Deus Ex: Invisible War (aka the best Deus Ex) thread

[Konjad]

Got it on Steam yesterday and I started playing it, it's already so exciting!

Some bomb went off and we are locked and the gameplay begins. I leave my apartment and next to it an air conditioner blows up and kills one guard. There are two other people on the corridor. One of them who was close looked at the body. He didn't help, I assume he was too shocked. Then walked to another corridor. I followed and he said his best friend just died there.

I walk to another corridor meeting the other dude, another guard. I tell him his buddy just got killed by an air conditioner. He answers it's just part of the job and their duty.


The main character is the sharpest tool in the shed in this game, makes dialogues intricate and interesting. For example:
Gets hired to be an assassin, gets pass word.
Goes to apartment, says the word and gets in.
Dialogue ensues, the target starts saying information about illegal shipments etc providing information
Alex (the main character): wait, you ship illegal stuff?!?!?!
Target: Wait, you aren't my handler!
Alex: A-ha, I've got you!


Let me also mention the game was ahead of its time in many regards. Just look at this huge city center!




Quests seem to be very Deus Ex-like and fascinating too



So far it's a clear example how to make a 10/10 game.

[WhiteShark]

Yes, you're in for a treat. I actually quit partway through because I realized gaming as a whole would lose its lustre for me if I finished this masterpiece.

[Atlantico]

They said this game became the apex of quality gaming because it was designed for the XBOX and there is some truth to that, but the main factor was that Warren Spector and his unquestionable genius was behind the game. The first and rather forgettable first Deus Ex entry was obviously an aberration and didn't reflect the real genius of Spector, which was only brought forward in DX2.

[Tweed]

I've started to suspect that Warren's successes are all about failing to fail.

[maidenhaver]

Exploding air conditioners pioneered the concept of environmental hazards in gaming as we know it today.

[Oyster Sauce]

I remember quitting before leaving the apartment because it felt like a console port.

[wndrbr]

As a teenager I had to finish every game I bought, my allowance was fairly small and I needed to squeeze every bit of fun from every purchase.

IW is so good it's the only Deus Ex game I didn't finish, even though it's also the only Deus Ex game that I bought on a physical disk.

[GhostCow]

I used to unironically like this game a lot. It was up there with the first game for me when it came out. Then I tried to replay it a couple of years ago and take notes so I could show everyone that the game is underrated. For some reason I hated it on that playthrough and now the game is **** to me.

I still think the game has some great music though.

[Konjad]

I used to unironically like this game a lot. It was up there with the first game for me when it came out. Then I tried to replay it a couple of years ago and take notes so I could show everyone that the game is underrated. For some reason I hated it on that playthrough and now the game is **** to me.

To be honest I have the opposite experience, but back when I hated it and quit early I expected another Deus Ex, but now I expected **** and got... well, playable and hilarious ****.

I mean, it somewhat is the same old Deus Ex gameplay, but inferior and the writing goes from serious to ******** - or both at the same time.

If you forget it's a Deus Ex and consider it as some jankRPG then it's more enjoyable.

That said, the locations are so tiny, that you often walk just a few meters before another area transition, and locations can be as small as one or two rooms, and the 'big' one (the city centre) is still essentially one short corridor with some doors to other areas.

At least so far I somewhat enjoy it, I just arrived in Egypt.

It's certainly better than some 'big' and open world games, and it's way better than Mass Effect which was just dumb with no redeeming qualities. This one has some.

And yeah, I like the music, some tracks are really good.

[Vergil]

I really enjoy this game's aesthetic. It's very early 2000s sci fi and I miss that.

[Breathe]

Gonna play this on xbox rom

[Konjad]

Well, I uh... I had to test this... didn't expect it to work, but...

[Konjad]

IW gives me sometimes some strong Blade Runner vibe, i.e.

[KnightoftheWind]

If it's an "Invisible War", why can I see the enemies?.

[Rand]

That said, the locations are so tiny, that you often walk just a few meters before another area transition, and locations can be as small as one or two rooms, and the 'big' one (the city centre) is still essentially one short corridor with some doors to other areas.

