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Deus Ex - Invisible War Probed
Thanks to UGO.com for their hands-on preview of Ion Storm's Deus Ex:Invisible War, the forthcoming sequel to the much-acclaimed FPS/RPG hybrid. The feature starts: "Few RPGs have offered the level of open-ended gameplay, the Hollywood-quality back story, or the innovative character development that Deus Ex did", and goes on to describe the changes to the sequel, which include a "simplifying [of] its character-development system" and a new interface that's "similar to Metroid Prime's visor view" - in fact, "when a menu pops up, it'll be emblazoned directly on [the new lead character] Alex's eye." The game is currently due out this December for both PC and Xbox.
I rarely run games on my computer, as I tend to use it more for school and utility than for pleasure.
On my now defunct desktop, I bought an SB Live! card and it came with a copy of Deus Ex. The game was great enough that I actually went out and bought a 3d accelerator to make it playable (a Voodoo3, a week before 3dfx went belly up). To make a long story short, it was the best game I've ever played and the only game to ever to hold me from beginning to end.(I usually get bored half way through, stop, and come back in a year. I still haven't beaten starcraft)
In the original, after the first level the graphics cease to matter. They are passable, and the story is so immersive that the graphics don't need a lot of eyecandy to hold your attention. I felt the story was better than that of HL, as the story changed based on your choices. The levels forked and different people reacted differently based on how you acted. Your abilities changed fundamentally, making your approach to the game change as you progressed. (No need to kamikaze into level 2 bots with a RPG if you can turn invisible and walk around them) If the second can be as immersive as well as improve the visual quality, I may forget what reality is, and try to activate my IR vision when I go out at night.
I don't give a damn about Doom 3 or HL2. Yet, I'm quite eager to play The Invisible Hand.
Nothing compares to activating your own level 2 security bots and watching them wreak havoc on the FEMA bots that used to be guarding Area 51.
-Ryan
AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
You know, I've been waiting for ages for this to show up on Slashdot. Not because I'm a big fan of the game (hell, I haven't even played the first one), or even because I'm a big gamer (I'm not), but because I'm dating one of the developers.
So...er...anyway. Yeah, this game r0xors. Yeah. Hardcore. Please don't hit me honey.
(Although, ya gotta admit - being a geek and dating an attractive programmer chick who's working on a hit game is pretty cool...)
...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
The other option is if they come out with a PS2 port. No? Too bad, Eidos won't be getting my money for this game, then.
The XP system required micromanagement and slowed the game. It reminded me a little of the old FF problem- you have to go around and fight a long time to level up, so you can beat the boss.
/. did with karma- XP is a level now, not a number. You'll get bio mods at the end of each level, and they could add new ones like knuckle implants that make melee combat better.
There is no reason they can't reward explorers- just hide bio-mods. I think they are doing a change much like
IMHO, this just makes the interface and game run smoother.
-Ryan
AUWYHSTOT (Acronyms are Useless When You Have to Spell Them Out Too)
I think that removing the XP system will make or break this game with former DX1 players.
To me, it sounds like their just making it easier so it'll be a more mainstream game and get more sales.
I'll buy it cause I loved the original, but I'm preparing myself to be dissapointed.