Picking Up The Pieces

In my recent preview for the game, I dove into the basics that make up Deus Ex: Invisible War (DX:IW), Ion Storm's sequel to the legendary storyline-driven action title released a number of years ago. Now that the final game is out and I've been blessed with the opportunity to play through the entire thing, here's a more opinionated article based on my experiences and thoughts with the title. There's quite a bit of ground to cover, so lets get started, shall we?

A quick run-down to get everyone up to speed. DX:IW takes place several decades after its predecessor, where humanity has risen up from the ashes of a massive catastrophe known simply as "The Collapse", which was invoked by J.C. Denton (the player) at the end of the original game. Contrary to the earlier assumption I made on my preview (which was based off only the first ¼ of the game), DX:IW's storyline operates on the concept that all three of the original game's opposing endings occurred. Since I'm a mean bastard, here's a spoiler-filled overview of events to annoy those too lazy to complete the original game; Bob Page is dead, Area 51 (the center for global communication on the planet) exploded, and Denton merged with the Helios AI and went into hiding. Certainly an interesting approach to the storyline, as it isn't entirely in-line with the expectations of what happened in the original game (the three endings were somewhat exclusive of each other). Nevertheless, the game starts off by putting the player into the shoes of "Alex D", a male (or female, depending on the player's choices) trainee at Chicago's Tarsus Academy, Tarsus being a set of educational facilities set throughout the globe designed to provide students with the best possible knowledge and training for the modern world. Extensive research and augmentation is also done, with certain trainees receiving special entry and training into the academy's covert ops program. Of course, there's a lot more going on under the hood than it appears. The game's opening intro movie shows the city of Chicago being destroyed by a terrorist attack, forcing the students (including Alex D and his/her closest friend, Billie Adams) to be evacuated to Seattle – and right into another attack.

Getting started in DX:IW is a fairly straight-forward affair that any player should settle into with ease. When the player starts off in Alex's quarters in Seattle, the game provides (optional) guidance on how the player can manipulate his environment to get him on his way. Unfortunately, the game doesn't offer any kind of introductory training course like the original did, something I felt would've been a nice inclusion (a brief sequence portraying Alex's training at Tarsus prior to the events in the game, for example), but at least the game makes some effort to get players started in short order. So the player wakes up, learns that Tarsus is under attack, finds his way out of the facility (eventually), and wanders into the conspiratorial world to try and figure out what the hell is going on.

As far as story goes, Deus Ex: Invisible War is two things; detailed, and brief. The game is filled with many different factions and people, many with their own conflicting agendas that wish to benefit from Alex's special capabilities. I won't go into great detail on all the different sides the player runs into through the course of the game, but the major groups (the WTO – a worldwide political faction with a heavy corporate lean, and the Order, a religious sect bent on spreading the word of "her holiness" and attempting to return humanity to it's pure roots, though not as aggressively as the anti-technology Templars) are introduced and in constant contact with the player right off the bat. Almost from the get-go the player is given conflicting objectives to prompt him to pick sides and start advancing through the game, but he is also free to play at any pace that he sees fit and explore anywhere within reach (which isn't too much – while the maps are open ended, they are also designed in a somewhat linear fashion with very limited choices on where to go).. Nevertheless, the player must inevitably start making choices and begin advancing the storyline, which is where the second aspect comes into play, brevity. DX:IW suffers from a campaign that is not nearly as long or fulfilling as that of its predecessor. Yes, there is lots of content, dialogue, and unique areas to explore, but I was surprised when I realized just how close I was to the end of the game after only a few hours of playing. The player is presented with big pieces of the storyline in a rapid sequence, opening up the plot at a far more hastened rate than the original game. I normally don't mind this sort of thing, but I was genuinely hoping to spend much more time getting immersed into DX:IW.

Don't mistake what I say to indicate that the storyline in Deus Ex: Invisible War is terrible in any way, of course. Quite the contrary, there's loads of dialogue, objectives, and sub-objectives to accomplish that give the player plenty to do. News terminals help flesh out worldly events, and the overall presentation is quite solid and helps the player get immersed (the appearance of old scenes and characters naturally makes a lot more sense to fans of the original) fairly easily. It just ends up being over so quickly that one will be left wanting more, rather than the satisfying impression the original left imprinted upon my mind. One other complaint I'd like to cite is that the hype about working carefully to secure relations with a specific faction doesn't really add up, as choices are left open to the player constantly right up to the end. On the bright side, most of the characters from the old game are sighted making a return in all their updated-graphics-glory, including the venerable Tracer Tong, Nicolette DuClare, and even the Denton brothers (J.C. and Paul). All of them have some kind of agenda to play throughout the storyline, and it's up to the player to determine where his allegiances will ultimately lie.

