Deus Ex 2: Invisible War

You take the role as the least interesting member of the Denton family, hot on the trail of terrorists who just destroyed your home and everything you hold dear with a cloud of pseudo-scientific nonsense. In your quest, you meet one ugly, forgettable character after another as you travel around the world picking up the sloppy seconds of the conspiracies laid bare by the first game. Harsh, perhaps, but the story and world-building this time around is nowhere near as compelling, especially if taken on its own merit without the first game. This entry veers more towards ultra-futuristic fantasy; the skills are dropped in favor of simplified "biomods", and ammo is universally shared between all weapons. This makes it less enticing to try different playstyles and there is no rare ammo to reward you for exploration. The combat is less sluggish than the first game, but many weapons feel underpowered and your nonlethal options are limited. That said, there is still enjoyment to be had. There is some quirky humor here and there, and the game is just engaging enough to keep you going. However, a lot hinges on nostalgia from the first game, especially when revisiting characters or locations. The idea of a black market for biomods adds an interesting touch on the game. This means another faction to deal with, and the enhancements are interesting. Ultimately, there seems little difference to which factions you side with until the final act of the game. This isn't much different from the first game, but the game gives you the illusion of pledging allegiance when it does not actually matter. Despite the flaws, I have played through this multiple times.

I see that people are saying that this game is considered so bad because it's a sequel to one of the greats. No. This has nothing to do with the prequel being so awesome, this game is just bad. I mean yes, I had hight expectations for this game after playing Deus Ex and they were crushed when I first played it so I thought it had affected how I perceived this game but no. I tried it years later as just one of many FPS games out there and it's just unplayable, I think every other game of this type is better than this... I don't care if the story is OK or whatever, this game just plays extremely poorly, I'm not going to repeat all it's flaws that have been already pointed out here or anywhere else on the web.

I got this game on GOG because the steam version black screened and froze when launching campaign. Expected to at least be able to start the campaign. But unfortunately this game does not work properly here either and suffers from the same issues. Shame that games are sold in a state where they are bordeline unplayable and require fan fixes to work on modern computers.

I played invisible war before the original deus ex and I enjoy this game although in the end you have to choose 3 very gray endings. For me the actual feeling in being in a future cyberpunk and secretive world feels more realistic to me (music, art direction) than the original Deus Ex. Now are the maps small? yes but for for the time with these graphics were ok, is the gameplay a little simplified yes when it comes to one time of ammunition, is the story weaker than the original deus ex.. yes! It's a good game but it branched a little from the original deus ex.

I don't see where the viritol around this game comes from. It's a solid FPS with decent story and options, and a good variety of weapons and skills. Sure, it's not as good as the first game, but it's still a pretty good adventure FPS. Give it a shot, it's worth a try. There's much worse on GOG that you can spend $5 on.