Thank Microsoft, and that turd Bill Gates for that.
The Xbox was a weak, cheap piece of ****, and it was given a pathetic amount of RAM (despite it being a cheap component even then) so they couldn't DO proper sized levels. Many games suffered from this garbage hardware being the primary platform designed to run on.

[Lich]

If it's an "Invisible War", why can I see the enemies?.

The war itself is invisible. The combatants may be visible.

[rusty_shackleford]

If the war is invisible then how come it can be damaged

[Segata]

If the war is invisible... is there really a war?

[Tweed]

Invisible war, invisible gameplay, invisible fun.

[Konjad]

Invisible war, invisible gameplay, invisible fun.

I'm about to finish Germany area and honsetly, the game is good. Only the beginning was a bit worse as it had some silly dialogues, but later on the quality improved. And the gameplay is like Deus Ex but in mini boxes. Overall it's a decent game. Far from the greatness of the first one, but I'd say it's comparable to Deus Ex 3 but with different strong and weak points. Deus Ex 4 was better though.

Probably one of the biggest POSITIVE surprises in gaming for me, same as with Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry. Everybody says they are crap but I enjoy them a lot.

[Tweed]

No, the game is ****. All RPG elements were removed and smooshed into the aug system which became over-simplified for console brainlets. You either take the strength aug so you can actually carry stuff or you have a very difficult time finishing the game. Universe ammunition is a sign of how they had no idea how to balance weapons and a lot of the later ones are useless because the eat too much ammo even with the reduction modifier. Everyone looks like a bug-eyed mannequin doing the same two animations over and over again. The visuals are **** and there's too much ******* bloom. All of the endings eat ****, none of them feel like a victory.

[Tweed]

Next you're going to tell me that Ultima 8 is a flawed masterpiece.

[Konjad]

I finished it today and what I think is that it's a decent game despite being a poor Deus Ex sequel.

UI is terrible, and the beginning of the game is not much better with a rather silly early dialogues. Ammunition is universal for all guns, despite it making no sense, and you can already get the best melee weapon in the first hub. Worst of all, however, are levels which are so tiny it sometimes takes just stepping a few meters over less than 5 seconds to move to another one. Wait, perhaps that's not the worst thing, but the fact that it is completely irrelevant if you blast everyone - including civillians - to pieces, or try to do a pacifist run. Opposite to Deus Ex which gameplay-wise did not care, but other NPCs made it clear you're a psycho for murdering kids on the street. Here you can shoot a school and one level later nobody cares. Additionally, the game is extremely easy on 'normal', I should've played on the hardest level probably.

Yet, deep inside it still feels like Deus Ex, just stupidified. You still get multiple ways to approach the goal, but instead of multiple meaning many, here it usually means two. The writing improves after the first hub, and despite the story overall being a bit of a mess due to creators trying to merge multiple Deus Ex endings, you still get that DE atmosphere and conspiracy theories. Quests are usually interesting and get better with time, vibe is there, sometimes quite Blade Runner-like - especially with the holo-AI dialogues. The music is pretty good as well, though it misses to be as memorable as the original's. Invisible War manages to be way better than many modern "sci-fi" games, but it was made at the time when sci-fi was in much better condition, combined with the original game being one of the best it let to huge disappointments and a lot of criticism, but the fact is that it's not a bad game, and compared to many modern ones it should earn even more respect.

Compared to other parts of the series it's obviously vastly inferior to Deus Ex, and Mankind Divinded is much better as it learned from the issues of its prequel. Nonetheless, I'd rate it even with Human Revolution although both games have completely different strengths and weaknesses.

In the end I have enjoyed Invisible War aplenty, but everybody prepared me to it being a garbage whereas I've got a decent action-RPG. It is just not on a Deus Ex level, but it is a pleasant game if you forget of what series it's a part of. Ultimately, I do recommend it as a fair and adequate game, especially if you otherwise played the series. It's far from being remarkable, but it's good enough to have fun and spend about 15h. I might not replay it multiple times like the original DE, but I appreciate I gave it an honest try despite so many negative opinions as it turned out to be pleasant.