New & Improved? Hardly.

Anyways, let's discuss gameplay mechanics. The focus on DX:IW is a form of stealth-oriented action – Alex D is a specially trained nano-augmented agent, after all. I've already gone over in my preview the differences in skill elements between DX:IW and its predecessor (skill system has essentially been completely removed in favor of a focus on nano-augmentations), but players can approach the action in whatever manner they see fit. Either they can be an uber-stealthy ninja who gets a kick out of dropping from the rafters and knifing terrorists in the back, or they can, or be a gun-toting psychopath who always opts for the biggest weapons, the most upfront approach, and gets his kicks by hurling large flaming barrels at unfortunate passer-bys through use of the Strength augmentation. The question is, do the changes in the game's approach to character personalization work out for the better? That's a little hard to say. Personally, I was of the impression that the system used in the original Deus Ex worked just fine and gave players more than enough choices to develop their agent the way they saw fit. On the other hand, I also find myself agreeing with commentary that there were too many redundant skills and the fact that extra points needed to be sunk into a given weapons skill in order to increase accuracy was a little ridiculous, given the main character's special training and augmentations. For DX:IW, players are equally proficient in all weapons right away, negating both the need to invest skill points and the entire "accuracy penalty" thing that prevented proper aiming unless the player was standing still and spent several seconds concentrating on a single target, waiting for the crosshairs to converge (unless his skills were maxed out). I dare say that the entire process of combat has been simplified to a degree, because the player can spend more time contemplating his next move and lining up ambushes than grappling with the crosshair. Still, the entire skill system added a certain level of personalization to the game that I miss.

So does the new focus on bio-mods in DX:IW make up for the absence of skills? Given the length of Deus Ex: Invisible War, I'd have to answer in the affirmative. For the time the game lasts, the number of bio-mods scattered around grants the player the chance to get all of his major skills upgraded by the time he reaches the finale, but there just isn't sufficient time to also wade around with the same general skill system that powered the original. Were the game longer, however, I wouldn't be so sure. I think the primary thing that undermines the character personalization of the game is the shortness of it. In the original Deus Ex, I had plenty of time to get acquainted with J.C. Denton and develop him into the character I wanted. Since many of the levels were so vast and the game itself so expansive, I had many opportunities to flex the unique abilities I had invested in and tackle any situation as I saw fit. Deus Ex: Invisible War on the other hand feels much more constrictive in its environments, and commonly I felt there were only two major options – sneak by, or go in shooting. By the time the game was over, I still had several packs of grenades I had never bothered to use, as well as many other weapons. But let's get back on point – bio-mods. As mentioned in my preview, the process of augmentations has changed from the original. Instead of the player encountering aug-canisters that unlock specific functionality (two options per canister, only one of which could be selected for that body-part tier), they instead are granted with the chance to find generic canisters throughout their travels. Once obtained, the player can access the bio-mod screen and apply the canister's contents to enhance his augmentation abilities. They can be used to either upgrade existing augmentations up to a maximum of level three, or access a new augmentation, provided a body slot is available. Augmentation abilities will vary based on which body slot the canister is applied to, and the same "single path" concept exists – a given body slot can only be augmented in a single direction at once (the leg slot can have either silent movement or enhanced speed, but not both). A neat change to this is that players can elect to switch their augmentation path for a body slot at any time if they think they've made an error (i.e., switch from silent movement to speed enhancement), but the resulting transfer brings the player's ability back down to level 1. Complicating the mix further is the addition of "black market" bio-mods, which enable their own level of functionality, but are incompatible with standard bio-mod canisters. Any black-market augmentations installed will prevent players from switching that body slot over to a standard augmentation, and vice-versa.

