Deus Ex 2 : Invisible Bore

Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:18 am by Neo_Kuja

Instead of a "X2 vs Freelancer" Thread, I came up with something a little different. I got Deus Ex 2 three days ago and I must warn you , don't get it if you like good PC games !. Here I will explain why.

Now, before starting, understand that I have continually played Deus Ex religiously since it was released.I am , and probably still will be a
Deus Ex fan for a long while. I still play it every so often now, as it is an amazing game, even though the graphics aren't up to today's game graphics. As any fan would, I looked foward to a sequal. Unfortunately , this game went wrong .....

DEUS EX : INVISIBLE WAR REVIEW

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Quotes

Hyper : The accusations of this being a "dumbed down" Deus Ex are unfounded

Well, I hate to say it, but the magazine must have been paid by Ionstorm to say this, as it is not true. In the original, enemies shot on sight, damage was realistically recreated and the reaction time was believeable. The enemies are thick, as I will show you later.

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Pros: Great Storyline, with being to meet the original JC Denton a real bonus.
Good Graphics .... If your PC can handle it. My Pentium 4 "overclocked 3.3G Processor and Radeon 9800 pro graphics card could run it ... on the lowest settings.

Cons: Enemies are THICK. Nothing else describes it better. An example:

I entered the room, gun drawn. Seeing two enemies, I crouched down, and hid. I tensed, aiming the gun at one of the rival guard's head. Shooting off a bullet, the target fell to the ground. I swiveled around, and aimed and shot at the other guard. He dropped to the ground dead. Putting my gun away, I came out of my hiding place, catching a glimse of something out of the corner of my eye. It was a guard, staring blankly at me. Geting my *unsilenced* gun out in panic I aimed and fired a round, killing him, wincing at the loud gunshot. I crouched and aimed at the doorway, gun aimed,primed and ready. No-one came. Moving into the hallway, a guard stared straight into my eyes, not moving. I sighed, and drew my gun ......

And that is as hard as it literally gets. You can pluck of headshots as if you were trained to shoot civilians every day, which brings me nicley to my next point ...

NO SKILL SYSTEM ! : All of the players who played the original will remember this. The most annoying, but fun thing in the game, apart from the augumentations. With no rifle skill for example, a player couldn't shoot a 30 foot monster from 1 kilometre away, with a sniper rifle. Meanwhile with full rifle skill , a player could shoot a fly on the wall from 3 km away. This system has been foolishly removed from the sequal, and as a result, your character now has perfect aim. This sounds great, but combined with stupid AI and small areas, this becomes a major issue. The journey to become a master hacker has vanished has been replaced with "Bio-mods". Which is strangely, my next point.

Warren Spector : We have moved all of the skill system into the bio-mods, and we don't think this will affect the RPG side of the game

*Ouch* , another understatement by Spector. I personally thought that the producer of the former Deus Ex could do better than this rubbish he has produced. And before people flame me for being a critic, listen. You can pass the game WITHOUT using any "Bio-mods". Yup, not a single one of them. The skill system was an Integral part of the first game, and it was just there, same with the augumentations. You had to use some augs to proceed, and now they are just a novelty. Warren ,mate, you've really let the PC down. Onto the final con (there are lots more, but there's no space to place them ) the feel of the game.

Warren Spector : While the X-Box version will have smaller areas and less amounts of visual effects, the PC version will be the best platform to run the game on.

The final, and most important feature of a game is how it feels. And I am sincerely sorry to say that Warren Spector has made a royal mess of it. Half-way though the PC project, Micosoft waved some money under Spector's nose, enticing him to make the game for X-Box. This would have been okay if they had finished the PC version first, but with the project half-way through, they focused on the X-Box version ( With money from Microsoft in reach) leaving the PC version to rot.

Conclusion: If you have an X-Box, hire this game. If you have a PC, avoid it.
Fell free to Discuss/Flame now .