[J1M]

I used to unironically like this game a lot. It was up there with the first game for me when it came out. Then I tried to replay it a couple of years ago and take notes so I could show everyone that the game is underrated. For some reason I hated it on that playthrough and now the game is **** to me.

To be honest I have the opposite experience, but back when I hated it and quit early I expected another Deus Ex, but now I expected **** and got... well, playable and hilarious ****.

I mean, it somewhat is the same old Deus Ex gameplay, but inferior and the writing goes from serious to ******** - or both at the same time.

If you forget it's a Deus Ex and consider it as some jankRPG then it's more enjoyable.

That said, the locations are so tiny, that you often walk just a few meters before another area transition, and locations can be as small as one or two rooms, and the 'big' one (the city centre) is still essentially one short corridor with some doors to other areas.

At least so far I somewhat enjoy it, I just arrived in Egypt.

It's certainly better than some 'big' and open world games, and it's way better than Mass Effect which was just dumb with no redeeming qualities. This one has some.

And yeah, I like the music, some tracks are really good.

Project Snowbound is another Deus Ex adjacent game you may wish to try.

[Red7]

I finished it today and what I think is that it's a decent game despite being a poor Deus Ex sequel.

UI is terrible, and the beginning of the game is not much better with a rather silly early dialogues. Ammunition is universal for all guns, despite it making no sense, and you can already get the best melee weapon in the first hub. Worst of all, however, are levels which are so tiny it sometimes takes just stepping a few meters over less than 5 seconds to move to another one. Wait, perhaps that's not the worst thing, but the fact that it is completely irrelevant if you blast everyone - including civillians - to pieces, or try to do a pacifist run. Opposite to Deus Ex which gameplay-wise did not care, but other NPCs made it clear you're a psycho for murdering kids on the street. Here you can shoot a school and one level later nobody cares. Additionally, the game is extremely easy on 'normal', I should've played on the hardest level probably.

Yet, deep inside it still feels like Deus Ex, just stupidified. You still get multiple ways to approach the goal, but instead of multiple meaning many, here it usually means two. The writing improves after the first hub, and despite the story overall being a bit of a mess due to creators trying to merge multiple Deus Ex endings, you still get that DE atmosphere and conspiracy theories. Quests are usually interesting and get better with time, vibe is there, sometimes quite Blade Runner-like - especially with the holo-AI dialogues. The music is pretty good as well, though it misses to be as memorable as the original's. Invisible War manages to be way better than many modern "sci-fi" games, but it was made at the time when sci-fi was in much better condition, combined with the original game being one of the best it let to huge disappointments and a lot of criticism, but the fact is that it's not a bad game, and compared to many modern ones it should earn even more respect.

Compared to other parts of the series it's obviously vastly inferior to Deus Ex, and Mankind Divinded is much better as it learned from the issues of its prequel. Nonetheless, I'd rate it even with Human Revolution although both games have completely different strengths and weaknesses.

In the end I have enjoyed Invisible War aplenty, but everybody prepared me to it being a garbage whereas I've got a decent action-RPG. It is just not on a Deus Ex level, but it is a pleasant game if you forget of what series it's a part of. Ultimately, I do recommend it as a fair and adequate game, especially if you otherwise played the series. It's far from being remarkable, but it's good enough to have fun and spend about 15h. I might not replay it multiple times like the original DE, but I appreciate I gave it an honest try despite so many negative opinions as it turned out to be pleasant.

did u just said fat girl with mustache is decent and bad only when u compare it elf looking alien ***** with big tits?

[Rand]

levels which are so tiny it sometimes takes just stepping a few meters over less than 5 seconds to move to another one.

Thanks Xbox, you worthless piece of **** dumpster hardware.
And you've degraded games to this day, notably Oblivion and Skyrim, which had a lot of issues due to the games being designed primarily for that platforms.