In Deus Ex: Invisible War, you'll become part of a deadly war that's being fought in places no one ever sees. Thrills and chills are waiting for you in this sequel to the incredible hit Deus Ex! Move your character down different paths -- and try to figure out who's really on your side!

The city of Chicago has been completely disintegrated. Agent Alex D. of the Tarsus Academy has been assigned to find out who did it, and why. Two different organizations will vie for your services - but they both have shady pasts and ulterior mortives. Try to figure out what's really going on, before another city is destroyed.

Peerless 1st-person gameplay that combines shooter action, stealth, puzzle-solving and role-playing elements

Use your biomods to customize and Upgrade you characters - see through walls, leap 40 feet into thte air, regenerate damage and more

Multiple solutions to every problem, and different consequences for solution -- it's a different game every time

Complete decisive power over your character -- you create their look and guide them through a world of danger and treachery. Sneak, hack, bribe or kill your way to a solution

Average Customer Review: ( 61 customer reviews )
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Depending on where you look, Deus Ex: Invisible War (i.e. Deus Ex 2) is either a refreshing breeze in console gaming, a horrifying example of what happens when you "dumb down" a game to appeal to a broader audience, or the worst thing ever subjected to the video gaming public.

Hmm.

I bought the game (mixed reviews or no) and went through it in three days, determied to come to my own conclusions. And now, I can safely say, that nearly every review I read was spot on. Depending on how you look at it, this can be a fantastic game, a death knell for intelligent game design, or a steaming pile that you accidentally stepped in and now it's stinking up the house.

That said, I'm not going to get into the plot of either the original or of Invisible War here, since this is one of those rare games where it's best to go in blind, but everything else is fair game. So...

Having been a massive fan of the PC original, I'd been awaiting the release of Invisible War since Warren Spector himself, adressing some fan's issues with the multiplayer patch, mentioned that they only had one guy on the team still working on the original Deus Ex; everyone else was hard at work on the game's next installment.

Which brings me nicely to point number one: If you've yet to play the original Deus Ex, go there first. It can be had for next to nothing, will run on practically any modern PC, and it easily the best way to determine whether this type of game is for you or not without having to spend a lot of money. On top of that, and despite what a lot of reviews have said, DX:IW is indeed a true sequel to the original. It picks up twenty years later, but there's no doubt that you're in the same world, and having the events of the first game under your belt will aid immensely in getting through the second installment while still having some idea of what the hell is going on (not a given with these games - you have to pay attention).

So, assuming that you're familiar with the first game and liked it as much as everyone seems to, here's the real question: Does the sequel stack up?

Not really.

But it's still pretty fun.

The biggest gripe that can be said about IW, and the one that nearly everyone comes to independantly, is that the game feels cut. And I'm not talking about things that were omitted from Invisible War that were in the original (did anyone ever use the Iron Lung mod, anyway?) I mean it feels like things were going to be implemented in Invisible War that were ultimately dropped. It's like watching a movie where you just know that there was something that got cut at the last minute, and they didn't have time to re-edit it properly.

The best example I can think of is right at the beginning of both games. In the original DX, you start right in the heart of things, engaging in a sting operation to free the Statue of Liberty from terrorist occupation. You go in, you do your thing, the game quietly keeps track of HOW you do your thing, and then...You go to work. It's established that you're essentially a futuristic cop, and much of the early part of the game is spent establishing the plot and showing off your technology to let the player acclimate to it. So, when things start to go haywire (which, and I mean this in a good way, they do quite suddenly) it's honestly engaging, especially as the layers begin to reveal themselves. Do you stick with your old affiliations? Oh, wait, they were operating behind your back! But...So were the other people you were going to work for! Aaah! Who do you trust?

By comparison, DX:IW gets you dressed, prepped, and out the door in the first ten minutes of gametime. You're out of Chicago in the opening movie, in Seattle in the first scene, and then BAM, you're free of all obligations right from the get-go. No police affiliation, no real information, but thankfully, everyone seems to know your number and wants to call you. It sounded good on paper, I'm sure, but in practice it's jarring and serves more to distance the player from the game than anything else. You never really get the chance to feel betrayed or double-crossed by anyone, because, well, you never really care about them to begin with.

It's a tough sell to explain this to someone who is unfamiliar with either game, so here's something worth noting: The only way you'd notice is if you played both games.

The other big gripe about DX:IW is that it runs horribly, regardless of which platform you choose. If you'd rather go with the PC version, expect to burn some serious power on this game. The Xbox version, which is pretty choppy and prone to slowdown, at least looks good when it's not moving, and is definitely the better choice for anyone without a monster PC. This was a common complait with the first game as well, though it's a moot one now.

Here's the kicker: Even the most stringent critic of DX:IW noted that, while they thought the game was loaded with problems, they kept playing it. A lot. Sometimes, when they beat it, they'd fire it right back up and start all over again.

What gives?

