Deus Ex - Invisible War Explored

Thanks to GameSpot for their hands-on impressions of Deus Ex: Invisible War, the long-awaited PC/Xbox FPS from Warren Spector and cohorts at Ion Storm Austin. As well as confirming the game will ship in time for Xmas, the article illuminates: "Invisible War will give you more freedom of choice than the original Deus Ex", claiming that, similarly to the prequel, even non-violent conduct will work: "...one tester has made it about two-thirds of the way through the game without having acquired so much as a pistol." Boomtown also has a new preview of this "pivotal title" for Eidos.

Comments

slight inaccuracies..

[gl4ss]

** "Which Deus Ex ending will Ion Storm consider to be the 'true' one that will be picked up for the second game?" That question has finally been answered: All three of them. Invisible War assumes that all three possible scenarios played out, and their combined effects have resulted in a minor Dark Age that has plunged the world into depression and chaos. You will assume the role of Alex D, an operative and clone of the first game's protagonist, JC Denton. (Alex D's gender is chosen by the player). JC, his brother, Paul, and Tracer Tong all return from the first game and prominently figure in the story of political, religious, and technological intrigue**

now, in original deus ex, if you jumped out of the window in one spot rather than fought with your brother, your brother(paul) ended up dead(this happened in the hotel at one point in the storyline), so the reviewer doesn't seem to be 100% on top of things, plus obviously all three endings can't be happened because that would mean that denton did few things simultaneusly, rather it seems that some mixture of the endings was chose(meaning that none, not all, of the ending scenarios happened).

otherwise i'm waiting for deus ex to play it(deus ex is one of the few games i have decided on putting my money on during the last few years, and boy did that money go to the right game!). but i don't give crap about preview hype, and especially not with a game like deus ex(2), any review made of deus ex under several weeks of time would have been unjust anyways because it really does take several weeks to try it out enough, just like it takes several months/years to play enough nethack.

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hey send me a beta! you'll find the email on my homepages, i'll be sure to check all silly combinations.

Re:slight inaccuracies..

[gmhowell]

You'd be amazed at how quickly you can get through Deus Ex on repeat plays:) It took me about three-four weeks of nightly playing the first time. 2.5 the second time. Did it in a week the third time. I've had mine preordered at the local EB (or Funcoland, or whatever) for a couple of months. Normally, I'd wait, save a few bucks, and get it online. Not for Deus Ex. Release day for me. I just hope the GeForce 3 Ti500 I have is up to the job:(

Re:Whew!

[Danse]

They have to further optimize console versions. Consoles aren't as powerful as the latest PCs, and PCs don't need to be optimized in the same sense since you can change the graphics settings to acheive the performance/eye-candy balance that you want. So even if you have a PC that has hardware that is a couple years old (as I do), you can still play the latest games, albeit at somewhat lower graphics settings (which are still generally as good or better than what you get on a console anyway). The benefits of a PC far outweigh the drawbacks.

Re:I hear...

[Snowmit]

Good point. I mean this article certainly wasn't up to the crack journalistic snuff of the "There's going to be a BSD conference in the future!" article.

If OS geeks can get excited about upcoming OS releases, then gaming geeks can get excited about upcoming game releases.

Cost analysis for Deus Ex 2

[Carrion Creeper]

new CPU - $100
new mobo - $120
new RAM - $80
new graphics card - $140
deus ex 2 for PC preordered - $50

Paying $490 to play Deus Ex 2 on an PC with Windows 2000 because I hate microsoft and therefore won't buy an XBox - priceless?

Re:Cost analysis for Deus Ex 2

[damiam]

XBox: $180
Decent TV: $370
Deus Ex 2 for Xbox: $50
Total: $600

Compare to:

Already have dual Athlons - $0
Current mobo is fine - $0
Got a gig of RAM - $0
Got a Radeon 9700 PRO - $0
Deus Ex 2 for PC - $40
Total - $40

Playing DE2 with a mouse at 1600x1200: priceless.

But how will it look??

[tprime]

I can just hope that this version will be on par graphically. The last one was a good game that seemed to be, at the time of release, a generation or so behind the rest of the pack in terms of graphics. I don't believe that graphics make the game, but they should at least be passable.

Re:But how will it look??

[Flamerule]

I can just hope that this version will be on par graphically.

Well, Gamespot says

Finally, the graphics in Invisible War have been a topic of great interest, and for good reason: The game looks superb. It uses some of the same advanced graphics techniques, such as real-time lighting and shadowing and character normal-mapping, that make the forthcoming graphical juggernaut Doom 3 look so impressive.

I'd judge that quite a bit ahead of par. Take a look at some of the screenshots (here, here, etc.). They're not quite Doom III -- but that's not possible (unless you're Valve, I guess).

The last one was a good game that seemed to be, at the time of release, a generation or so behind the rest of the pack in terms of graphics.

Make that "great" game, but yeah.

I don't believe that graphics make the game, but they should at least be passable.

Right. They were passable.

Re:But how will it look??

[Song for the Deaf]

Warren Spector has said many times in interviews that having cutting edge graphics was a priority.

That being said, from what else I have read I don't think that the graphics will be as jaw dropping as the in game physics and lighting. The designers have said that knocking over lamps, barrels, people, etc. will have almost lifelike actions and reactions with the rest of the game world.

I predict player made movies and in game footage not unlike the Halo warthog-launching movies circulating aroung the net. People will find absolutley hilarious things to do with this physics engine, I'm sure.

I really hope this game does well. It might be a bit too smart for joe sixpack, however. The fact that you don't need to use guns at all might be telling....

Slightly off-topic, but ...

[Repton]

The ultimate Deux Ex walkthrough.