Anyways, the focus on all the different augmentations allows players to try out a variety of different tricks, but, again, the game never introduced any situations that made me wish I had built up something other than the obvious set I had chosen. The only major augmentations I made use of were the silent movement, EMP drone, and cyber-brain abilities, which were all perfectly sufficient to get me through the game. Silent movement let me sneak up behind people and smack them in the back of the head (rare, since I just used my tranquilizer crossbow to take them down from a distance most of the time), the EMP drone easily dealt with any enemy bots I ran across (and the ability to briefly stun enemies at higher levels was handy), and the cyber-brain augmentation let me hack security terminals to disable cameras and turrets. In all seriousness, they were all I ever needed. Granted, the Strength augmentation was amusing when I wanted to kill people by throwing chairs and barrels at them (and occasionally useful for enhancing melee attacks), but that was it – not once did I wish I had taken something else.

Equipment and inventory management has changed since the original game as well – perhaps for the better, though opinions on that tend to vary wildly. Rather than the "jigsaw puzzle" style of inventory management seen in the original Deus Ex, DX:IW instead provides players with 12 inventory slots that each object occupies in a single manner – be it a tiny grenade or a huge rocket launcher. Six of these slots are accessible through standard hotkeys (1-6), while the actual inventory menu must be pulled up to access, equip, shuffle, or drop the other half-dozen slot objects. The process overall works pretty solidly, but I kinda felt the "toolbelt" approach from the original game was a little more flexible, and I was a little sorry to see the entire inventory system get revamped (my personal opinion anyways, I can understand some of the reasons that went into the adjustment). As a matter of fact, the entire interface as a whole has been overhauled. No more Message Log or manual note-keeping. No more punching in numbers at keypads or getting a completely thorough, detailed description on just about every single little object and usable piece of technology in the game (descriptions are still there, but are much briefer). Even weapon modifications have been toned down – now instead of allowing a huge number of different customizations to a single weapon (like making an uber-accurate crossbow with a laser sight, scope, and zero recoil/huge accuracy), each gun is only allowed a maximum of two simple modifications that affect functionality more than performance, such as mods to "silently" break glass without triggering attached alarms, or add EMP damage to a projectile to damage bots more effectively. Try as I might, I just couldn't shake the feeling that this "new" system was not only worse, but was redesigned and dumbed-down to accommodate the console audience (I cite the lack of keypad usage and the same flexible interface the original game had as examples once again), as the game reportedly handles almost exactly the same on the Xbox as it does on the PC.

Never mind the gross changes to equipment. I've already mentioned a few of these aspects briefly above, but lockpicks are completely gone, replaced with the venerable "multitools" from Deus Ex. Multitools are now no longer limited to hacking keypads, sentry guns, and turrets, but are now also responsible for opening doors and crates – just like lockpicks, yes. The process has been simplified now too, as the removal of the skill system means the number of lockpicks required to open something is static, and the amount of areas a players can get into depends more on his item-finding abilities instead of skill point allocation. This in itself isn't really a bad thing, but I can't say I approve of the change in how multitools specifically work. Walking up to a locked object will pop up a couple of padlock indicators on the player's HUD, indicating how many multitools are required to unlock it. Pushing Use will bring up a multitool directly from the player's inventory (alternatively they can be equipped manually if desired), allowing the player to simply hit the fire button to begin the unlocking process. Two major changes I noticed here are that only one multitool "use" is required in order to unlock all objects, regardless of the number of tools the player's HUD informs him he will need (the entire process will always take the same amount of time, but the necessary multitools will automatically be deducted from the player's inventory), and that the multitool itself really sucks. The weapon itself looks like a cheesy little magic wand with an orange lightning bolt going through it, the sound and visual effects when the tool is being applied are incredibly cheesy, and the tool itself actually lights up the immediate area with sporadic flashes while in use. How this is supposed to be an improvement from the incredibly cool wavy-signal-generating multi-button high-tech device from the original game is utterly beyond me, but there you have it. Welcome to the post-collapse world, folks!

One expectation I had was that the AI would be improved for DX:IW, but this wasn't the case. In fact, the AI handled pretty much the same way it had in the original game – decent, but not revolutionary. It knows how to use guns, throw grenades, move around and strafe (kinda), but that's about the extent of it. AI units never really worked together to try and take me down, or employed any kind of real "intelligence" beyond the same predictable pre-scripted attack sequence every time I started shooting. Hell, half the time they never even got a chance to shoot at me because I just ran up, shot them in the head repeatedly using my Bolt-caster (which launches a toxin dart that gradually knocks a target unconscious over time – just like the poison dart from the mini-crossbow in the original game), and then ran away, allowing me to effectively take down entire squads of enemy soldiers with incredibly little effort. At this point, is it too much to ask that enemies in a game trying so hard to be advanced learn to lay down traps or set up ambushes? Wasn't there even supposed to be a primate creature at one point that snuck up behind the player, laying down proximity mines and assorted traps? I sure never witnessed it.