Neo_Kuja

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"There's no such thing as miracles or the supernatural, only cutting-edge technology" - Ocelot
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Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:50 am by Recusant

I didn't bother buying the game after hearing loads of similar reviews to yours. Plus when I got hold of a demo it seems my PC isn't capable of running it for one reason or another. To be fair, you actually could get through Deus Ex without any augs. Don't forget that even the ones that are handed straight to you have 2 options so there is a possibility that you would not have the necessary aug at some point in the game and then you would be totally stuck for making a wrong choice a few missions back. The greatest thing about Deus Ex (for me) was that you could plan your assaults and approaches by any huge number of ways. Thus some of the entry methods for getting into a building may not be available to you without certain augs, but there was always at least one option open that required none (admittedly it would often involve a brazen open attack that involved losing copious amounts of ammo and health).
Don't despair though, Thief 3 is on its way and initial reports were good, maintaining all the fun stealthy stuff but also suggesting an open city for you to explore and steal from (kinda like GTA3), hopefully it'll be like the rooftop sequence from Thief 2, which was excellent. My only concern is that Ion Storm has taken over and may do the same to it as it seems to have done to DX:2. Hopefully if they have any sense, they'll notice that DX:2 was not a major success on either platform and will keep Thief 3 on the PC since that is where the market for it is since PC players know what to expect based on the previous games. Console gamers are more likely to think "nah, if I want to play a stealth game I'll play Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, not this game i've never heard of"

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I am the signature virus! Copy me into your signature so that I can take over the world! Moohahahee!

Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:55 am by Heltak

Unfortunatly Thief 3 is doomed. It's now Thief : Deadly Shadows

IE NOT THEIF 3

And uses 3rd person views. GG THX NO RE Theif got screwed

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There is no Silicon Heaven! But where do all the calculators go ?

You could no more evade my wrath... than you could your own shadow!

Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:18 pm by Neo_Kuja

Well, at least there will be Half-Life 2 to look foward to.
I saved up $200, thinking it would be a tough choice, and it ain't.
If Half-Life 2 is released ,that is.

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"There's no such thing as miracles or the supernatural, only cutting-edge technology" - Ocelot
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Fri Feb 20, 2004 12:22 pm by Sh|ft

The original Deus Ex was awesome. I remember saving all my skill points for hacking abilities, so I could steal money from ATMs. The sequel sounds like it sucks. Bio-mods? Wtf kinda name is that for anything?

Fri Feb 20, 2004 2:37 pm by Esquilax

Although Deus Ex 2 has not been released in Australia yet, I picked up a copy from a second-hand dealer and played it several weeks ago. While I would agree that the DX2 is nowhere near as good as DX1, it is not a bad game. Firstly, while it is true that the AI isn't that great, on the occasions it does work, it works well. As for the graphics, I too experienced 2-3 FPS whenever I enabled AA or AF, but I was able to run the game perfectly on maximum detail levels in 1280x960, and I didn't even have to OC my Radeon 9700. The lack of a skill-based system was a grave error in my opinion, but one that is understandable considering the console audience that it was targeted at.

Finally, although the plot and "feel" were not as good as DX1, they were far superior to many games that have come out recently. Also remember that this game was designed for the XBOX crowd, and the game had to be simplified and "dumbed-down" to fit in with the expectations (and intelligence

) of console gamers. IF it had been entirely developed for PC, then it would have been much better.

Fri Feb 20, 2004 3:12 pm by mustang

And uses 3rd person views. GG THX NO RE Theif got screwed

You can use 3rd person or first person, it supposedly makes no difference. However I fear your right, Im thinking that the new Thief will be a shadow of it's former self. Especially as it's using the Deus Ex 2 engine, so none of those big grand rooftop to rooftop missions me thinks.
Plus considering there will be an XBOX version there will be some serious dumming down, I just hope they don't mess with the bow and arrow controls. I never had more game time enjoyment than bringing down a guard from 50 feet with an arrow through the jugular.

