The first Deus Ex was met with oodles of praise and was considered by many to be one of the best games ever made. Now the sequel, Invisible War, has been released and is being held up to high standards set by the first one. Does it deliver? Well, it doesn’t offer up much of an innovation from the first game as it still provides the same brand of FPS/RPG (FPRPG?) gameplay with very few changes to the formula. However, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Deus Ex: Invisible War offers the same kind of deep storyline, fantastic action-RPG elements and open-ended gameplay as the first game with some truly amazing graphical effects.

When handling a game like Deus Ex, where the story is so rich and deep that revealing any slight detail could give too much away, trying to explain the plot is tough. So, all I’ll say is you play as Alex D., a person infused with nano-technology (you can be either male or female) you is attending the Tarsus Academy in Seattle. The subsequent story developments are too complicated and revealing to go any further, but bear in mind that the game will feature a great many plot twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the very end.

The story is also tough to talk about because you the player do so much of the writing yourself. The plot develops as you want it to, as the open-ended gameplay allows you to choose which missions you’d like to complete or how you’d like to complete them. You can go out with guns flailing, bribe your way through a conflict, make use of your nano-tech abilities or use stealth. The active role the player has in developing the story is reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic, only without the morality tinges. Essentially, you do what you have to do without any true sense of good or bad, finding the most efficient course of action.

Much of the best parts of the first game have been retained in Invisible War. Your nano-mods are largely the same, and each one has a different effect on how you’ll play the game. They are assigned to various body parts and you can only have one assigned to each body part. For example, you can either make your character have enhanced vision or the ability to regenerate health, but not both at the same time, or have enhanced strength or the ability to control robots or cameras. This has a huge effect on how your character approaches quests, so be aware as you complete them.

The gameplay does have a few problems, however. The AI isn’t quite as good as one would hope, as enemies tend to fall into very foolish and predictable patterns. Also, the physics can be a little goofy, particularly when moving dead bodies from place to place (it requires too little effort to chuck corpses around like bean bags) or throwing objects at NPCs, who do not react at all. The lack of headshots can be fixed by downloading the patch and updating the game to version 1.1.

The graphics in Invisible War can be fantastic at times, but there are a few hiccups. The lighting is incredible, some of the best I’ve seen. The bloom technique (which allows light sources to bleed off onto other objects) is excellent and the environments feature a great neon-glow that adds a lot to the game’s atmosphere. The character models are good but a little inconsistent; you can see where the developers may have spent a lot of time making one person look good and less work on another. However, my main gripe is of the framerates, which are very choppy, even on a high-end rig. This typically wouldn’t be such a big problem, but it does mess a bit with the flow of the game, as targeting enemies with the mouse feels interrupted.

The sound effects are very good. The music is a moody blend of techno, rock and ambience, setting the atmosphere for the game very nicely. The weapon sounds and voice acting are pretty good, as well, although they do have a tinny, compressed ring to them.

Invisible War is a great game that does a fine job of succeeding the original Deus Ex. While not as innovative or groundbreaking as its predecessor, the game manages to provide a compelling adventure with a great story and some excellent graphics. Fans of the original game, or of action RPGs in general, would do well to check this one out.

Gameplay: 9.0
The gameplay is extremely open-ended, allowing the player to play the game in any number of ways they see fit. The nano-mods have been retained from the first game, as have most of the weapons. The only gripes I had with the gameplay were some AI issues and strange physics.

Graphics: 9.3
Invisible War features some incredible lighting effects, courtesy of bloom technology. The environments are extremely detailed and look fantastic, and the character models look pretty good, as well, same a few rough spots. The framerates, however, leave much to be desired, even on a high-end PC.

Sound: 8.5
The music is a brooding and ambient blend of techno and rock, and does a fine job of adding to the game’s atmosphere. The sound effects are pretty good, although they do have a tinny, compressed quality to them.

Difficulty: Medium

Concept: 8.0
Deus Ex: Invisible War isn’t the innovation the original game was, but the open-ended gameplay is still great, and the narrative very compelling.

Overall: 9.0
Deus Ex: Invisible War doesn’t offer any huge changes from the original, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great game that will provide gamers with a fun and engaging quest. While there were a few problems, like AI issues and boggy framerates, Deus Ex: Invisible War is still a worthy successor to the original.