The more I go on about this game, the worse I feel about it. I guess the main thing that bugs me about Deus Ex: Invisible War is the fact that it turned out as such a let-down, despite the incredibly high expectations everyone had and the constant reassurances from the development team that it would not suck in any way. As I recall, the many months of anticipation leading up to the game's release went something like this:

Fans: "I'm concerned about the changes to lock-picking and multi-tools. The old system worked pretty good..."

Developers: "Don't worry, we know what we're doing!"

Fans: "So the AI is going to be better this time, right?"

Developers: "Stupid AI is more fun to play with! But yes, our AI is going to be so amazing, you'll be too astonished to notice the lack of teamwork or tactics!"

Fans: "Oh god, you changed the augmentation system, and the skills are gone! Bring it all back!"

Developers: "Hey, look, John Romero!"

Fans: "WHAT"

Developers:

An exaggeration, perhaps, but I'm not that far off the mark. Numerous interviews preceded the game's release with constant statements dictating that DX:IW would indeed be a worthy sequel, despite consistently growing concerns that the contrary would occur as more and more screenshots and previews popped up. Maybe I'm just having trouble dealing with the fact that a game that should have been legendary from the get-go turned out simply average. Don't get me wrong, DX:IW is a decent enough title, and I had plenty of fun playing through it, but when compared to the magnificence that was its predecessor, the title falls very short. Everything from the level design (which is annoyingly small and compact) to the way the interface is presented just felt much worse to me somehow, and on many occasions I found myself badly wanting some of the old interface elements back (being able to log previous communications and enter personal notes would've been handy in particular).

Well, enough ranting on the gameplay aspects, lets move on to controls. Upon first glance, the control system in Deus Ex: Invisible War is solid and intuitive. A standard WASD default scheme with easy customization options, without leaving the player with too many buttons to bind (which isn't always a bad thing, so long as the system is well-designed ALA Freespace 2). However, after a little checking, I discovered suspicious and disturbing; there are no leaning options. Yes, from the people who brought us the Thief series, as well as the original Deus Ex, both which allowed for leaning around corners (essential functionality, in fact), a conscious decision was made not to allow players to lean around corners. Not only is the reason for this decision infuriatingly elusive (such a feature is expected in a stealth-oriented game), but a bit of fan-sponsored code hunting has yielded that some basic leaning scripts are in fact in the game, but was never enabled. That aside, there were also complaints about some secondary mouse-lag issues which had to be fixed in a patch (which was nothing more than a simple INI file change), but nothing else too significant. The controls for DX:IW are pretty much standard-fare, but, again, the absence of leaning controls is nearly inexcusable.

Lots Of Eye-Candy, But The Candy Store Is Locked

On a refreshing note, Deus Ex: Invisible War's graphical presentation is amazing. Granted, the "fuzzy" approach to the game's particular artistic style takes some getting used to, but the overall appearance of the game gives it a strong cartoony, even "anime" feel. The environments have a lot of detail put into their construction, though unfortunately some of the textures used come off as being really blurry and low resolution (weapon models are especially low in the detail department). A third party patch to rectify this little concern has already been released, though I haven't experimented with it myself. In any case, the game's requirement of at least a GeForce 3-level card (pixel shader support is absolutely required, so people with MX cards are, once again, left in the dust – upgrade you crazy loons!) isn't for naught, as the combination of shader effects and the revolutionary lighting/shadow system makes for a truly excellent visual treat. Only major complaints I have about the visuals was that lights couldn't be destroyed, and that the game has such a fiercely different artistic style that it can be really hard for some players to settle into at first. The game's engine also has full support for Havok physics modeling, but these elements were quirky at best, with ridiculously overemphasized ragdoll effects (a killing blow to the head with a tiny pistol would send a body flopping and twisting to the ground in a grossly exaggerated manner), unrealistic object handling (I know Alex is an augmented cyborg, but geez), and even some weird bounding issues, as I commonly noticed small crates and other objects suspended mysteriously in mid-air.