Well, it sounds odd, but for all this game's problems and occasionally wonky design scheme (all weapons use the same type of ammo? C'mon...) it's still fun. In fact, a lot of the time it's so fun that you forget about all the other stuff that bothered you about it, and at the very least it makes these problems forgivable. I beat the game in three days. If I wasn't having fun, there's no way I could have done that, I don't care how much I loved the first game. With DX:IW, the problems will bother you if you let them, and particularly if you were a big fan of the first one, but at the end of the day, it's still a fantastically fun game. Manipulating all the factions to your whim, or having them do it to you, is such a cool game mechanic that it overshadows everything else and really saves this game. Again, critics will point out that this was done better in the first game (and it was.) Taken on it's own merits, though, DX:IW is a competent sequel that still gave me that same sense of cool that the first one had in droves.

It just took some digging to find it.

12 of 14 found the following review helpful:

As deep and immersive as the first - instant classicDec 04, 2003
By Jacob G Corbin
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.

6 of 6 found the following review helpful:

Loved KOTOR, love DX:IW!Dec 05, 2003

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!

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Whatz All the fussDec 20, 2003

Alot of people bashed this game saying "It was not as detailed as the first Deus Ex", "There wasn't different ammo for each weapon", and "I am a big ass baby cause I cant get what I want".

Don't listen to these gays. "It's not like Halo", "it is not as cool as Halo", or "I have a Halo complex because all I do with my life is play Halo" (halo is a great game, don't get me wrong)

This is Deus Ex dammit and It is the secound install I think they do a great job of streamlining the things you need from the things you don't

Take the ammo gripe for instance. Each weapon consumes a different amount of the same ammo, which is no different then having say six sniper bullets or 18 pistol cartridges. The only difference is you don't have to waste your whole day looking for the bullets. I find it more enjoyable

The greatest thing about this game is the replay value I mean you could replay the Seattle level, which is the first level in the game about 100 different ways. Take this into consideration with 15 different biomods you can choose from and about five ballistic weapons, four non-lethal, and an assortment of greneades and gadgets, you can takle the situations anyway you want. If you added various ammo for each weapon it would just be one more thing you have to balance in your inventory, and this is a game not a Quicky Mart.

The Graphics are a little textured, but don't let that detract you from getting this. I gave it four stars only because the graphics (to please the junkies out there) weren't as good as Halo. But, this isn't Halo it is a FPS where the objectives are not neccassarily to blast everything that moves. This game is best suited to those that like to experiment and do not get frustrated easily.

The first Deus Ex was not a cake walk, and neither is this one. You have to know when to shoot, to talk, to run, or to hack into an enemy bot and use his gatling guns against his allies.

A solid buy that will reward those of us who like FPS and RPG games. Besides people what else are we gonna do until Halo 2 comes out? Get this game. You will appreciate its uniqueness You will play it The Order is calling you because they say Its the Crunkinest!!!!

6 of 7 found the following review helpful:

An involving RPGDec 09, 2003

I've never played or even seen the original Deus Ex, but I do like Sci-Fi future-tech types of games and movies.

Deus Ex: Invisible War opens with a beautiful, short (considering the story), but well made cut scene and features a slick futuristic presentation and atmosphere throughout - even the menus look and sound like they're from the future. The world that Deus Ex creates is well done and very believable. The graphics, sound effects, and character interaction really set the mood of a possible future Earth. The story is original and complete in the sense that they've covered all aspects of a future society - economy, technology, spirituality, politics, security, class struggle, corruption, conflict, environmental destruction, and even entertainment. The history of how it got that way is pieced together as you progress through the game.

If atmosphere alone made a game, then we'd be talking about an all-time great game, but it doesn't, and it isn't.

The worst thing about Deus Ex is the combat - it's terrible - stiff, akward, and frustrating with clunky A.I. and bad collision detection. After having played games like Rainbow Six 3 and Halo, the combat in Deus Ex looks and feels ridiculous, like something from another era.

Deus Ex: Invisible War does allow you some freedom, but instead of a large open world or city like GTA, it's broken up into small free-roaming sections or buildings that load when you enter and exit them. There should be no doubt that this game is an RPG all the way, through and through. If the designers had been able to incorporate Rainbow Six type of combat in Deus Ex, this game would have been a monster. But as it is, Invisible War is more about exploring, talking to people, picking up stuff, managing your stuff (life energy & biomod energy, credits, weapons & weapon mods, med kits/food, multitools, and biomod abilities) and accomplishing those missions that YOU see fit to take on.

It's in this last aspect where Deus Ex deviates from other games - it actually reacts to what you do (in terms of plot and interaction). The characters in the game are aware of your actions and are constantly trying to get you to come over to their side and work for them - pulling you in different directions and forcing you to think about what you do and how you do it. This intellectual struggle contrasts with the step-by-step linear storyline of most games, and while I can appreciate this unique quality, and the other positives like graphics and setting, I don't feel that it's enough to be able to call this a great game. These positive aspects save the game from being really bad, instead of pushing it up into greatness.

I guess I would rather see a hard-hitting FPS with strong RPG gameplay (character interaction, player modification, and the evolving plot) than an interesting RPG with weak combat, which is what Deus Ex: Invisible War is. It's not a bad game, and it is what I expected (I read a bunch of reviews before buying); it's just that its potential is so great that with a few tweaks here and there, Invisible War could have been a ground breaking iconic type of XBOX game on the level of Halo and possibly bigger due to the engrossing atmosphere and complexity of the Sci-Fi future-Earth world. Instead it's merely an entertaining game with a cool setting and just enough "different" thrown in to make you keep playing it.

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