Deus Ex 2: Invisible War

I will start my first review on Gog.com with a bold statement: I enjoyed Invisible War a lot more than the original Deus Ex. Now, since I can hear the furious crowd approaching with their magrails ready to shoot, I will tell you why oh why you should purchase this infamous title. 1- This game is, I will admit, not for everyone. The first and major complain you will hear time and time again is that the levels are much smaller than the original Deus Ex's. This, however, is very well executed, allowing you to grab a serious number of quests and meet a great cast of characters just by walking a few steps, instead of running for minutes through an area you already cleared. This does, in no way, invalid the huge levels the original game had, but if you are a person with very little spare time, you will thank Invisible War for its not-too-large environment. 2- Universal ammo may be annoying for some, yet in realistic mode, it can have a great impact on the way you play the game. I just finished the game with just half a clip on my pistol, after having to end more than a few enemies using close combat, which, at this level of difficulty, gets quite tricky. This is yet another "disadvantage" that helps you get through the game without spending precious minutes looking for the right ammo. 3- The Omar. Love them or hate them. In my case, I just love the whole concept of them. 4- Excellent characters, with decent voice acting, that will play different roles based on your choices along the game. 5- Four very different endings that carry on with the dark utopias already presented before. 6- Factions, politics and manipulation. All in all, this game does not compare to the original, but IMHO that's just because they are very different games. My case might be one in a million, but, if you play this game ignoring the angry screams around claiming that change is a bad thing, you may be surprised by a great story, good action/stealth gameplay, and good replayability.

Deus Ex is still today my favorite game of all time. Invisible War had big shoes to fill, and it didn't fill anything, except the disappointment of fans. Invisible War is not a bad game at its core, it is actually quite good. But what made Deus Ex unique was gone : nearly every RPG elements are out ( body parts, inventory space, points to allow, different munitions ...). All that remains is a dumbed down version of Deus Ex on consoles (it is one of the game I kept with my xbox). A shame. The story line remains quite good, with a lot of different approaches and possibilities, and it still has this intelligent side to it. The soundtrack by Alex Brandon is to my opinion the only part where Invisible War is superior to his big brother.

Oh, man... what a load of boredom and unfairness is that? Where shall I begin? Well... Level loads are frequent and lengthy. Very lengthy... Well, let's call it a good example for a exercise in patience. Levels are reduced to quite small and dull streets and courts. When you get into buildings you'll find some tiny and very few corridors and rooms. Nothing interesting or worthy to explore. Yes, you can crawl through ventilation shafts, hack the one or the other terminal. But that seems and feels to constructed to suit the needs of the gameplay. Maybe because the places are so small. In addition the gameplay is nothing but a sequence of trial and error exercises. There is no strategy, no plan you can figure out to get past your opponents. Because the unusual dumb AI will contradict all your efforts. You'll try - and fail. More or less you'll pass AI opponents by chance. Very exhausting. It's very annoying that you can't peek around a corner... Another fun breaker to open a door and a guard is just walking by at this very moment (and, of course, will shoot you down). It is not possible to check if it's safe to open a door. It's just: open the door - and hope for the best. No sorry. This is tiring. There is a good reason why 'Deus Ex: Invisible War' has such an low reputation. It' boring, repetitive - and unfair (mostly because of poor AI behavior). I can't say much about the story - because I was to busy to reload saved games. But I guess it's equally boring like the gameplay. The positive about 'Deus Ex: Invisible War'? It's looking quite good and has some good lighting for a game that age. And it sounds pretty good. That's it.

If you expect any difficulty from this game, you shouldn't buy this game... it's mindless fun. Even though this game is criticized to death because it's not a good sequel or it's short areas, it's a great deal of fun. Pick it up if you just want to kick back and brutally murder the cities of Seattle and Cairo.

The biggest changes ive noticed comparing this to Deus Ex is this-choices seem more limited on how you can handle things. Also, this game has a cartoon-y feel to it, whereas Deus Ex the original had a grim/grey feel to it *much more realistic* I would say this game is colorful like a rainbow, Deus Ex the original is like many shades of grey. The biggest disappointment in my opinion is changing the skill sets/augs up, and also the ammo packs for all weapons. At least in Deus ex you didn't go through ammo as quickly usually. Is this a bad game? No. Is it like its predecessor? No, see it as a different game. I will play it again though, its not horrible.