Let's get technical. DX:IW suffers from a gamut of issues – primarily relating to copy protection. As of the latest available build, the game uses SecuROM for copy protection checks, which happens to freak the hell out if any form of disc emulation software is loaded. This physically prevented me from even loading a level until I disabled my copy of Daemon Tools, and even then I had to fiddle with it and reboot several times before the game would actually let me in. I was so fed up with the inability for my completely legit review copy to work that I was tempted to go hunt down a third party crack just so I could play. And if I'm guessing correctly, the blame for this lies solely with Eidos, as it is usually the publisher that handles copy protection implementation. Thanks, Eidos, for protecting me from the horrible evils of game piracy. From what I hear, even people who don't have any kind of disc emulation software loaded are still suffering issues with SecuROM, forcing them to either hunt down a crack or just return the game – two things which pretty much defeat the purpose of copy protection in the first place. Never mind the fact that the game stops to check the disc every level load, flipping between resolutions several times in the process. When will publishers learn?

Of course, that's not the extent of the game's technical problems. As seems to be standard protocol for modern games, Radeon users have gotten the shaft (specifically, R9600Pro folks) in the form of repeated hardlock problems that refuse to go away, even after the game is patched, The only real way to bypass it involves fiddling with the card's AGP settings via the SmartGART utility, and even that is an iffy venture. After Knights of the Old Republic, I was pretty sick of Q&A departments barely considering the R9600Pro side of the community, but seeing the same general issues pop up in DX:IW is nothing less than infuriating. Is game stability out of the box too much to ask for these days? Stability problems aside, the game doesn't run all that great either. My high-end system was forced to run the game at 640x480 just to maintain decent speeds at maximum detail, which is just pathetic when one considers how games like Max Payne 2 can easily be run at 1600x1200 with maxed out AF/AA without any hitches whatsoever on any half-decent system. There's even a really weird performance bug I encountered that dropped my framerate into the single-digits if my joystick was plugged in (WTF?).

Audio Thoughts, Conclusion

The audio presentation to DX:IW is a mixed bag. The great music styles and ambient elements that made the original so awesome are still in the sequel – kinda. Music has been almost completely relegated to a form of "background noise" element, leaving the game with some decent, occasionally soothing themes – though occasionally I had to really stop and listen because I could barely tell that there was any music playing at all. It was my hope that Deus Ex: Invisible War would carry on having great music themes to fill my WinAMP playlist with after I had finished playing, but this element just really wasn't there, and the only theme I bothered to hunt down for extraction was the awesome menu music. Sound effects seemed a little quirky too (I didn't care much for the pistol flashlight noise at all), but were solid for the most part. Definitely no complaints on the voice acting, aside from the fact that it becomes evident that actors were re-used constantly throughout the game (which admittedly occurs very commonly in a lot of popular titles). Overall I can't find anything big to complain about in the audio department, but I really wish music had been a bigger inclusion – the talent is certainly there.

While drawing my conclusion on Deus Ex: Invisible War, I determined two things. The first being that DXIW is a good game in its own right. It has impressive graphics, a compelling storyline, and some very enticing gameplay, despite a few issues (I had plenty of fun stalking victims and planning how best to assault an objective – plus, there's just an inherently amusing level of sadism that can be gained from hurling huge flaming barrels at people). Secondly, the game is also a let-down, if only because I was expecting a game that was the same as Deus Ex, except with all the major factors improved. This is not what DX:IW turned out to be. Indeed, it is a decent game, but not quite the stunning sequel we were all hoping it to be.

Ratings:

Gameplay: 7
Decent, stealth-oriented gameplay with a wide variety of special augmentations and weapons to play with. Marred by a lack of need for most of these augmentations and weapons, as well as an incredibly short storyline.

Graphics: 7
Beautiful graphics and fine animations, but some less-than-stellar texture jobs, a quirky physics engine, and stability/framerate issues up the wazoo makes for a bumpy ride.

Sound: 8
Good sound effects and voice acting overall, but the lack of any major musical presentation is disappointing.

Value: 6
A solid contender for people new to the Deus Ex line, or for anyone who just wants a nice sci-fi stealth-oriented FPS title, but disappointing for hardcore fans expecting a game that completely lives up to and exceeds its predecessor. Again, a brief storyline and lack of multiplayer also means the game will be collecting dust all too quickly.