Anyone actually play Invisible War?

[XMark]

I, like many others, was scared away from buying the game (despite the fact that Deus Ex was one of my favourites) by reviews saying that it was dumbed down for the console audience and such, but I haven't heard any reviews from us mere mortals about the game yet. Any opinions?

 

[Constipated Craprunner]

I did.
Think of the original. Add better graphics, remove some of the overly complex stuff. Make the world alot more creative, but less realistic. Take away some of the fun.
Dont get me wrong, I liked it, just not at all what I was hoping for years ago.

 

[Montez]

CCR sums it up pretty nicely, though I disagree on the "make the world more creative" part. It might have seemed that way since every level was so small and crammed together, but I really don't think it was any more creative than the first. The story, while perhaps more complex than the original, was told in a pretty patchy and rushed way - they tried to get across this deep and complex plot using shallow and inadequate means - comparable to a sci-fi novel written by someone with a lot of interesting ideas but not much talent at writing. The combat (what little there is) is really close to the original, and it's pretty fun and immersive as well. Not enough replay value to justify the price though.

 

[Dhruin]

I reviewed it but I'm definitely in the "mere mortal" category. I thought it fell pretty wide of the mark although it's not a "bad" game. It's definitely simpler than the original - both in terms of content and difficulty. I wouldn't mind Biomods replacing the skill system altogether if there was enough diversity but there's a pretty limited choice so there's much less character differentiation than in DX.

They did head in a positive direction with factions and non-linearity but both of those are borked. There's no reaction or consequences to the factions which destroyed it for me and the non-linearity is paper-thin - if they had done it right it would have been excellent. As it was it makes the story-telling harder than the totally linear original DX without really pulling off the benefits.

It does have some moments and the DX atmosphere/setting is still there but it also has technical deficiencies: the graphics aren't that great, frame rates can be poor, too short and so on. Check out the demo - the full game is better but not by that much IMO.

 

[Rosh]

It's definitely simpler than the original - both in terms of content and difficulty.

That kills it for me, since the first game wasn't much and if they did even less, that pretty much nails it dead to my interest.

 

[Sol Invictus]

It's definitely not a bad game compared to FOBOS but I wouldn't go so far as calling it a good game, or even a game worth spending any amount of money costing more than a rental would - the game's only 9-12 hours long.

The game's definitely got the same flare and ambience as the original (which I liked very much) but it definitely feels much more like a poorly-made first person shooter than an RPG (which it claims to be). In fact, I'd say it feels nothing like an RPG once you come to discover that none of the choices you make in the game even have any effect on the world.

For instance, at the start of the game you're given a choice between siding with the Church, and siding with the UN. Either way, and no matter whose missions you complete, it'll seem as if none of it even mattered once you arrive at the next phase of the game. Supporting or fighting against some of the minor groups might have some small effect towards the game world (e.g. you can't get access to certain equipment if you killed a group member earlier on) but none of it truly has any bearing towards the game in the big picture.

For a graphically inferior game (compared to Beyond Good & Evil, Call of Duty, Gothic 2 and a host of other new games) it certainly chugs along unplayable framerates even on my P4 2.8/Radeon 9800 XT for reasons that can only be related to the fact that it's a poor X-Box port.

If you liked any of the choices you had to make in the original game, or any RPG-related activity, I can guarantee you that you'll find absolutely none of that in the sequel. The fact that the interesting reading materials from the first game are completely absent from Invisible War really deprives the game of a lot of its atmosphere.

To sum it up, the game is an ill-conceived mess geared towards the X-Box gaming crowd with very little of the original's appeal.

 

[protobob]

I had fun with Invisible War, mainly because I found the "shooting-people-with-an-smg-with-explosive-bullets" bit amusing.

As far as being short, well, it ended about the same time I was getting tired of the game, so that always works out well.

Sadly the coolest faction in the game, the Omar (cyborgs), is the one you have the least contact with. Sad.

The graphics arn't top notch, but the shadow play was very well done. Very atmospheric. Runs like a pig though. But so did the first one.

 

[BethesdaLove]

elf detective, where are you? any clues?

 

[BethesdaLove]

no