where NANO technology are used in a day in and day out function, Ammos are based on Nanites that can be utilized in real-time in different proportions by the different guns and react differently when fired. Trust me, they have awesome features here.

the game is about 20-hours long at the normal difficulty settings and if you try to accomplish all objectives. You can save anywhere at anytime. Overall, this is a game that is fun to play, addictive story line, and most of all, I like the 4 different paths that can lead to 4 different endings.

It's worth the money even if you're not familiar with Deus Ex one.

Loved KOTOR, love DX:IW!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: December 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm a big fan of Star Wars:Knights of the Old Republic, so naturally I was eager to check out DX:IW. I can happily report that I am not disappointed! I've played it for about 4 hours now. There is more hands-on-action and not quite as much role-playing as KOTOR, but the freedom they give you in this game is awesome! The weapons and biomods are really well done and interesting. There are just so many ways to accomplish things, I can see replaying this game over and over. Great game!

Quality gaming.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Deus Ex: Invisible War came out last year(2003), and it was one of the best games of last year. Its an open ended delight. This is not an action game. Sure, there are guns in it, but its an RPG at heart. The great thing about this awesome game is that you dont have to do something one way like a Final Fantasy game. You can complete thing mutiple ways. It feels like you're creating the experiance instead of it feeling like a "just there" type of thing. There are multiple endings, and no, I wont spoil anything. I also found some rather interesting secrets, and the more you play this, the more new things you will probably find out. The only real fault is sometimes not so great computer A.I. and a dissapointing frame rate. Dont expect the prettiest game ever, though its not really ugly(the graphics are like a 3.7/5). I dont think the PC version of the same title is as good though, because there were alot of bugs I heard of in the home personal computer version that I didnt find in the Xbox version. I would say to get the Xbox version if you get the choice. Get this game, its quality gaming, and even a breath of fresh air in some ways.

First Person RPG

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you are reading these, trying to learn if the game is good and if you should buy it, then yes.

It gets the title "First Person Shooter" because there is a gun in front of the screen alot of the times. I don't understand why it did'nt get labeled an RPG. You can upgrade your guy, buy things, make choices that effect the out come, and more. You can join groups and take up job for more cash. Learn how to hack, sneek by bots and camras, and more. Once you learn, you can hack money of ATM machines.

Also you can interact alot. Buy sodas and candy bars. You can pick up stuff and throw it. Even dead bodies. It can be a weird kind of fun. So if you think you just carry around a gun the whole time, your wrong. It has ALOT more to do then that.

This game reminds me of a "Shadowrun, Fallout, Morrowind". It has the best of all of them. An RPG that take place in the future. I was wanting a game like this for a while. I HIGHLY recomend it.

HOT!!! HOT!!! HOT!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 7
Date: December 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

THIS GAME IS HOOOOOOTTTTTTT!!!!!!! I love this game you can chooose youre path and do all cool things. I dont know what kinda game this is. RPG? FPS? RACING? Lol jus kiddin bout racing but this is hooooooot!! BUY IT ITS A CLASSIC AND THE BEST XBOX GAME OF 2003!!!!!!!!!

Addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I usually don't play video games; aside from this, the only other game I have played with any sort of resolve was "Halo," which seems to be the norm from the other reviewers.

That said, I have to confess that this game has proven to be quite addictive. The graphics are detailed and the scenery constantly changes; one second you're in Seattle, then Cairo, then Trier (Germany), then Antarctica, back to Cairo, and finally in NYC. I don't really understand why they marketed this game as being "The Future War on Terror," which initially repelled me because I assumed that Eidos was trying to capitalize on current events. For the most part, terrorism is only implied and is pretty scant.

There are a few drawbacks, though. Many of the actions that a player takes are irrevocable; the ammo is difficult to acquire; as reported in "XBox Magazine", the game is a little short (presumably the player is supposed to play it several times while taking different courses of action); and the "biomods", which enhance a person's abilities, are a little too aplenty.

All in all, though, one couldn't wish for a better game. A pretty rich plot and various endings make this a quality purchase.

Pass the time for Halo 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Invisible War is an incredible game. You can't really compare it to Halo because other than being a first person shooter they don't have much in common. But wait, all you Halo lovers WILL love this game. Like halo, Invisible War has a fantastic story line. The only problem that I found was the way the game handles the ammo situation. Your player can carry quite a few items but the ammo for each gun is shared. what I mean is that you don't pick up flamethrower ammo or SMG ammo, you just pick up ammo in general. The ammo isn't that easy to find anyway. The biomods are a great twist to the game though, allowing you to come up with all kinds of cool abilities that help you out. Also, you choose your own path on this game, you can align several different ways making each game unique. If you are expecting a warzone like halo, i wouldn't get this game. Quite a few people are killed but almost in a covert way, hence the name invisible war. This game is an instant classic that will let you forget that Halo 2 doesn't come out until April.(almost)

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