Edited by - Mustang on 2/20/2004 3:15:31 PM

Fri Feb 20, 2004 4:05 pm by Stalins Ghost

I hate the way T3 seems to be going: 3rd Person, "Deadly Shadows".....boo hoo hoo, it hurts to see the series go such a way. Thief games rule, and after playing bits of deus ex2 (m8s got it not me) I have no faith in the future of my favorite game series. Although that fmv on the de2 demo seemed to capture the atmosphere of the last games, and that, was kinda one of T3s good points. I dunno how its gonna turn out....im rambling, hey waddaya kmow ive gone totally off topic, wahhay!

Fri Feb 20, 2004 8:33 pm by Esquilax

Is Thief 2 really that good? I have seen it around for $2. So, is it worth it, and if so, why?

Fri Feb 20, 2004 10:24 pm by Neo_Kuja

Well, Theif 2 is more of a *tense* sneak-em-up, so you have to have lots of patience to get through it. But for $2 , get it !

Esquilax - How much did you get Deus Ex 2 for ? I got it (unfortunatly) at full price. *Sob* $100 dollars down the drain.

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"There's no such thing as miracles or the supernatural, only cutting-edge technology" - Ocelot
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Edited by - Neo_Kuja on 2/20/2004 10:25:19 PM

Sat Feb 21, 2004 1:59 am by Arania

If Half-Life 2 is released ,that is.

*pulls out gatling gun*
IT BETTER BE RELEASED, OR SOMEBODYS GONNA BE VERY SORRY!!!
that is the NUMBER ONE game that i am looking forward to, and one of the MOST AWAITED sequels ever!!!
i wonder what happened to Shepard from OpFor... he got detained after G nuked Black Mesa in Opposing Force, wonder if hes in HL2...

Sat Feb 21, 2004 3:25 am by Esquilax

Damn! I meant $20! Maybe I will get Thief 2, but I want more opinions. Tell me!

I picked up DX2 for $45 AUD. Normal price is $89.95 retail. Damn rip-off merchants *grumble*...

Sat Feb 21, 2004 5:06 am by mustang

The best way to decribe Thief is as a first person sneaker. You play a master thief in a fantasy 18th century britain. To give you an idea your weapons are a blackjack for knocking people the fook out, a lockpick and a bow and arrow for assorted uses (rope arrow, water arrow etc). The story line is ok but there are a few missions that'll see you breaking into banks, jewlers looking for assorted booty. You really have to be patient though as you have avoid enemies as a first optiion. If you must kill or disable it must be done silently and the bodies have to be well concealed, lest another guard discovers your dead/unconcious. And forget about taking on more than one guard at a time.

Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:16 pm by Neo_Kuja

@ Arania. No, shephard hasn't been confirmed to be in the sequal, but Barney from Blue Shift is

There is also going to be Half-Life 3 as well. But that'll be well beyond the release of HL2, which * rumour * has it that it will be released April. I've got mine pre-booked, so I'm waiting, I hope it won't be as much of a disappointment as DX 2 is .

Here are some goodies for all of you who are looking foward to it.
Here are some interviews .....

Article 1
Article 2

..... Some Screenshots and Concept Pictures .....

Screenshot Page 1
Concepts 1

.... The Known Weapons and Characters .....

Weapons
Characters And Enemies

..... And a good general site.

Half-Life 2 General Info Site

Enjoy !
Neo_Kuja

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"There's no such thing as miracles or the supernatural, only cutting-edge technology" - Ocelot
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Edited by - Neo_Kuja on 2/21/2004 9:27:02 PM

Sat Feb 21, 2004 9:41 pm by ElectricBrain

I thought Barney was in the original HL too. Oh well...whatever.

I rememebr playing through Theif 2 and ended up losing my patience at the level with the boat. At that point, i just couldn't take the hiding and stealth anymore and i turned on god mode and went ninja on all their asses. Serious Sam action is more for me.

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